Budapest (1 Viewer)

[swingkid]

anyone ever been? (rimbaud?)
what you think?
recommendations, tips?

thanks....

 

[Wavioli]

i was there for a couple of days a few years back, the citadel is cool. But Im sure you dont need me to point you in the direction of that...

 

[taubstumm]

i was there with r. on september 11th 2001. we spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what the fuck was going on in the world, via snippets of french television. actually, i used thumped to figure out what was happening. we bless you, pete brady, saviour of travellers.

we were trying to move out of a grotty hostel and into a hotel at the time. we eventually got a room in the gellert hotel, right on top of the citadel. cool as fuck; it was an old fortress so the walls were all five feet thick and the outside had all these blast-marks from various wars. dead cheap, as well.

try and go to the communist statue park. some enterprising type rounded up all the stalins and lenins after 1990 and put them in a park, and now charges people in to see them. capitalist prick. the funny thing is that the communist government didn't actually want people reading too much about communism, so there weren't any statues of marx or engels. so the statue-park-guy had to get two big statues of marx and engels commissioned, in order to round out the show.

the taxi drivers are all crazy, we got more than one that was drunk.

you can go paddling in the danube.

lots of homelessness and mankiness, all very post-communist. we were walking past a block of flats and saw this woman gesturing frantically to us - she was pointing up to where a section of the wall had just collapsed onto the pavement from fifty feet up. we crossed the road.

 

[broken arm]

Pest is pretty - Buda aint. although I like Buda

the baths are amazing. one in particular - can't remember the name. I'll try and find out.

The metro is dinky. validate yer ticket!!

old people there are really friendly for some reason.

if memory serves me correctly there is a strip club in Pest where the laydees firebreathe while dancing on the bars and shit.

 

[Rimbaud]

anyone ever been? (rimbaud?)
what you think?
recommendations, tips?

thanks....

I was in the airport for an hour waiting for a connecting flight....thats as far into Hungary as i got really!
Although i did get robbed by someone from Hungary years ago in Czech republic.

Pest is pretty - Buda aint. although I like Buda

the baths are amazing. one in particular - can't remember the name. I'll try and find out.

I read an article about the baths - sounded pretty damn great alright!

 

[MDR]

I stayed in a place called Charles Apartments, which is just over the river in Buda. Clean and affordable and staff speaka de english. The shopping part of Pest is like grafton street. the language is impenetrable. Margaret island is like the phoenix park. Go to the baths. All in all, 3 1/2 stars out of five. I was there in 2000 I think and food was crap, but I've heard it's better now.

 

[crumb]

Hi

This might be useful. Here is a list of good bars/restaurants. My mates have lived there for 12 years. Some of these squat bars could have been shut down by now but more will have reopened somewhere else. On the gig front there really is only a deadly ska band. Margaret Island has a music festival on in August. Sonic Youth did one of them, I don't know who is on the line up for this year. You can pm near me nearer the time that you go and I can ask my friends to redo the list.

Good bars Csiga Cafe, Rakoczi ter (Oran's place), 8th district (4 or 6 tram to Rakoczi ter)
West Balkan (Behind the Corvin cinema, just off corvin ter - no sign on the door looks like your going into a house) 8th district (Blue metro to Ferenc Korut) (Where we were playing table football)

Castro, Raday u, 9th district (Blue metro to Kalvin ter) - good meaty serbian food here also

All of these bars are in the 7th district behind the synagogue - easy walking from centre and between them

Szimpla Kert, Kazinci u. (summer palce they put a roof on - we were there Laura)

Szimpla, Kertesz u. (another bar the same guys have)

6tus (the sistine chapel), Nagydiofa u. 26

Sark, Klauzal ter

Kuplung, Kiraly u (I've never been but heard its good)

Restaurants

All of these are good price /quality ratio, i.e. well cheap by irish standards

Okay Italia, Nyugati ter (6th district) (blue metro)

Bohemtanya, Paulay ede u. (metro to deak ter - Good quality hungarian, i.e. meat, meat and more meat)

Vista Cafe (international bistro style - literally across the street from last restaurant)

Kadar etkezde, Klauzal ter (If you want a taste of old school hungary - it's a place for lunch - closed by 5 every day)

Al Amir Bufe, Kossuth Lajos u. (5th district) (Blue metro to ferenciek tere or just walk down vaci utca) - great arab/syrian food - good veggie stuff and again good for lunch.)

Momotaro, Szechenyi utca (5th district) (Red metro to Kossuth ter) - excellent chinese/japanese style place - no sign outside just a chinese lantern.



Baths
Széchenyi are the best and play some chess against the locals while drinking beer.

 

[swingkid]

wow, thanks a lot for all your help...

 

[HalfHunter]

wow, thanks a lot for all your help...

are you going to see a band?

 

[swingkid]

are you going to see a band?

if i can help it...

 

[La La]

i was there with r. on september 11th 2001. we spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what the fuck was going on in the world, via snippets of french television. actually, i used thumped to figure out what was happening. we bless you, pete brady, saviour of travellers.

we were trying to move out of a grotty hostel and into a hotel at the time. we eventually got a room in the gellert hotel, right on top of the citadel. cool as fuck; it was an old fortress so the walls were all five feet thick and the outside had all these blast-marks from various wars. dead cheap, as well.

try and go to the communist statue park. some enterprising type rounded up all the stalins and lenins after 1990 and put them in a park, and now charges people in to see them. capitalist prick. the funny thing is that the communist government didn't actually want people reading too much about communism, so there weren't any statues of marx or engels. so the statue-park-guy had to get two big statues of marx and engels commissioned, in order to round out the show.

the taxi drivers are all crazy, we got more than one that was drunk.

you can go paddling in the danube.

lots of homelessness and mankiness, all very post-communist. we were walking past a block of flats and saw this woman gesturing frantically to us - she was pointing up to where a section of the wall had just collapsed onto the pavement from fifty feet up. we crossed the road.

i had just left budapest and was on my way to prague when the whole 9/11 thing happened....and everything you mentioned is what i did in budapest too.

i also had sex with the hot guy who was sharing the hostel room with me in my tiny bunk bed. which was wonderful, until we woke up the next day riddled with bed bug bites.

 

[Wheels]

Gonna be there for three nights at the weekend, anyone been recently? I'm trying to work out how much Forints to get. Thinking €200 should be enough?

 

[Cara]

Lived in Hungary a couple of years ago, Budapest is lovely. Where are you staying? You can get three day travel passes, which are handy, and if you're using public transport be very careful that you have a proper ticket, because they a ruthless about that, it doesn't matter whether you can speak the language or not, you'll have to pay the fines if you don't have a ticket.

That should be a fine amount for bringing with you, Budapest isn't as cheap as the rest of Hungary, but it's still cheap in comparison to Ireland. When you're there you should go to the baths, for certain sure, go have cake in Gerbauds on Vorosmorty Ter, walk to the top of St. Stephens basilica and bring your camera, go to the castle on Buda, drink palinka, lots and lots of palinka, there's a really nice pear one called vilmoskotre, the apricot one is nice too.

The language is pretty indecipherable, apparently htere are similarities between it and Finnish, anyway, some basics are

kosonom- thank you, or kusi, if it's informal, with someone your own age like

bocsanat, nem beselek Magyarul (pronounced bochanat, and Majarool, the rest is pretty much the same) which is I'm sorry, I don't speak Hungarian, probably the phrase I used most when I was there

beer is sor (like sure), that's pretty essential

 

[Wheels]

Lived in Hungary a couple of years ago, Budapest is lovely. Where are you staying? You can get three day travel passes, which are handy, and if you're using public transport be very careful that you have a proper ticket, because they a ruthless about that, it doesn't matter whether you can speak the language or not, you'll have to pay the fines if you don't have a ticket.

That should be a fine amount for bringing with you, Budapest isn't as cheap as the rest of Hungary, but it's still cheap in comparison to Ireland. When you're there you should go to the baths, for certain sure, go have cake in Gerbauds on Vorosmorty Ter, walk to the top of St. Stephens basilica and bring your camera, go to the castle on Buda, drink palinka, lots and lots of palinka, there's a really nice pear one called vilmoskotre, the apricot one is nice too.

The language is pretty indecipherable, apparently htere are similarities between it and Finnish, anyway, some basics are

kosonom- thank you, or kusi, if it's informal, with someone your own age like

bocsanat, nem beselek Magyarul (pronounced bochanat, and Majarool, the rest is pretty much the same) which is I'm sorry, I don't speak Hungarian, probably the phrase I used most when I was there

beer is sor (like sure), that's pretty essential

Nice one Cara. I'm staying in Bródy Sándor, so will definitely be getting the travel card. I was in Budapest about 10 years ago, and remember it being fairly cheap but was wondering if it'd changed much price-wise.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Goff]

Gonna be there for three nights at the weekend, anyone been recently? I'm trying to work out how much Forints to get. Thinking €200 should be enough?

So am I and that's about the amount of Johnny Forints I'm bringing. Plus me Cirrus Card just in case.

 

[krystal]

what happened to the old budapest thread? I need to find a link I posted in it,

ps. it's also worth nothing that hungary is in central europe.

 

[Cara]

what happened to the old budapest thread? I need to find a link I posted in it,

ps. it's also worth nothing that hungary is in central europe.

If it's worth nothing why mention it?

 

[krystal]

If it's worth nothing why mention it?

durr. NOTING

 

[pete]

what happened to the old budapest thread? I need to find a link I posted in it,

ps. it's also worth nothing that hungary is in central europe.

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=58691

and i take my geography cues from the warsaw pact

 

[Wheels]

I had a great time there at the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed the Széchenyi spa again, less so the Gelert baths. The castle was amazing, as was the view from St Stephen's Basilica. Without an alternative guide to one in our very lovely private hostel room, we found it hard enough to find really authentic eating/drinking experiences. However the slightly more touristy places were fine, and we went on the goulash the last night. We were forewarned about the service staff in Hungary, but jaysus they're some cunts! Have to watch them on their tipping policy too, we nearly got slyed into leaving double at one place. On the plus side, it's a very safe city and extremely easy to get around.

Had lunch here too!