Buda...Pest

Flying into Hungary under the cover of darkness The Boy and I had our noses pressed firmly against the plane window, eager for any glimpse of what awaited us in Budapest.

Walking out of the airport, slightly miffed about not getting a stamp in my passport, I realised I would be clueless for a while longer as the bus ride from the airport past beautiful but slightly decrepit buildings flashed by.


In my imagination Budapest is the perfect, romanticised mixture of east meets west; amazing history and beautiful architecture, big green parks and a culture completely different to anything I was used to. Walking out the door on my first morning The Boy and I realised this idea was right, but also very wrong.


Walking down Andrassy utca (street), a wide tree-lined boulevard with cafes, ritzy stores and restaurants and Heroes Square at one end both The Boy and I were drawing comparisons between Budapest, or Pest to be more accurate, and other European cities we'd been to. But wandering up side streets as we tend to do it was a revelation. In some areas a mere two streets back from the main boulevard it was like being thrown back into Soviet-era Budapest with once beautiful buildings, now crumbling and overlooking stark streets.

Once pretty now crumbling

Playing in a cement playground

But if anything these little shocks only added to the experience. Wandering around Pest every side street and alley became an experience, some filled with hidden trendy pubs, some completely empty, some opening up on parks and playgrounds. And even though it didn't match up with the pictures in my head I fell in love with Pest. It was a mix of the new and funky and the old but the scars from the past were still more than visible, (and if you don't believe me just head to Terror House, a memorial museum about the horrors committed during WWII and the Soviet era).

As a contrast walking across the famous Chain Bridge to Buda high up on the hill everything is beautiful...but fake. The streets are paved with cobblestones, the buildings look like they are straight out of the 16th century and the museums are to die for - including the National Gallery located in the former palace. But every second shop is filled with over-priced souvenirs and the prices sky rocket.

The opera house at sunset

Looking over the Danube to Buda

At the National Gallery

The view from Buda over Pest

It was almost a relief to descend the hill again and cross over to Pest and to reality again, and to sit down at a local pub for a cold beer.

After three days of just wandering, on foot and by bike, The Boy and I decided to extend our stay, to explore the Turkish Baths, the galleries and the night life and  it's this Budapest I rather than the tourist sites that still stick in my head.

And as far as I'm concerned that's the mark of a truly magnificent city.