Budapest: a walking tour and some anarchists

March 25th

We took a morning train to Budapest and arrived around one. Our hostel was nice but much more like what I had expected of a hostel. There were a few dorms and the whole place (Leanback Hostel) hard more of a slightly shabby and relaxed feel than the previous hostels. It was in a building up about three flights of twisting stairs and very very laid back, so laid back, the staff was hardly even there, but more on that later. The hostel did have free tea and coffee all day which we definitely took advantage of.

When we checked in, the guy at the desk told us we had just enough time t get settled in and then catch an afternoon free walking tour from outside St. Stephen's Basilica. Of course, as students we had to take advantage of anything free. Te tour was a really good way to start off our time in Budapest and the guide was great. Not only did we see he sights, get some Budapest history and a list of famous Hungarians we got recommendations on how not to get ripped off and on what we should eat and drink in Budapest. Here are some pics from the tour.

Our guide pointing out one of those
"couples put their names on locks and leave them there for lasting love" things. She claimed it could be the first. somehow I don't quite buy this.

St. Stephen's Basilica

Kelly with a policeman statue

statue of a bird at the royal palace. It looks like eagle or something to me but it's actually a mythic bird, the Turul, which dropped a sword here indicating that the Magyars, the original Hungarians, should settle here. This was back in 896.
L to R: Rose, Lily, Kelly near the Royal Palace with Pest and the chain bridge (oldest bridge in Budapest). about time for a group photo don't you think?

monument to the plague outside Matyas Church. Our guide said there are supposed to be plague victims buried underneath it.

Matyas Church.

About the church: The original (13h-15th century) church had been destroyed when the Turks turned it into their Great Mosque in 1541. Then, the building was almost entirely destroyed in 1686 when the Hapsburgs were recovering Budapest from the Turks. It was restored again after damage from WWII. But today, most of this is a neo-gothic reconstruction from the late 1800s. I think that this gives you a pretty good idea of what Budapest's history has been. The church also has those cool tiles on the roof, like the church in Vienna. Turns out, these tiles are made in, or originated in Budapest and were so popular that they spread to other areas around the Hapsburg lands. Also the church is really really pretty. Just saying. around the back is something called fisherman's Bastion although no now is quite sure why it is called this. It was built to provide a nice back for the church and looks kind of like a sandcastle.

This is a bad pic of part of Fisherman's Bastion and a statue of St. Stephen, Hungary's first Christian King (1001-1038)

the President's house

our tour ended in some kind of cave maze that you can wander around in

After our walking tour we went to grab a light dinner (Hungarians eat their largest meal for lunch) and then headed back to the hostel. At the hostel we met a pretty nice anarchist couple. Now, my flatmates ere at Sussex are a pretty interesting if messy group but hands-down, I'm fairly sure these anarchists are the most intriguing people I have met in Europe. He was Australian and she was American and it seemed to me like e was more into the anarchist ting. They had hitchhiked all trough Asia and up to Europe and were working at anarchist book fairs. They had spent most of the time couch-surfing wit other anarchists they had met. The entire time we were wit them I wanted to ask "so, what's wit this anarchist thing?" They were very casual about it although the guy was really excited about some protest that was going to happen in London wile we were in Budapest. Anyway so we meet the anarchists and the guy working at the hostel recommends we go out to this bar/club down the street which he called "the most amazing place" and so we went and had a drink with the anarchists It was ok. Anyway, this is the story of how I learned a ridiculous amount about the lives of two random anarchists in Budapest. They seemed really nice though.

Here are some fun facts about Budapest
-It was originally two cities: Buda and Pest which were unified in 1873. The first bridge linking the two was built in 1766. They had bot been around since the 2nd half of the twelfth century. without a bridge.
-Budget flights from England o Budapest are pretty cheap and so is the beer. So, a lot of Stag and Hen (bachelor parties) from the UK fly over to Budapest. Apparently the streets of Budapest at nigh are filled with drunk Brits. Just like East Slope (Its their first year at university, can you blame them?)
-The original Hungarians, the Magyars, were from around Mongolia and related to the Huns. Thus, Hungarian is unrelated to any other European language and really nearly impossible for people to learn.
-The Turkish ruled Budapest from 1541 to 1686 and left behind things like coffee, paprika (very common in Hungarian food) and Turkish baths.