HI Slovenia takes over Budapest

 

Our group composed of some eight HI Slovenia volunteers was off to a very early start when we met at half past midnight and departed for a roughly 400 km journey to Budapest. We arrived to the summit of the capital’s citadel at around 4.30 am, just as the most fervent runners were starting their training up the hill and just as the strip club at the base was closing its doors. We were awarded with purple skies announcing the sunrise and reflecting beautifully from the Danube, and with hidden birds chirping hello to a new morning. After a mandatory photo of the early morning scene, we departed for a really unusual sight in one of the suburbs: a giant industrial area which has been converted into numerous Chinese stores. Industrial chimneys, mills and storage facilities are still there and they have been refurbished into basic shops. Despite us being very early, many stores selling clothes, shoes, toys, a variety of everyday objects and even some souvenirs (I wonder how many tourists find their way here!?) were already open. Some were not very welcoming as they were only interested to sell their stocks in bulk. Indeed, many of the items you find here end up in shops in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and elsewhere. This is why many of the Asian sellers know a couple of Serbo-Croatian words. A very entertaining sight. 

 

After snatching a couple of bargains at the Chinese market, we headed to the city center with the intention to walk around the Heroes’ square. However, despite driving around in circles for almost an hour we were unable to find parking for our van. Yes, Budapest is a famous city and the Heroes’ square with a column and two colonnades of statues of Hungarian leaders is one of its major attractions. The nearby zoo and art museum bring additional visitors, so parking gets extremely scarce. We thus headed to the old part of the city, where we parked just across from the Hungarian parliament, Budapest’s tallest building, whose surface is so huge that it is almost always under renovation. Across the Danube, we visited the Buda’s castle district with the gothic Matthias church, Fisherman’s bastion and the Buda castle. It is from this giant complex that the Hungarian kings ruled their country from the Middle Ages onward. 

 

 

No visit to Budapest would be complete without the Chain bridge. As we were leaving the Buda’s castle district, we passed through a tunnel which brought us directly to the bridge, which when opened in 1849 was regarded as an engineering wonder. Legend has it that the lion statues at either ends of the bridge do not have tongues, and that the chief engineer involved in construction committed suicide when this flaw was pointed out to him. However, lions do have tongues, but they are just not visible from the angle that the pedestrians and drivers see them from. 

 

After stocking ourselves up with some Hungarian souvenirs in the form of sausages in a local grocery store, we drove to Lake Balaton. We arrived there at 5.55pm and learned from the ticket counter that access to the lake is free after 6pm, so we gladly waited those 5 minutes before jumping into the murky water of the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe. The water was pleasantly warm and the mud at the bottom supposedly has some therapeutic effects. When I got buried almost up to my knees, I started wondering whether the medical explanation is really just a way to convince tourists to enter the lake! Tired to death from a long yet fulfilling day, we filled our bellies with some local stew are returned home with lots of nice memories.