Budapest

The flight from Malta to Budapest with Ryanair was seamless and I had the whole front row to myself despite only booking one seat. My Uber driver was young Oliver who delivered me to the Intercontinental in about half an hour. The hotel is located on the Pest side (which sounds far too similar to pesticide) adjacent to the Danube and I was given an upgrade to a room with a river view.

After settling in I took another Uber with Mihaly to Heroes Square – the furthest point I wanted to visit in my two days in the city. The route was straight up Andrassy Avenue which is a Paris style boulevard developed in the late 19th century and named after Gyula Andrassy who was a Hungarian aristocrat. It’s a beautiful avenue with embassies, hotels, theatres, cafes, luxury shops and a Burger King.

The square itself was no more special than other squares in other cities however the green space behind the square was highly scenic. I chose the catchily named Vajdahunyad Castle which was magnificent to wander around.

It was two miles back to the hotel and my intention was to wend. Andrassy Avenue was a joy to walk along and about halfway I popped inside the Hungarian State Opera House. There were no tours on offer but the lobby was impressive enough.

I arrived back at the hotel and there was plenty of activity. Lots of folks booked on river cruises seem to stay here for a few days prior to launching down the Danube.

I went in search of an Irish pub to watch the Arsenal and found Jack Doyle’s. I’ve been in better Irish pubs but there was a perfect seat next to a fellow called Mike from Bury St Edmunds and we bonded immediately. Super chap. Educated, middle-class, recently retired, and an Arsenal season ticket holder. I also spoke with half a dozen Celtic fans in hoopy shirts who were happy with their result against Rangers earlier in the day.

After Arsenal scraping a narrow win I headed back to the hotel via the casino opposite. The Sofistiq Casino was an experience. After about an hour I was about 12,000 Hungarian Forint up which sounds much better than it is – about 25 quid. I left.

Overnight I was on a cruise ship, and with three days to go before disembarking I was offering a couple some guidelines for their upcoming marriage with my newfound relationship knowledge. Who am I kidding. Some very peculiar dreams lately.

On Monday the clouds had rolled in and I stepped out with rain gear. First up was St Stephen’s Basilica which was a must. Once again a stunning church just a different version of stunning from the one in Malta. There was also a viewing platform available and Pal (Paul in Hungarian) informed me there was a lift option or 302 steps. I thought I’d test Hungarian humour and told him my limit was 300. Nothing! Not even a smile. The view was dismal due to the rain but I’m glad I did it for the exercise.

The next stop was the Hungarian Parliament which sits right on the Danube and is the iconic image pictured in magazines (when lit up at night). It was raining so I took a small detour in Burger King. To get out of the rain, you understand. I couldn’t go inside the parliament building. Important business going on in there with the new prime minister, Peter Magyar. Huge and magnificent is all I can say.

I walked along the promenade back to the hotel for necessary phone charging. Once again on full power I was heading for Buda on the other side of the Danube. I walked across the famous Szechenyi Chain Bridge. Opened in 1849 it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube linking Buda with Pest, or Pest with Buda depending on which side you lived.

I moseyed along the promenade on the Buda side looking for a suitable route up to Buda Castle. I found a gentle slope followed by an escalator which suited me fine. Once up there tourists were in abundance and many of them had little sense of direction. Buda Castle is the 4th largest in Europe; Prague Castle being the biggest.

The only room qualifying for a WOW was the restored St Stephen’s Hall which was damaged in WWII and not rebuilt during the communist era. It reopened in 2022.

St Matthias Church was a little further on and it was highly impressive from the outside. I didn’t get to go inside – the queue was too long, but it’s in a great area including Fisherman’s Bastion which was like being in Disneyland. The whole area with commanding views over the Danube was incredible. I think I preferred Buda to Pest.

Keen for more physical punishment I headed to the gym but skipped on the sauna. Two hefty Hungarians were in there and I wasn’t sure I would survive.

The following morning the sauna was free and I had it to myself until Akos turned up. 87 years old he left Hungary in 1956 aged 18. Four months in a refugee camp in Vienna but various countries around the world were taking those escaping persecution. Akos got Canada and has lived there ever since. During the protests against Russian aggression he collected glass bottles door to door for Molotov Cocktails used to destroy Russian tanks. One of the more interesting sauna chats I’ve had for a while.

The first King of Hungary was Stephen I crowned around 1000 AD. More recently, after WWII the Russians turned up and introduced communism. The people weren’t overly keen but succumbed and Hungary officially became communist in 1949. The general discord gathered momentum most notably in 1956 when Russian tanks turned up and slaughtered around 3,000 protestors. Communism lasted 40 years until 1989 and Hungary was the first country to denounce Soviet-style rule after the Berlin Wall came down.

Hungary uses the Hungarian Forint (HUF) and are not part of the Eurozone as yet. There are around 470 forints to the pound so it’s one of those currencies where a sandwich costs a couple of thousand.

In 1974 Erno Rubik, born in Budapest, invented the “Magic Cube” as a teaching aid to explain 3D geometry. He was 30 years old at the time. It first went on sale in Hungary in 1977 before a worldwide release in 1980 where it became a phenomenon and renamed the Rubik’s Cube. There are 43 quintillion possible positions making the Kama Sutra look very basic indeed. The world record is currently around 3 seconds. The cube that is. I think the Kama Sutra is quicker than that. Most speed-cubers average about 5-7 seconds. They are permitted “inspection time” though. Apparently the minimum number of moves to solve any scrambled configuration is only 20 and this is known as “God’s Number”. Speed-cubers normally solve it in around 50-60 moves which isn’t optimal. Must try harder chaps. The first time Erno solved it himself took about one month.

I left for the station for my train ride to Bratislava, Slovakia – 2 hours 20 minutes. About halfway we crossed the Danube which marked the border between Hungary and Slovakia. Next stop Bratislava.