1.21.2013

Going Through Winter in Budapest, Hungary


I'm gonna be real honest in my assessment of Budapest. It wasn't my favorite. In fact, of all the places I've been, it's my least favorite.

Now, I have to be a little fair. It's hard to judge a place when you visit it in the midst of winter. Snow, rain and slush kept me inside more often than I was outside. However, it's clear that Budapest was a once magnificent city that is now falling apart at the seams, as evidenced by the gorgeous buildings splattered with cracks and fault lines...how long before the city collapses? The underground system looks diseased and the buses look ancient and tired. You can tell a lot about a city from its infrastructure.

Now before I completely condemn this place, I know a little bit of paint and a little bit of TLC could do this city wonders. Anyway, I'll shut my trap and let you have a look. Not all was lost in Budapest, there were still some pretty sites for sore eyes:







The local spice, Paprika, which can be served sweet or spicy.




 A cool ruin bar: proof that Budapest is trying to turn their destruction into something quirky and fun.








 One of the pretty sites: a beautiful palace on the hill.




 Car...on fire? WHAT IS THIS SIGN TRYING TO SAY?!?


I feel a little bad bashing a city as a whole. I am not a holier-than-thou tourist. However, after coming back from the immaculate Switzerland and jumping into a city that is quite noticeably breaking down, I couldn't help but offer the truth. Every place is worth one visit, but I won't come back here again. 

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful shots!looks like u definitely enjoyed exploring
    xx

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  2. +switzerland pride+

    i don't remember much of budapest actually, i do remember there were riots happening at the...the...big important building, name escaping me - and we were watching it on tv from the hotel, haha! and i went to the baths which was nice. it was windy. i remember that.

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    1. And if you don't remember much, erm, that's a bad sign!

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  3. That's too bad, it looks beautiful. Maybe it's a good idea to steer clear of eastern europe during the winter, unless you're going to snow reasons. I bet anything would have a hard time standing up to switzerland.

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    1. That's a great point. Switzerland is ace!

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  4. Haha, I've never been to Budapest so I can't say much but having seen lot of photos taken by you and some other friends I actually have a feeling it's a mixture of old East Berlin and the bad parts of Istanbul and Ankara. LOL And believe it or not, the buses I believe came from either Switzerland or Germany or something.

    But yeah, it is quite a shocker after Switzerland. ;)

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  5. How were the people? That's the true measure of a place. Communism was pretty harsh on Hungary. they were hoping EU membership would help the economy, but I guess not. I hear Prague, in the next door Czech Republic, is great.

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    1. That's exactly it, the people seemed sad. It was past being stoic, and more melancholy.

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