{"id":506,"date":"2016-02-19T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T15:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saviowong.com\/travel\/?page_id=506"},"modified":"2024-02-12T04:58:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T04:58:48","slug":"budapest-summer-2014","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saviowong.com\/travel\/places\/budapest-summer-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Budapest (August 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Budapest\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Budapest<\/span> \u2014 I spent 5 days there and it was definitely the highlight of the tip. I posted the following on FB when I first arrived:<\/p>\n

My first impression of Budapest has been very good. It is a large city but it feels very livable and vibrant. The architecture shows signs why this was one of the twin capitals of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. As usual, public transportation<\/em> \u2014 local trains, subway, trams, and buses \u2014 is excellent. (Note, Toronto, if you want to be counted as a world city,\u00a0 start with building a decent transit system.)<\/em>
\nMy hotel is on the Buda side, the hilly and quieter side but it\u2019s a short 10 minutes walk across the Danube River on the Elizabeth Bridge to get to the more youthful and lively Pest side. [photos<\/a>]<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I did three walks with Budapest Free Walking tours:\u00a0<\/a>Orientation, Communist, and Jewish Quarter.\u00a0 They were led by young and energetic guides.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting business model because they worked on tips only.\u00a0 I have done a number of free waking tours in different European cities and they all been very good.\u00a0 Highly recommended. [photos<\/a>]<\/p>\n

In additional to the free walks, I also used Rick Steves\u2019 Guidebook that offers a number of self-guided tours.\u00a0 Since there were some overlaps with the free walks, I skipped part of them. His book on restaurant recommendations also came in handy.<\/p>\n

I also went to The House of Terror.\u00a0 The following was what I wrote on FB:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spent yesterday on learning more about the sad history of Hungary. It was the junior partner of the Austria-Hungarian Empire that was dissolved after WWI. It sided with the German in WWII and then it was \u2018liberated\u2019 by Russia and was forced to become a communist state.
\nDuring WWII, under the command of Hungarian and German Nazis, over 400,00 Jews were deported and exterminated in concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, the future Nobel Peace Prize winner was one of the deportees shipped to Auschwitz when he was 15.
\nIn 1956, the country revolted against the communist rule but was crushed brutally when the Soviet sent in thousands of tanks. Like many post-communist countries, it\u2019s still dealing with many of its after effects.
\nThe House of Terror is a museum and memorial for the victims of the Nazis and communism.
\nThe last few photos show a controversial monument erected near the parliament. It\u2019s supposed to commemorate the oppression during the Nazi rules. Opponents are upset because the current government refuses to acknowledge the role the Hungarian Nazis and place all the blames on the German Nazis.<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
[Photo album]<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two bookstores near The House of Terror were gems.\u00a0 Irok Boltja (Writer Bookstore) used to be a Japanese coffee house and Lotz-terem\u00a0(Lotz\u00a0Hall)<\/span>was a French department store.\u00a0 I\u2019d a great lunch at the stately cafe in Lotz Hall. [Photos<\/a>]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I had purchased a SIM card for my phone from a tobacco stall.\u00a0 With quite a bit of hand waving from both parties,\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure he sold me the wrong type.\u00a0 It turned that I could phone or text quite a bit but only 50MB data a day.\u00a0 Since I need a lot more data and have nobody to text or phone in Hungary, I took a trip to the West End City Mall<\/a> to a T-Mobile stall to get it sorted out.\u00a0 Visiting a mall turned out to be an enlightening experience because this was where the local shopped.\u00a0 [Photos<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The food in Budapest was excellent and relatively inexpensive compared to Western Europe.\u00a0 A really nice meal may cost $20-25.\u00a0 [photos<\/a>].\u00a0 Alcohol is not expensive either. A good place to visit is the impressive Great Market Hall [photos<\/a>]<\/p>\n

A few things that I\u2019d hope to do in Budapest but couldn\u2019t manage to fit in: visit the Hero Square, take a boat ride on the Danube, and go to one of the famous baths.\u00a0 Maybe next time.<\/p>\n

The following are photo albums I have created for Budapest.\u00a0 Each album correspond to a day.<\/p>\n