Storyline: 2024 Fall trip to Europe
Sept 14 – Sept 21
We made it safe to Budapest on one of the last trains that ran from cold and stormy Vienna (snow to the west of Austria). What a change from a few days ago!
Big delay, but we were at Keleti train station and all we had to do was walk to our accommodation booked for a week. The apartment was co-hosted by two brothers – Peter & Joseph. We kept them informed about our delays, but until we pulled into the train station, we were not sure about our arrival time.
Joseph, was waiting nervously for us. A few minutes later and we’d know that he was a nervous Nelly, talking way too much and not listening to his guests. I had to interrupt him a few times to get the information I needed for our stay; keys included. It took him over half an hour showing a video of his daughter when she was two years old, and could point all the countries of the world on the map.
That all is really nice Joseph, but we are tired. We still need to find a grocery store. It is Saturday and we don’t know when the stores close. And is it like in Vienna, where all the groceries, most of the restaurants and other stores were closed on Sunday?
He then went on ranting about District’s referendum this week which would decide his business destiny. He (and I assume his brother) had 6 units in this and other buildings as short-term rentals. As in other popular destinations in Europe and elsewhere there is a backlash against short term rentals.
Those against AirBnb and others complain about difficulties for residents to find long-term rentals at a reasonable price, and about the mess that tourists often leave.
Pro short-term rentals tout the economic benefits to local businesses such a restaurants, bars, etc. If the community votes against, then our hosts would lose a business they’d grown over nine years… and he goes on and on…
Eventually I get some information and we really had to interrupt him, excuse ourselves and tell him that now we’ll have to do grocery shopping.
Groceries done; we settle for the evening. The next day, Sunday Sept 15th, we walk to the Parliament and the river. Angry skies hang over the Danube.
Last time we saw such an angry sky was in Thessaloniki in 2018. The sky then opened and poured barrels of water over the city. With no electricity in a dark apartment with little light coming through the alley window I had quickly packed and we ran through ankle-deep waters to the bus station. At least this time we only have to get to the apartment.
Evaluating the weather, we decided to have lunch in a restaurant we walked by. I had to try their goulash. Absolutely delicious and very different from what I remember from 1978 (lots of pasta and a few bits of meat).
Alex’s expensive chicken paprikash though had nothing to do with the paprikash we know. A cup of pasta, 3 small balls of chicken, with a dash of sauce that probably had some paprika in it (or perhaps the paprika had just been waved over the pot – A ). I cook paprikash at home with tons of bell peppers, so Alex was disappointed.
As mentioned a while ago, I have fond memories of Hungary, where in 1978 I tried to find my maternal grandfather. He had died in a small town Nagykanizsa, long before my attempt to find him. A year before I had started working in the Institute of Civil Engineering and Cybernetics. There was a long waiting list for an exchange program with the unions of a similar institute to ours in Hungary. But at the last moment someone from the selected travellers dropped off and I was the only one able to act that fast. So, I was in!
We spent 2 weeks in Hungary: one in Budapest and one in a youth camp on Lake Balaton. Of course, it wouldn’t be a youth camp if there wasn’t a discotheque. They were so popular then. It was Saturday, if I remember correctly and the disco was full of local young people. I asked a Hungarian fellow how to get to Nagykanizsa. I had no idea where it was, but knew it was close to the border of then Yugoslavia (close to the Croatian border). The young guy looked at his friend. “There is no way you can go there.” The conversations were in Russian, a mandatory language at the time in the former Eastern bloc. I had the address of my grandfather with me. Told them the story. They offered to drive me there the following day. To today I am grateful to these two strangers. They drove me not only to Nagykanizsa, which was on a road on the other side of Balaton, but also stopped for Tokaj wine degustation on the way. They found the house at the end of the city. A tiny-tiny hut like house. Even if I had found public transport, which didn’t exist, there was no way I could talk to the neighbour and get the story.
The young strangers translated to me what the neighbour said. Long story short, after the war and closing the borders, my grandfather married (not sure about the legalities because he was never divorced from my granny) a local woman. She had a son. This son was always afraid that one day my grandfather’s children will find the house and want to split the property. It was so small. There was no room for another person. And so, they were also relieved that no one was after them. I only wanted to know and tell my mom, if he was alive. By the evening, we were back in the camp. Never exchanged names or addresses. The next morning, they had departed to their respective homes. Don’t remember the car, but it wasn’t a Trabant.
Back to today. Still not understanding the magnitude of the storm elsewhere in Central Europe, we were lulled into exploring the city and me trying to discover the few places I still had in my memories from 1978.
Things have changed just a bit here. Couldn’t recall where exactly we stayed then, aside from the fact that it was in Buda. I remember though that we walked on the chain bridge from Buda to Pesta every day.
I also remember that the Parliament was under renovation. Glad to see it now in its full glory. We walked through the centre, which is near Váci Utca (utca=street), but the central department store I remembered from 1978 was either gone or transformed as everywhere to something else.
Tonnes of luxury stores now. Avoid eating in the area though because it is overpriced.
In the meanwhile, ÖBB kept sending me updates.
UPDATE: Trains do not commute between Budapest and Vienna According to information from the Austrian Railways (ÖBB) on Sunday afternoon, ÖBB stopped the train service between Hegyeshalom and Vienna from Sunday at 6 PM until Monday at midnight, and no replacement trains will be available, MÁV said on its website. MÁV said that all Railjet, Vienna EuroCity, Kálmán Imre EuroNight and EuRegio trains will only run to and from Hegyeshalom.
“International passengers, please postpone your journey and do not depart!” – they wrote.
Easier said than done. We had departed home two weeks ago and every transit is scheduled and booked. If we miss one train, then we’ll have to find a solution for that and any subsequent missed bookings.
We adopted the approach “We’ll cross this bridge when we come to it.” We still have time. In the meantime, I had come down with a bug and Alex followed me. Or perhaps he was just a day late reacting on the same bug.
In general, for the trains, I book first class, (it’s not much more expensive – A) usually the single seats by the window across from each other with a table in between. The only time I had second class was last year from Milan to Strasbourg, on a Friday and I regretted it. Milan to Basel was jam-packed, with people standing in the corridors and between the seats. This, the train from Vienna to Budapest, was the second time I’ve done it. Because of last moment booking there weren’t appropriate seats in the first class. Train was packed and a woman across from us was coughing. I suspect whatever bug she had came to us.
There are many places to visit in Budapest. Multiple huge spa houses were on the Buda side. I don’t remember such in 1978. There are hikes up the hills, lovely views and lots of history too. But with low energy we didn’t manage to cover much. Although we covered the basics. The Parliament, the Szent István Bazilika, Budavári Palota (Buda Castle) and more.
Just before the flooding, on the 17th we saw the shoe monument on the Pesta side of the river bank, between the Parliament and the chain bridge. (60 pairs of period-specific shoes made of iron and located on the river bank from where in 1944-45 3,500 people were forced to remove their shoes before being shot and their bodies carried away by the river.)
We covered lots of ground on the 17th. That evening the river breached the banks. And the following day (Sept 18th) everything was submerged. Water kept rising and we still didn’t know if we could leave on the 21st, when it was expected to be at its highest.
Rising waters unfortunately became tourist and sometimes locals’ attraction. Although locals shrug with “This happens every second year or so. We are used to it.”
On the 18th part of the lower-level tram lines were submerged and people found it easier to walk on the dry parts of the tramlines than finding other routes.
I believe it was on Sept 19th when we went to a local train station (Nyugati) and asked if our train on the 21st would run. “Not from here” the clerk said. “Oh, we know it is from Keleti, but we don’t know if the trains run”. The lady behind the counter looked and confidently said, they’ll start running tomorrow (Sept. 20). This is the best news we had for the entire week.
On our last full day, we did a lot of walking. We knew well the route to the Palace and the river, since we were 20 min walking away. We crossed the Chain Bridge to Buda, took the funicular up the hill, visited the Buda Castle, and walked down to the river.
One disappointing thing was that they didn’t sell one-way tickets to the funicular, although our hosts had advised us to only take the funicular up as it was an easy walk downhill. But again, we were tourists and it was either take it or leave it. We didn’t have time (and I wasn’t feeling well enough – A) to climb up, although I’d say it also is an easy climb, especially if you knew the lift locations that would bring you from one level to the next for free.
After visiting the Buda side, we aimed to find the Bulgarian Church St. Cyril ad Metodi. This is the first time Alex’s Google or sooner Alex (definitely me – A) messed up the information. As we descended to the river banks Alex told me it is just 15 min away.
Crossing Erzsébet Bridge, he noticed that the 15 min was driving time (duh! – A). It was actually over an hour walking. Just after the next bridge he said. I had a choice: walk by the river or inland. I chose the river.
Then it appears it wasn’t the next bridge, but the bridge after. (you know, like hiking in the mountains…the summit is just over that next [b]ridge – A) It wasn’t a big deal if this wasn’t our last day and I had to pack and prepare us for departure the next day.
By the time we found it (with intermittent stops for refreshment) it was already closed. I took a few photos from the fence and then it was time to find the metro.
One good thing about Budapest is that if you are over 65 you travel for free on their public transport. We took the train and although I knew the nearest to us metro stop, I got distracted and didn’t check Alex’s suggestion to get off another stop (did I mention I wasn’t feeling wellearlier? By this point I was almost delirious – A). I thought he must have found the faster way.
It was actually quite far from our home, but at that point we just walked. In this way we criss-crossed the city (or sooner the city centre, because the city is really big), saw the local areas, which we always try to do and at the end I had enough time to also pack (while I slept – A).
We couldn’t visit the Margaret Island, which is upstream from where we were, because due to the flooding the bridge to it was closed. We could have spent a lot more time on the Buda side, but at the end of the day I am actually surprised how much we covered given the flooded lower-level roads and our health conditions.
Aside from the sightseeing though, I found the residential areas in Budapest, at least in the are we lived (right behind the parament), quite run down. The apartment we rented was nicely renovated (some 9 years ago).
But the glorious building had seen better days. The stucco of walls were peeling, not only of this building but the entire area.
With all the dust from it we were not actually sure if it was some kind of virus we’ve got or our cough (especially Alex’s) wasn’t due to all the dust and mold in the streets we walked every day.
The last day we had plenty of time. We checked out at 11am. Joseph came on time (he had to clean for the next customer), but as when we checked in, he began chatting and I had the fear he wouldn’t stop. He lost the community vote, although only 26% actually voted. He began reading us his response on Facebook! In the end many cities have now banned short-term rentals. For Budapest it was only this district, not the entire city.
Too bad for his investment, but we could not help him and we had to go. I again had to cut him short, although we had plenty of time. We’d rather spend it in a café, which we did.
There is a lot more we could write about Budapest, their current political situation, which we felt a few times, the friendly locals and not so friendly service staff (typical for the old communist times), the youth feeling betrayed by the older generation stuck in the past. But we left our train station on time and at our age and health conditions that was what mattered to us.
Lovely captures. It was a totally different scenario the last week. We saw some debris from recent flood but otherwise it was all clear. The grey sky and rains followed us to Budapest and stayed there with us. It was nice that our hotel provided good big umbrellas.
Yeah, as we say, the joy of traveling during climate change. We were chased by wildfires here in Western Canada last summer and although storms are not new, the severity and frequency is. At least this is our experience.