2nd September 2018
I was jolted upright by the sound of the first alarm on my phone. Getting up after disabling all the subsequent ones, I rushed to get dressed and ready. I had signed up for a 3-round data mining championship with a couple of colleagues as my teammates, and the first round was an online aptitude test which had to be attempted simultaneously by all the teammates. I had booked the 12pm IST slot on 2nd September, strongly hoping that I would be able to get ready by 8am CEST on my second day in Hungary. I had coordinated with the hostel staff about my requirement well in advance and they had been more than helpful in ensuring that everything I needed was in place.
The plan worked pretty well, and after having attempted 60 questions in the next 45 minutes, I found myself ready to go out and explore. My cousin Rahul had suggested me a trip hack before I left for Europe – going on a free walking tour to get a dose of the history and culture of any new place I visited. Based on the experience, one can visit again the places they enjoyed, and thus plan the remainder of the trip. As it sounded like a good idea, I decided to give it a shot.
After munching on the packet of homemade theplas that mom had packed for me I began my journey to the Vorosmarty Ter, which was the starting point of the walking tour. I was drawn to a voice speaking Spanish quite audibly.
My assumption of that spot being the starting point was proved right, as the next thing I heard was “Well if you didn’t understand any part of that speech, I guess you are here for the tour in English.” A local guide named Zoltan walked up to each one of us and requested us to fill out a form to get started. His energy was really infectious – “Namaste!” he chimed, smiling excitedly as he read the form and explained the concept of a walking tour to the first-timers.
As quite a lot of people had turned up for the tour, we were split into groups and were assigned to different guides. This was when I met and chatted up with Putri, an Indonesian student who was almost the same age as me and had come to Europe for the summer term. She was studying International Relations and had just come in from Prague. We found ourselves to be in the same group and began our walking tour with our guide Susie.
I am intrigued by the concept of free walking tours – although working under organizations, the guides’ remuneration is entirely tip-based. This encourages them to tailor the tour as per the patrons’ tastes and incentivizes them to keep the tour really interactive and engaging. Our walk began with Susie telling us a bit about the city and handing us maps so that we could get an idea about the route we were going to take.
Budapest Eye
As we walked to the Budapest Eye she explained that the city of Budapest is actually divided into two halves separated by the river Danube and brought together by eight bridges and that our journey would start in Pest and end in Buda. As she spoke of the river cruise I was reminded of the magical evening I had less than eighteen hours ago.
Danubius Fountain
“There are two kinds of people in Budapest,” she jovially said “those who live in Buda and those who want to live in Buda” as we found our way to the Danubius Fountain from the Kempinski Hotel.
St. Stephen’s Basilica
As we passed by the marketplace nearby, we discussed a little bit about the local cuisine. After seeing the St. Stephen’s Basilica we Stopped by the statue of the fat policeman. Susie mentioned about how people rub his belly for a satisfying meal and his hat for luck in love.
Our tour guide Susie – with the statue of the Fat Policeman
Well, looking at his shiny tummy though, I am pretty convinced that food is love. Speaking of food, I learned about how paprika and sour cream are very important components of Hungarian cuisine. She suggested us to try out the local dishes such as the goulash and langos (which is a kind of fried dough) and to not miss out on the sweet treats such as the drum cake and the chimney cake either. For those willing to experiment, there were options such as the cherry soup available as well. She also spoke about how Hungarians love to party, and how every weeknight is as lively as a Saturday night. She encouraged even the non-drinkers to try and experience the ruin bars and taught us a few Hungarian phrases so as to sound polite. “Don’t leave Budapest without trying Palinka” she exclaimed while describing the local beverage which was made from fruits and had 30-70% alcohol content.
I found the walking tour to be a very novel way to experience history and culture – I would have enjoyed studying history in school, even more, had it been taught like this. Like India, Hungary has a really rich cultural heritage. Being close to the monuments was a really powerful and humbling experience, as I could physically reach out and touch the same monuments which have seen hundreds of years of history. For the next hour, I kept on wondering what the monuments would have said had they been able to speak.
Susie spoke at length about the Hungarian history. She touched upon topics such as native Hungarians being pagans, how Christianity had spread over time, how the country was founded by the Magyars, and how Hungary got its name from Attila the Hun. She had this uncanny ability to joke about serious things without being the least bit offensive. Touching upon relatively recent history she remarked how Hungary had a penchant for joining the losing side in wars. “World War I – they lost that. And nearly two decades later, they aligned with the Axis Powers because of the trade relations with Germany – and we all know how that worked out.”
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Our last stop before we crossed the Chain Bridge over to the Buda side was the Hungarian Academy of Science, where we discussed the language a bit. It is really astonishing how central the role of language is in our lives – and how many opportunities people miss out on just because they aren’t able to communicate with the outside world. Hungary is the birthplace of many inventions and innovations across various fields – right from the Rubik’s Cube (I was intrigued to know that the inventor Mr.Rubik actually lives right across the river in Buda!) to the ball-point pen, the soft contact lens, the dynamo, and the automotive engine. However, most of these weren’t acknowledged as the Hungarian language is a challenge to learn and speak. It is an agglutinative language, and the combinations of prefixes and suffixes can lead to REALLY long words! It was used as the language of the aliens in one of the Hollywood movies!
Walking across the chain bridge was another experience I cherish deeply. The statues of rock lions guarding the entrance of the bridge reminded me of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. It was really fascinating to know that the lions were installed in 1852 and their plinth at the Buda end contains the coat of arms of the royal family. Fortunately, the lions survived the Siege of Budapest, towards the end of which the chain bridge was destroyed by the Nazi officers.
I had fallen in love with Buda, and could finally understand why people wanted to live there. It was the diametric opposite of Pest – Buda was as classy as Pest was lively. It was graceful and dignified, hilly and green. The beauty of the situation was that the two halves of the city compliment and complete each other, although they seemed to be polar opposites.
The colourful and lively Matthias Church was my favourite by a long shot. The church was originally built in Romanesque style in the 11th century and was constructed in a Gothic style in the 14th century.
A major reconstruction took place in the 19th century, during which the roof was covered by the famous colourful handmade Zsolnay ceramic tiles. Usually, blending different styles leads to confusion. However, in this case, the confluence of architectural styles just left me spellbound. I ended up staring at the church and the spires for the better part of ten minutes and snapped back to reality when Susie bade bye.
I am glad I took the free walking tour – there were a ton of things I would have either missed out on or would have overlooked otherwise, such as the tree dedicated to Michael Jackson in front of the Kempinski Hotel. Susie answered my unending questions and helped me with a number of things – like where to go shopping for souvenirs. She also suggested me Nepfenyes Restaurant for vegetarian food, where I ended up going later. I just loved how passionate and proud she was of her cultural heritage. Her sense of humour was pretty much on point too, and she kept the group engaged throughout the three-hour walk. If you plan to go to Europe, do try out the walking tours with young energetic guides to get a dose of the city. Here is the link for Budapest Free Walking Tour.
- Buda
- Budapest
- Budapest Eye
- Budapest Free Walking Tour
- Chain Bridge
- Chimney Cake
- Danubius Fountain
- Drum Cake
- Fisherman's Bastion
- Free Walking Tour
- Gothic Architecture
- Goulash
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Hungary
- Kempinksi Hotel
- Langos
- Lion Statue
- Matthias Church
- Michael Jackson Tree
- Palinka
- Pest
- St. Steven's Basilica
- The Fat Policeman Statue
- triptobudapest.hu
- Vorosmarty Ter
A Roller Coaster called Life 