Hello Readers,
I thought I'd get the boring stuff over quickly. It may be boring but I think some of this stuff is helpful to understand. These are all the details about how Budapest is set up, where I live, etc.
Budapest was two cities on two sides on the Danube, Buda, and Pest, until 1873 when the city was united. People here tend to think of things as being on one side of the river or the other, and both sides definitely have their distinct characteristics.
When you read about them in the guidebooks you will read that Buda was the home of the aristocracy and Pest was the home of the "working class" and the impression this manages to convey, at least to me, is that one side of the river is gorgeous an the other side a dump, and that's definitely not the case.
What you would notice off-hand if you came here is that the Buda side is a series of hills overlooking the Danube, and if you walk across the river to that side, you notice almost immediately that the Buda side has hills and curvy streets, whereas Pest is flat and many, although not all, of the streets tend to be laid out in more of a grid pattern. The streets of Buda are often flanked by steps instead of sidewalks since you are either going up or down instead of just walking along, and there are interesting little stairwell alleys and cut-through paths.
Because Buda is the home of the Castle, as well as the original Roman settlement that Buda sprang from, Anquicum (which is in an area of Buda they call Obuda, or Old Buda) it definitely has an older feel to it. An ancient feel in some places. Some neighborhoods just seem like older neighborhoods that used to be nice and are now a little shabby----more homes and houses as opposed to apartment buildings full of flats. I don't mean to imply that you don't see apartments in Buda, I simply mean you don't see street after street full of large apartment buildings dating from the mid-19th Century like you do in Pest. The part where the Castle is, however, feels like something out of a fairy tale or ancient European history. It's a stronghold on top of the hill with fabulous architecture and statues and the neighborhood near the castle is one of old houses close together on cobbled streets. Trees sway by fountains in little squares, and there are gorgeous views of the river and Pest, or parts of Buda, depending on which side of Castle Hill you are on. There is always a pleasant breeze blowing off the river, even in the hottest part of summer.
Pest has much wider boulevards in some areas, and many more large squares, broad boulevards, and open spaces. The embassies are here (I say here because this is my side of the city), the shopping district with the obligatory stores like Addidas and Prada is here (Andrassysy utca), as well as the streets and squares with a lot of the touristy things like the Hard Rock Cafe (Vorosmarty ter) and store after store selling t-shirts and magnets and hats and postcards (Vaci utca). The Opera is in Pest, as are most of the art museums and Hungary's National Museum (although the Magyar National Gallery in in part of the Castle). The large Central Market is also in Pest. Pest is home to the Jewish quarter which is near my house which is a series of narrow streets with kosher restaurants and bakeries. More on that later.
I live in Pest and I love it. I live on Izabella, off Andrassy, which is sort of the Champs Elyssees of Pest. Andrassy is a huge wide street that culminates in one end in Heroes Square and City Park, which is a large beautiful park flanked by museums and a zoo. I also live near Kiraly utca which is a long street that runs parallel to Andrassy from the park almost down to the river. I'm actually between Andrassy and Kiraly. My end of Kiray tends to be a little more working class, with neighborhood shops, gyro stands, and small groceries, but if I follow it towards the Jewish quarter it starts to get really hip with some neat restaurants and bars and cool shops, like Lulu Dog, which is a doggie boutique. Everyone here has dogs. EVERYONE.
Buda is lovely in places, but it definitely has more the feel of middle-class, family-oriented neighborhoods, or the older homes of wealthier citizens. One does not see as many bars, clubs, cool restaurants, etc. although there certainly are bars and shops, just not as many. I'm right in the middle of the action. There is a huge gay population in my neighborhood, as well as lot of young people. There are three universities in Pest including Corvinus and Central European University. The area near my neighborhood is a very hip, cool, environment with lots of bars, clubs, cool restaurants, etc. I live near Liszt Ter, or Liszt Square, as we Americans would say, and it's a gorgeous pedestrian street with lots of outdoor restaurants and cafes and there are some good book shops nearby. You see a lot of out-of-towners here. I think it's hilarious but I live near Oktogon, which is a large traffic circle, so if I head toward Oktagan from my house I pass a TGI Friday's, and across the street from it is a McDonald's, a Burger King, and a Subway. If I head down Kiraly towards the Jewish quarter I pass a Starbucks and a KFC. This is not to say my neighborhood is Americanized. It's not. I live a block away from a park where a lot of Gypsies, or Roma, as they are called, hang out. I have an outdoor farmer's market which is right next to a huge indoor market, just a block away. It's just that I'm a few blocks from the "main drag", however, which is where all these American restaurant chains are. I must admit, as much as I hate American chains and fast food in general, it is sometimes comforting to see the familiar face of Colonel Sanders and the familiar sight of those Golden Arches, although I have not ventured into any of these places. Except Starbucks. When I first got here I used their free wireless. You can always count on Starbucks for that. If I ever miss hearing English spoken I could always go in there, although I have missed it on occasion, and have not gone in there. I'm trying to be strong, plus I'm worried if I give way to missing home too much I might have to hop the next flight back to RDU. But you can count on the American tourists and backpackers to hit up Starbucks.
I won't dwell on the hopping the next flight urge, but it has hit me once or twice. It's very hard when you live somewhere and don't speak a lot of the language. I have learned a fair amount, and I'm very proud of what I've leaned because I've learned it all on my own, with the help of kind people in the market and the shops, but sometimes you just want to cut loose and really converse, and it's hard to do that when you don't know anybody, and when everybody is speaking a language you are not fluent in. And if one more person tells me to get out of the house more often or talk to more people I'm going to SCREAM. I talk to a lot of people and I spend the bulk of my time out of the house. t's not people I miss, it's certain people. Those of you living near family and friends who don't go for three hours at a time without talking to someone who truly knows you shouldn't underestimate being somewhere where nobody would really know if you dropped off the face of the earth or not. It's a weird feeling being so unconnected to anybody. I do have friends here but they have young children and live far away from my house, so, it's not like I'm hanging out with them everyday. Or even every week. I might go for days and not talk to anybody except for people in stores and restaurants, such as my butcher or a waiter, and that's harder than you might think.
In any case, that's the lay of the land so to speak. In my next post I plan to summarize briefly all I've done between arrival and today, and from that point on perhaps I will get in the habit of posting my outings on a day to day basis so I won't have to go back and summarize everything that happened in 6 weeks.
Until next time. . .
