For some reason, flights to and from Budapest are substantially cheaper than those from any other city in the EU. This made me book a flight from Budapest in my recent visit to Europe. And, I decided to take a two-days break in Budapest as well.
My experience in Budapest was different from my experience in any other European city. It was also serendipitous that I was visiting Budapest from Denmark, one of the most egalitarian nation. Budapest is, indeed, a city trying its best to leave the era of the iron curtain and embrace the era of free-trade. But, old habits die hard. I shall give two quick examples of this, subtle but interesting. I took a shuttle from airport to my Airbnb apartment in the city. While dropping off a passenger in a fancy hotel, the driver saw a few black Mercedes cars parked in front of the hotel. He exasperated, “so many diplomats and VIPs”! This is a simple statement but carries a lot of socio-economic baggage in it. It shows that people see the weight in a black Mercedes and that people latently respect this show-off of wealth. This was diametrically opposite of the way people behave in western and northern Europe.
My next observation was on one of the streets by Danube where I witnessed a few new buildings whose walls were covered with granite blocks. This is the way people used to show off their wealth a few decades back. Now a days most people have realised that using granites to cover your building is environmentally bad and it is not really pretty. But, in Budapest, banks (these buildings constituted the new offices of a big bank) still think that there is a need to “look” impressive and that this is possible by using heavy granite rocks on your building!
Now, let us come to the nice things about the city. First of all, it has been a melting pot of civilisations and races and religions for a long time. People are almost colour-blind. They do not see your skin colour. English is spoken very well by most Hungarians I met. The city has a thriving cafe culture (as is expected of any Central European city). The city is on both sides of the great Danube river and the Danube mountain is a stones straw away.
It has an extensive and well run public transport system. However, the roads are mostly in need of maintenance. As you can see in the picture above, they are trying patch-work way to maintain it. But, that does not work in the long run. Many major roads have potholes which can be a menace during rain.
Back to good things :) …. The city is full of nice gardens. Almost every road has lots of trees. It is a very pedestrian friendly. People are really nice and friendly. The food is very unique. And, cloths are really cheap. Most branded cloths would be almost 50-70 percent cheaper than anywhere else.
Overall, it is an interesting city. There is a very good entrepreneurial spirit in the city with many incubation centres. I am pretty sure that the city and the country will regain its old glory in the near future.
