Relying on the Kindness of Strangers: Budapest revisited

We were last in Budapest in 1999 with Dan and Genny after Dan’s wedding. We remember it so well – swimming in the Gellert hot springs and wave pool, our visit to the fortress – we loved the city. So, as the Balkan portion of our trip began to wind down, we decided to come back.

As Pat said, we found a pension in Szentendre, Hungary, a northwest suburb of Budapest situated right on the Danube next to Szentrende Island, one of the more upscale suburbs. Easter Sunday afternoon, when we arrived, was cold but we managed to drive around taking a pretty good look at the area from the car and finding a bank machine to restock with Hungarian Florins – even their money sounds like a fairytale - but we couldn’t park the car because we lacked coins for the parking machines. We only had 10,000 fl notes (about $40). This would haunt us the next day when we were on our way to the city using public transportation.

As we waited at the bus stop Easter Monday morning - a holiday in Hungary and across Europe - we struck up a conversation with a 30ish guy named Zoltan who helped us figure out the public transport system – which seemed complicated to us When we climbed on the bus the driver sneered at our large bill and refused to change it – he didn’t have enough change. Zoltan paid our bus fare, - 700 fl or about $3.00 – and saved our butts. He was inquisitive, well travelled (he’s done an internship at U of Maryland in 1999 in Horticulture) and so kind. He walked us through the transfer from bus to metro that was necessary, sending us on our way still refusing the 700 fl. We promised to let him marry Genny…. Wouldn’t be a bad catch either.

Budapest is a city designed for tourists and well equipped to handle them. We opted for a “Hop-on; Hop-off” sightseeing bus that included a bowl of Goulash soup and a boat tour on the Danube. Pictures follow (and there are a lot!). 

Damn, I wish I knew the name of this building - it was magnificent

Parliament from the Danube - It's half a kilometer long

Another building we wish we knew the name of but it is beautiful

Liberty Monument, atop  Gellert Hill. This was where we had our free Goulash soup - more tomato-colored gruel with, count 'em, four small slivers of meat in a large bowl. Still, it was hot and the beer was cold and the view amazing.

Pat having warmed herself by holding her hands over the Goulash soup - it steamed up her glasses!

We think this was the art museum - but we're not sure because there was no Rocky statue here

The Square of Heroes commemorating those heroes of the 1956 uprising that so characterizes the spirit of Hungary. Pretty impressive stuff!

It was really cold – Pat bought me a 5 euro scarf that was a little femmie but warm. Still we froze until later in the afternoon when we sat in the sun alongside the river drinking beer. We then discovered a street fair with amazing street food. We sampled this cake thing that was dough wrapped around a wooden post and cooked over charcoal, covered with cinnamon and walnuts – to die for, seriously!

Making the cylinder cakes - tending the fire

They were piping hot when they came of the rollers.

Home to eat at our favorite Hungarian restaurant and our favorite waitress/bartender. And this was the other stranger who was kind to us. She took us under her wing, showing us the rabbits the restaurant had - petting rabbits on Easter is good luck in this part of the world, especially for the rabbits who avoid ending up on the table as an entree.Anyway, this girl also introduced us to the local Hungarian liquor, a fruit-based highly alcoholic drink that warmed us up. She also decided which of the many traditional Hungarian dishes we should eat and she was absolutely spot on in her choices. 


With such good Samaritans, we were well taken care of.


The adventure continues.... We'll tell you about the largest open-air ethnographic museum in Europe and Don's run-in with the constabulary of Slovakia in our next post. Stay tuned.