Dob Utca

Szia!

Saturday a week ago I found myself really bored in the late afternoon but without enough time to really walk anywhere far away like the castle, which isn't that far, but it's far enough that it was too far at that hour.

I decided to stroll down one of my favorite streets and take some photographs. The street is Dob utca. "Utca", pronounced "ut-sa", is the Hungarian word for "street", and "dob" means "drum".

The reason this is one of my favorite streets is that you can see a little bit of everything on this street. It runs almost half the length of the city, starting a few blocks from the Danube in the Jewish quarter, and running all the way down, across the busy Erzebet korut (Elizabeth boulevard) down towards City Park where it ends. If I turn right out of my front door and walk two blocks I'm on Dob utca.

Just to give you an idea of some of the things you see on Dob utca, a few weeks ago I was walking down it towards the Jewish quarter, but not in the Jewish quarter, and I saw a Hasidic Jewish man walking down the street pushing a baby carriage. He was in all black with the black hat and the ear curls, and he was pushing this little girl who was wearing all pink, in a stroller covered in monkeys and giraffes. It was so cool.

Last week I walked over to Muzeum utca to pick up some brochures for my class, and I passed a whole gang of teenage Jewish boys walking to school. They were dressed in all black, black hats, but they were smoking cigarettes and cutting up like teenage boys do everywhere.

A few weeks ago I was trying to find this Indian restaurant near the corner of Dob utca and Csengery, which is a street that runs two blocks parallel to my street, Izabella utca, and I discovered a little African enclave. There were a bunch of black guys hanging out, which you NEVER see in Hungary, and they were either speaking what sounded like an African language to me, or they were speaking English with an African accent. I noticed a bunch of little African markets, and then the next day, when I was poking around further, I discovered a little African community center. All just in a little two block region of Dob utca. The city is neat in this way, much like New York is neat in that different neighborhoods have distinct characteristics and you can see so much in just a few blocks. I would point out, however, that Budapest isn't typically as diverse as NYC, although this particular street is quite diverse from one end to the other.

When I got home from my picture taking excursion I looked up Dob utca, trying to learn some of its history, and I discovered a really cool blog called Disappearing Budapest that had a post on Dob utca. If you're really interested I would suggest you read this post. It contains a lot of good historical information and is a pretty good piece of journalism, whereas my blog is more my personal experiences in a given area, or a given street.

Here is the link.

http://disappearingbudapest.blogspot.com/2010/05/dob-utca-history.html

Now for my photos. I realized after I got home I didn't get photos of everything so I'll keep updating this page as I take more photographs.

I walked to the end of Dob utca where it begins at Karoly utca and made my way back, taking pictures as I walked. This first picture didn't turn out so well, but it's a multi-story building with Art Nouveau details around the windows and doors. It's hard to tell in this shot that it's anything out of the ordinary.

Across the street from this building is the coolest store. It's a brush store. The lady who owns it makes brushes of all kings by hand. She has paint brushes, hair brushes, shoe brushes, clothes brushes, scrub brushes. The window display is awesome, but these photographs didn't come out very well because the windows are tall and narrow, but the sidewalk is also narrow, and you can't stand in the street to photograph the display cases because cars whiz by a mile a minute and I've almost been killed several times crossing this street.  Sorry these aren't better.

Brush Store on Dob Utca

Another Shot of the Brush Store on Dob Utca

Next you pass the monument to Carl Lutz. He was a Swiss diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation. Like many European cities, Budapest lost the majority of its Jewish population during WWII. Prior to the War Budapest had the largest number of Jews of any city in Europe. Thanks to Carl Lutz some survived who probably would not have.

You can actually read about him on wikipedia. Here is the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lutz

The memorial to him depicts a person laying on the ground, and a golden angel suspended from the side of a building casting out a lifeline to the floundering figure on the ground. There is a plaque on the wall with a quote from the Talmud which reads, "He who saves a life is considered as if he has saved a whole world." You can tell that's a Hungarian anglicization of the Talmud quote, but it makes its point.

Carl Lutz Memorial

Another View of Lutz Memorial

Ground Portion of Lutz Memorial

Wall Portion of Lutz Memorial

A Fitting Tribute

Right across from the Lutz Memorial is this store.

Hus Market

I love the old school Pepsi sign. Hus means meat, in case those cow heads didn't clue you in.

The next little portion of Dob utca is covered with the craziest graffiti. Some of it is decoupage, and some of it is stenciled on. This mongoose is everywhere.

Mongoose with Jackhammer

Dob Utca Graffiti

Here's some more graffiti. These are obviously decoupage.

I Think That's a Syringe on Her Arm

He Likes Sci-Fi

Tic Tic Tic

Possibly some social commentary?

Haile Selassie 

Monkey with Spray Paint Bottle

Here's a shot of a little cobbled sidewalk off of Dob utca. All the little streets off Dob utca look this way.

Cobbled Sidewalk

Here is a vacant lot on Dob utca. You don't see many of these in Budapest but there are a couple on this street.

Vacant Lot on Dob Utca

Here is a shot of Dob utca when you start to leave the Jewish quarter and head towards the opposite end of it.

Dob Utca Towards Erzebet Korut

Here is the detail over a door. I could walk around Budapest and do nothing but take pictures of these types of details which adorn every building, doorway, no matter how poor or rundown the abode.

Building Detail

There are several day cares further along Dob utca as you start to reach Erzsebet korut which is a big central avenue that Dob utca crosses. Here is a sign for children.

As you move towards the center of town you also see some interesting restaurants, such as this piano bar and this Indian restaurant.

Piano Bar on Dob Utca

Indian Restaurant on Dob Utca

Maybe they seem so interesting because just a few blocks back you have Jewish eateries and Kosher bakeries. Like the Disappearing Budapest blog says, Dob utca is truly a microcosm of the city on a single street.

After crossing Erzsebet korut you come across a cool little building I discovered my second week here. It's a school, built in the Art Nouveau style with paintings adorning the front of the building.

Here it is.

Iskola on Dob Utca 

Door of Iskola

Stone Children Flanking Doorway