Is this the best city in the night?

Hé!

Budapest, the capital of Hungary is a city with a lot of history, interesting food and a unique language. Even though we stayed for five days, we were quite exhausted from travelling and explored Budapest less than we would have liked. We experienced a bit of culture shock coming from Austria, which was more peaceful, less crowded and had friendlier people. Budapest felt very crowded with a lot of tourists. In general, Hungarians are known to be reserved, and you have to know them or speak their language to have a fruitful conversation.

Budapest

Budapest has two main sides: the Buda side and the Pest side, separated by the Danube river. The people on both the sides claim that their side is better. The historical side with a lot of sightseeing is on the Buda side (including the castle district, Fisherman’s bastion). The more happening side, with a lots of eateries and pubs are on the Pest side. We felt Buda side was much greener and organised compared to the Pest side.

The main attraction in Budapest is the city at night. All of the important landmarks (including the gigantic Parliament and the ever imposing castle) across both sides of the Danube river gets lighted up after dark and it looks spectacular. I must say, it is one of my favourite night city views.

Hungarian People & Language

The Hungarian people are believed to have originated in the Ural Mountains region of Russia and migrated westwards to Europe in the 9th century. For this reason, the Hungarian language does not share common ancestry with any of the other European languages (eg. German, Czech, Croatian, etc.). This makes their language quite unique and interesting.

We faced a lot of trouble with Google Translate in Hungary, especially when scanning items in a grocery shop. The translation is either poor or flaky.

Hungarian food

Hungarians are proud of their food and mention that they love goulash (a meat and vegetable stew) so much so that whenever they travel abroad, they carry all the spices and ingredients with them. I guess Indians are similar in this regard. There are many different foods to try(mostly meat though ☹️ ), but we did try lángos and it was delicious. It’s a fried bread, with sour cream and vegetables.

Langos (Fried bread, with sour cream and vegetables)

Let me share you a couple of stories from the Hungarian history

Legend of Virgin Mary

Hungary was occupied by the Ottoman Empire for around 150 years, starting in the 16th century. The Ottomans were mostly Muslim rulers originating from present-day Turkey. Hungarians are mostly Christians, so they resented the Ottoman rulers.

When Ottomans conquered the city of Buda, the priests of the main church in Buda didn’t want the Muslim rulers to destroy the statue of Virgin Mary in the church. So, the priests hid the statue behind a dummy wall. Very soon, the Muslim rulers converted the church to a mosque. The statue of Virgin Mary was hidden and forgotten for the next 150 years.

At the end of the Ottoman rule in Hungary, the Christian liberators Buda to conquer the city from the Muslim rulers. During this bombing, some of the church walls collapsed, and the statue of Virgin Mary miraculously appeared. The Muslims who were holding the city saw the Virgin Mary statue appear out of nowhere, and their morale immediately collapsed. The city was conquered the same day by the Christian liberators.

Goulash Communism

During the Soviet era, a term was invented called “Goulash Communism” named after the Hungarian dish, goulash. This metaphor was used to describe the kind of communism implemented in Hungary during the Soviet era. It meant that the people of Hungary lived happily and could afford to eat goulash every day, unlike some of the other Soviet-bloc countries of that time, where people did not get enough food and had to ration the meagre supplies they received.

The Iron Curtain: A symbolic divide between Soviet-bloc countries and the West

Today, people proudly say that during the Soviet Era, Hungary was one of the best countries to live in among all the Soviet-bloc countries. Hungarians had the highest standard of living. It was also the easiest place to travel abroad and the quickest to get access to Western products and culture.

That’s all for now. In the next mail, I will talk about a ‘sea’ in Hungary (does Hungary even have a sea?) that is known for tourism even during the Communist era.

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