A Tale of Two Cities (That Became One)

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a monumental city. Actually, it’s two cities for the price of one, as the separate municipalities of Pest, on the east bank of the Danube, and Buda, rising above the west bank, merged in 1873 to become the Budapest of today.

There was a third city, Óbuda or “Old Buda,” the site of Aquincum, the historic outpost of the Roman Empire, which predates the other two, and also became part of the joined metropolis. Buda, on the hillier west side of the Danube, was the seat of government and traditionally more aristocratic, with Pest, on the flat plains east of the Danube, the modern and dynamic commercial hub.

Unlike Vienna, where the imperial showplaces of the First District largely ignore the river, Budapest takes full advantage of the international waterway flowing through it. Like Vienna, Budapest boasts its own iconic Ferris wheel, the Budapest Eye, rising 65 meters or 213 feet above Erzsébet Square, providing panoramic views over the city from 42 air-conditioned gondolas.

The public buildings, from Buda Castle and Liberty Statue rising on hills in Buda, to the stunning Hungarian Parliament building directly on the Danube in Pest, impart a gravitas, an impression of imperial grandeur, that is carried through in the architecture and public spaces of the city. The grand squares, the State Opera House, the public parks, and governmental buildings rival those to be found anywhere in the world.

Hungarians are a proud people, glorying in their descent from the warlike Magyar chieftains of history, and back to the Huns who gave the country its name. Statues in the massive Heroes’ Square at the end of Andrássy Avenue show these warriors from the ninth century, mounted and armed to the teeth.

Their militaristic tendencies have not always served them well; as a tour guide told us, “Hungarians have a tremendous knack for choosing the losing side” in conflicts in which they engage.

Budapest was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for 150 years. After the Turks were expelled, the area was conquered and absorbed into the Habsburg Empire. The Hungarians launched an insurrection, which was defeated. As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they were allied with Germany and Turkey in World War I, and Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory in the redrawing of national boundaries afterward. In World War II, they joined the Axis powers and went down to defeat again.

At the end of 1944, the siege of Budapest went on for 102 days, with Soviet forces encircling the city, in one of the longest and bloodiest sieges of the war. The city was left in ruins, with tens of thousands of civilians killed, 80 percent of its buildings damaged or destroyed, and all bridges across the Danube blown up by the retreating German army. Behind the Iron Curtain and dominated by the Soviet Union, Budapest led the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which was crushed by Soviet tanks.

There are few or no signs of that previous destruction still in evidence. Today, you would never guess at the devastation, as the city was rebuilt, much of it in the ornate classical or rococo style that prevailed antebellum. Architectural flourishes, corniches, balustrades, statuary in niches, and ornamental balustrades are much in evidence in the city center.

Some of the more disreputable episodes in Budapest’s past have been turned to account and memorialized for visitors, with the secret police headquarters from the Nazi occupation preserved as a museum, and a garden of Communist-era statues, removed from more prominent positions, relegated to Memento Park on the outskirts. The Shoes on the Danube memorial places dozens of pairs of shoes, rendered in metal, where Jews were shot and thrown into the river during World War II. Even the dungeon where Count Dracula was imprisoned is on display at Buda Castle.

But these are exceptions. Strolling the city provides a cheerful, bustling, upbeat experience. Budapest richly rewards the wandering tourist, with manageable distances and many streets turned into pedestrian malls, making it an extremely walkable city. When you want to venture further, the extensive system of trolleys and Europe’s first subway system are at your disposal – and free to those 65 or older.

But Budapest is more exotic, more foreign than Paris or Rome. It’s a modern, cosmopolitan metropolis – the inescapable McDonald’s and KFC outlets attest to that – but the culture in this eastern European land has a little more of the Mongol hordes, Goths and Visigoths, and Attila the Hun than we might be used to. Although the tatted, dyed, and pierced Goth youths who can be seen hanging out in the city parks are actually a sign of the westernization of the country rather than the reverse.

Unlike in France or Italy, the local language is virtually impossible to parse or extract any meaning from. As an example, taken from a sign at the airport helpfully printed in English and Magyar, the admonition “only one bag tag” in English translates to “cask egy csomagcimke.” Easy for you to say. Magyar, or Hungarian, has unique Finno-Ugric origins, complex grammar, an extensive case system, and shares very few words with English or languages English speakers are likely to comprehend.

Luckily, a great number of Budapest residents will relieve you of the necessity of understanding their language, as they have taken the effort to learn yours. An astounding 44 percent of locals speak at least some English, according to the country’s 2022 census, and that is likely to be considerably higher among the service industry, retail, and hospitality workers a visitor is most likely to encounter. The problem is most acute when looking at signage and trying to decipher what they’re saying. Google Translate is a great tool for written or verbal interpretation, but it slows you way down.

Just as the language poses a barrier, the money can be difficult to comprehend. As of mid-August, one U.S. dollar has the value of 337.64 Hungarian forints (or HUF), so 100 forints equals about 29 cents. A meal that costs $25 will ring up as 8,425 HUF. So, while prices overall are quite reasonable, it can be hard to wrap your head around what things really cost. I’m still using a colorful 1,000 HUF note as a bookmark, and it looks like it should be worth more than three bucks, not less.

The food and drink in Budapest are widely varied, with restaurants offering Hungarian specialties sharing street space with international eateries. Goulash is world-famous, and the classic Hungarian version is a soup, not a stew, as often served in this country. Like chicken paprikash, another well-known dish, it is well-seasoned with paprika, the characteristic spice of Hungary, which has become a national symbol. To take some paprika home, we were told we could pay tourist prices in a souvenir shop or buy it like the natives do – at Aldi, located downstairs in the vast central market.

Instead of “breakfast at Tiffany’s,” we enjoyed breakfast at Spago by Wolfgang Puck, conveniently situated in our hotel, the Matild Palace. A rooftop lounge there offers views over the city and the Danube. Cyrano, in the heart of the Váci Utca shopping district, was another standout restaurant, where we passed on the attractive dining room to sit at an open-air table. Traditional meals are hearty, with sausage, pork, and stuffed cabbage playing leading roles. They are often washed down with the sweet Tokay wines the country is known for, the robust red known as “bull’s blood,” or one of the many varieties of palinka, the fruit brandy distilled from pears, apples, plums, quince, or apricots, among other source fruits.

Like the Romans, the Turks were serious fans of bathing in mineral spas, and Budapest is one of the most bathing-intensive cities in the world. The Széchenyi Baths, in City Park adjacent to Heroes’ Square, boasts ornate architecture featuring Ionian columns and sculptures of bathing nymphs and dolphin-riding boys, with 13 indoor pools and several more outdoor, filled by mineralized water boiling up from underground thermal springs. Taking the waters there is considered a “must” while visiting Budapest, but the crowd scene in the baths was reminiscent of the crush of boats at the southern tip of Keewaydin on a weekend during season, enough that we saw but did not bathe. The nearby agricultural museum, on the grounds of a moated castle complete with portcullis, provided a great alternative to pass the time.

Today, the country of Hungary has new troubles. Dominated by Victor Orbán and his Fidesz party, the government has undermined democracy and judicial independence, increased corruption, and curtailed press freedom. But for the casual visitor, these issues are beneath the surface, unless your visit coincides with one of the massive street protests, such as the Budapest Pride march that brought out over 100,000 earlier this summer.

Our visit to Budapest was the climax of our trip down the Danube, and this amazing city more than lived up to expectations. You could even say we saved the best for last.