- Charles Baudelaire
Budapest, by sight, is a serene fairytale world, it's magnificent buildings shrouded in dusky pink, the great chain bridge over the Danube allowing lovers, friends and family to cross, taking it all in in awe. However, this city, like every other, holds another personality in the back streets, where ruin pubs and street food await to be discovered.
Our hotel, Continental Hotel Zara, situated in the midst of the madness was absolutely flawless. Located in the Pest side on Dohany Street in the Jewish Ghetto area (or the 7th district), it is the ultimate hidden gem of hotels. Its location was perfect for several reasons, including being in close proximity to the main shopping street Vaci Ucta which runs parallel to the Danube, but also because it was amongst the ruin pubs, spoiling us for choice.
Upon arrival, we were both eager to explore, having forgotten my map this time around (I know, schoolboy error) we really were left to our own sense of direction, using only our feet and eyes, letting Budapest take us in. We wandered out of our hotel, turning right to find Kazinscy Ucta only a couple of minutes walk away, this is the street home to Szimpla Kert, the king of ruin pubs, and 'Karavan' a street food court which was right next door. This consisting of burgers, italian food, vegan food, thai food and more - open from 11.30 daily until 2am. We ate at the italian and the burger counters (cultural, I know) which were both amazing and totally cheap, it worked out about £3 (approx $5) for half a margarita pizza which was huge and delicious. We then walked to the main shopping street to grab some souvenirs and gifts and were enticed in by the ice bar staff - which was empty when we went in with very strong cocktails but worth a visit if you're in Budapest and have never been to an ice bar.
Later that night, we ventured into szimpla kert for drinks, and I'm not quite sure I have the writing prowess to do it the justice it deserves.The exterior is relatively nondescript apart from lingering groups of people and overflowing hanging baskets giving the worn brick facade a tumbling tangled green fringe. Once inside there are three bars, several rooms inside and a big outdoor area under a canopy with a BBQ grill (that does REALLY good burgers and chicken) and another bar right at the back. I was instantly struck by the 'computer den' which is essentially a small room visible through a gap in the bricks, where the walls are lined by tangled lights, hairdryers and old fashioned boxy computer screens all showing patterns enough to make your eyes feel intoxicated. Under the canopy in the outside area is the place to be in szimpla, people gather around tables of different shapes and sizes, on recycled garden chairs, stools and chairs made out of skis. (And some lucky people are able to sit in the old fashioned car which has been split and put back together again to accomodate a table inside it) Some are drinking and laughing, some are mysterious and quiet surrounded by smoke from thier shishas but above all, nobody is hostile, and that's what I liked most about szimpla - it may be a quirky and hipster place to be but the people are like the furniture - from all over the world, different ages and walks of life, but all just happy and relaxed.
The next day we wanted to make our way over to the shopping mall 'WestEnd city centre' to get me some comfortable shoes in order to walk the city (map and comfortable shoes won't be forgotten next time) However, amongst the strolling, we came across St.Stephan's Basillica , the third largest church in Hungary, which was completed in 1905 and named after St.Stephen of Hungary - the first King of Hungary. We paced up the magnificent steps to take a look inside and once in there, over washed that peaceful, serene feeling of being in a large sacred building, - this feeling is well known to me, thanks to my parents for dragging me and my reluctant sister around churches and cathedrals in France throughout our childhood.The architecture and design inside was stunning - however it didn't stop there. When leaving the church, there were steps and a ticket office up to the 'panorama' and I couldn't resist - 302 sweaty and breathless steps later - in flip flops - we were taking in the rooftops of Budapest, it really was worth it. From above, it was easy to see just how much history is packed into the city, magnificent buildings and scattered terracotta roofs surrounded us for miles, until in the horizon distant hills met the grey blue sky in the smog. - The feeling was similar to that you get on top of a mountain, the reward for the hard climb is always the view from the top. After our experience at St.Stephens, we found the shopping mall, got some shoes and finished off our trek around the city with some hungarian lager at 'Koleves' beer garden which essentially is a mashup of a children's playground and a gypsy camp with a very relaxed, summer vibe.
The following night we wanted to see some other ruin pubs and the evening took a bizarrre turn straight away - (stop reading now if you're a disney fan) - In Fogashaz ruin pub, an old man who I can only describe as looking like the one from 'UP' offered Kai money for a minute with me, this completely freaked me out and so onwards we went to 'Instant'. Instant has been hailed as 'The enchanted forest of ruin pubs' but this also led to a weird experience as not long after we settled at a table under a load of plastic rabbits and an owl with cat ears, boobs and horse legs, we found ourselves in the middle of a hungarian 'quiz night' and made a beeline for the exit, with Kai grabbing a hot dog on the way out. We returned to Szimpla for more drinks and got talking to two American students studying in Prague, more drinks led to more drinks and we ended the night feeling very intoxicated after taking some pictures at the photo booth in szimpla with our friends from over the pond. Once back at the hotel, Kai's 'happy drunk' turned into 'vomiting blood and passing out hitting head on the way down' and so we spent the night in Budapest hospital, which ended the bizarre evening nicely. 6 hours, blood tests and an MRI scan later, at 7am, we were free to go and Kai was fine, with nothing suspicious showing up in his bloods - so my advice for any travellers going to Budapest is don't drink spirits or eat any food from Instant!
We slept until about 12, and I was determined to rectify the previous nights situation and so we headed for Vaci Ucta, to an Italian Restaurant rated the number 1 restaurant in Budapest. Called 'Comme Chez Soi' and located on Aranykez Ucta, literally just off the main shopping street by the Mercure hotel. My experience at this restaurant is the best I've ever had yet, it is only a small restuarant with about 8 tables but a very impressive interior and even better food. The host, Roberto, saw to our needs instantly, we were very lucky to get a table and were brought a plate of antipasti for the wait for our starters of bruschetta. The antipasti consisted of parma ham and half of a tomato with olive oil and mozzarella - I was instantly in love with the first bite. Our bruschetta came and the bread was beautifully warm and packed with garlic with the cold, fresh and juicy tomatoes on top overflowing - this was soon gone. Kai ordered a lemonade to drink which was in fact homemade and delicious and then our mains were before us, mine spaghetti bolognaise and Kai's a carbonara. We both conceeded it was the best we had ever tasted and we were both fit to burst with my dish eventually defeating me. These were whipped away and replaced by a lemon sorbet and sweet hungarian wine. Upon leaving, Roberto was over to help with our coats and with some chocolates for me to take away because "the lady did not order dessert" - The guy obviously knows his females very well. I cannot recommend this restaurant enough if you ever visit Budapest, both the food and the hospitality for me were unprecedented and the price all together only came to about £20 - needless to say we left a good tip.
We spent the remainder of the day on the Buda side of Budapest, taking the vernacular railway up to the castle and enjoying yet another panoramic of the city. We wandered around the grounds for a while and made our way alongside the river towards Gellert hill and back over the 'Szabadsag' bridge to the hotel. That evening neither of us were in the mood to drink after the previous night so we made the most of the rooftop swimming pool at the hotel, taking in the distant glittering sights.
On our last full day we took a trip to the Szechenyi baths which are definitely a must-do in Budapest - turquoise pools heated to 37 degrees and surrounded by mustard yellow buildings, it was the ultimate site of relaxation. To get here we took a tram just down from the hotel which we managed to hop on and off both ways without paying - I'm not recommending this in the slightest but they were super easy to use and quite frankly we were getting pretty tired of walking. We saved our last reserves of energy for a trip to the river that night in order to see the castle and the chain bridge lit up. - This was after grabbing some (more) Italian food from 'A Presto' by the operahouse on the way. (More amazing pizza.)
Overall, despite the hospital trip and the dodgy old man claiming he wanted to "help young people", Budapest was an amazing experience for me. It really showed me the two sides of the city and the personalities that come with those two sides. The trip has reinforced the importance of discovering cities both by day and by night, both on the sunny marble steps and down the backstreets cloaked by night, after all, how can you say you've been to a city if you haven't really experienced it all?
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