Budapest was Calling!
- bey0ndM@gz!ne
- December 12, 2019
- Default, Travel
- 0 Comments
Budapest, Five friends, fourteen years and the city that made it all worth it!
Every journey is a quest, whether you know it or not. Milestone birthdays are always special and when I turned 40, my quest was to do things I had never done before. So I got myself a tennis coach, exhibited my work at an art show in Hong Kong and traveled with my best buddies- sans family. The latter took the longest to plan (read 2 years), and when it finally happened, I had to pinch myself to believe it.
The city we chose for our reunion, Budapest, is fondly referred to as the Paris of the East. The Hungarian capital is bisected by the famous River Danube.
I flew from HK to Dubai (an 8-hour flight), where I met 2 friends from India and together we boarded a 5-hour flight to our destination. As long and grueling as the first flight felt, on this one, the time just flew by with us catching up with one another. We had met after 14 years after all!
Upon arrival at the small Budapest airport, we met up with our other 2 friends who had traveled from the U.S.
I arrived with no expectations since I’ve always felt that that’s the best way to do things you have never done before. Though I did hope that the five of us would still get along as we had earlier given we hadn’t met for such a long time. It was 14 years of lives lived separately, of changes and growth in all of us. But despite the years apart we managed to start exactly where we had left off.
The city we chose for our reunion, Budapest, is fondly referred to as the Paris of the East. The Hungarian capital is bisected by the famous River Danube. Its 19th-century Chain Bridge connects the hilly Buda district with flat Pest. We arrived by taxi to our apartment which we booked through Air BnB. Gothic in style, our apartment building was stunning to look at.
Located in the Jewish quarter on the Pest side, it was right in the middle of everything on király street– literally meters from the famous ruins, bars & restaurants. We settled down and then got right out to explore the neighborhood.
Our first meal was at an authentic Hungarian or Magyar cuisine restaurant. Though the menu was restricted for our vegetarian friends, we did manage to get potatoes & salads for them. I got my 1st taste of the famous Hungarian Goulash, which is a flavorful rich stew made of meat and vegetables with lots of paprika, and it totally lived up to my expectations.
Still tired from our flights, we retired early that night, but not before a few hours of non-stop conversations. For the next 5 days, we had pre-decided that we would do things we normally don’t get an opportunity to do given we always traveled with our kids. One of the first things we pre-booked was tickets to the famous bath party called “Sparty”. The story of this party started in 1994 when a group of friends decided to bring together two things they loved: the ancient bath culture of Budapest, and modern electronic dance music. Trust me when I tell you this: the legendary Széchenyi Bath is a place where magic happens every Saturday night. For the rest of our itinerary, we decided to be spontaneous.
On our second night there, we decided to check out the party scene at the Szimpla Kert, the mecca of all ruin bars. These bars were built in Budapest’s old District VII neighborhood (the old Jewish quarter) in the ruins of abandoned buildings or factories. This neighborhood was left to decay after World War II, so it was a perfect place to develop an underground bar scene bustling with crowds talking, dancing, and enjoying the laid-back atmosphere.
I really liked the ghetto’ish’ idiosyncratic style, crumbling architecture of these bars. Needless to say, neither of us could walk straight to our apartment that night (cocktails anyone?).
The following day we hired a car to drive us to Szentendre, a picturesque, art-filled Danubian town just outside Budapest. We spent a few hours walking around the narrow cobbled streets of this charming baroque town & decided to have lunch at a restaurant right in the middle of the town square which had a traditional Hungarian band playing live music. It was here that we had our 1st shot of Palinka- a traditional Hungarian alcoholic drink, distilled from fruits, with an alcohol content of a minimum 37.5%.
We pretended to smile in front of the server but swore that we will never have it again! After a bit of souvenir shopping and posing for lots of photos, we headed back to Budapest.
The next day we decided to do some sightseeing on the Segway! It was the first time for most of us getting on one. We received a 15 min tutorial, after which we were all set to go. We enjoyed making our way through traffic & taking in the beautiful sights. I should mention here that we wore coordinated T-shirts that got us a lot of attention & queries like- “Is it a bachelorette party?” After our segway adventure, we headed up the hill to the Buda castle from where the views of the city were breathtaking. We also managed a trip to the museum to see a beautiful exhibition on ‘surrealism’.
It was worth every forint we spent on the entry tickets. We ended the day at a highly recommended Italian restaurant Barack & Szilva where we all found something to suit our palettes.
On our following days, we walked around the weekend flea bazaars & thrift shops, strolling and checking out unique vintage trinkets. We enjoyed our visit to the famous Great Market Hall. If you love fresh goods, people watching, souvenir shopping, guided tours with tastings or just want photo opportunities you must experience the market. We admired the attractively arranged seasonal produce and picked up the famous Hungarian paprika thinking we could add a Hungarian Goulash kind of twist to our Indian curries. (Just a tip here- trust me, our Kashmiri red chili powder is much better). On one of the days, we had evening tea in the 20th century New York Café. There was a waiting time of 30-45 minutes to get into this world-famous cafe, and despite the drizzle, we decided to wait in line. When we finally got to step inside, our heads did a 360-degree turn to appreciate the spectacular 19th-century architecture which made us feel like we were on a movie set.
Frankly, it was a bit over the top for my aesthetic taste. After being seated I tried to take it all in, fancy mirrors, a quartet playing music in the background, walls dripping in carved gold, life-size paintings, crystal chandeliers, etc. The menu was a multicultural infusion. Was it worth the wait? Maybe. For experiencing something different yes, but certainly not for the food. I would give it a 7.5 rating.
Our evening at the Sparty was something else altogether. Upon reaching the gates we were very impressed with the security check. Even though we felt safe, we were a tad bit anxious listening to the thumping music in the background. The lively atmosphere did help calm our
nervousness slowly. After making our way to our private cabin for which we paid extra, we changed into our swimsuits, took a deep breath & walked out into the chill towards the pool. Heading straight to the bar, we decided to dip into the warm pool, as it was too cold outside. We were lucky to find a slightly less crowded spot.
The music was great and the crowd- well a bit all over each other- literally! After about an hour when the crowd started getting a little out of control, we decided to crawl out & head back. All in all a once in a lifetime experience. Will, I do it again?- NO.
We decided to spend our last day in Budapest making sure we hadn’t missed out on any other authentic local experience. We had already walked around the city for hours leaving no stone unturned. We enjoyed the charming lanes, Turkish roadside food stalls, the flea markets and most of all our long breakfasts spent catching up with each other. We giggled over the Sparty experience and planned our ‘Next Trip’ as it was time to head back to pack and leave early the next morning to the different parts of the world, we call home.
