Thursday, August 18, 2005
Buda, bless us.
[tags: _travel]
Vanessa and I fell in love with Budapest in general and with the Sziget festival in particular, and I've been meaning to write in about the whole experience but Real Life keeps getting in the way. Suffice it to say, the weekend made up for the trials and tribulations of Friday (when Heathrow decided to fall over and die because no one could serve the crap canapes and sandwiches on board).
I first met up with Marie and Van after a nondescript flight out on Saturday and a bus and tube ride into the city center (Ferenciek tér station). A quick shower and change later, and we hit the streets and walked to the Chain Bridge (Lánchid). My first sight of the Danube, with Buda Castle in the background and the old style tram running past, was amazing.
A roaring sound in the distance, as we walked towards the bridge, turned out to be a helicopter shooting a scene for a movie, on the Chain Bridge itself. We thought it might have been Steven Spielberg's latest movie, although I really don't know anything about it - for all I know it could have been the climax to Jean-Claude Van Damme's comeback action flick. In any case the main bridge section was closed off and we had to walk on the side, the downdraft of the copter's blades was terrific and we couldn't hear a single thing.
Once we crossed over to the Buda side - as any guidebook would happily repeat, Buda and Pest used to be two cities until they were joined by the first Chain Bridge - we had some sausages, fries and veg from the roadside cafes and sat down on the bridge pilings for an alfresco dinner. The food in Hungary, is cheap, cheerful and hearty - full of good stuff like salt and cholesterol to get you through a festival weekend. After a couple of beers (and some necklaces which my two female companions lusted after), we eschewed the cable car and climbed the hill to Buda Castle.
The view from the castle was spectacular, the view from the nearby Fisherman's Bastion was even better. At night the ramparts of the Bastion were lit up and we stood on the walls and looked down on the Danube and felt, well, pretty fucking good.
Later on the chopper was gone from the Bridge and we enjoyed a gypsy jazz band who had gathered a crowd to themselves. Then it was back to the Pest side where yet another was being filmed, this time taking up the entire Andrassy street and causing us to detour. We stopped at a cafe for drinks (the aforementioned absinthe drilling a cavity into my forebrain) and staggered home with said Riesling and chips. A good night, and we haven't even gotten to the festival yet...
_travel
Vanessa and I fell in love with Budapest in general and with the Sziget festival in particular, and I've been meaning to write in about the whole experience but Real Life keeps getting in the way. Suffice it to say, the weekend made up for the trials and tribulations of Friday (when Heathrow decided to fall over and die because no one could serve the crap canapes and sandwiches on board).
I first met up with Marie and Van after a nondescript flight out on Saturday and a bus and tube ride into the city center (Ferenciek tér station). A quick shower and change later, and we hit the streets and walked to the Chain Bridge (Lánchid). My first sight of the Danube, with Buda Castle in the background and the old style tram running past, was amazing.
Once we crossed over to the Buda side - as any guidebook would happily repeat, Buda and Pest used to be two cities until they were joined by the first Chain Bridge - we had some sausages, fries and veg from the roadside cafes and sat down on the bridge pilings for an alfresco dinner. The food in Hungary, is cheap, cheerful and hearty - full of good stuff like salt and cholesterol to get you through a festival weekend. After a couple of beers (and some necklaces which my two female companions lusted after), we eschewed the cable car and climbed the hill to Buda Castle.
The view from the castle was spectacular, the view from the nearby Fisherman's Bastion was even better. At night the ramparts of the Bastion were lit up and we stood on the walls and looked down on the Danube and felt, well, pretty fucking good.
Later on the chopper was gone from the Bridge and we enjoyed a gypsy jazz band who had gathered a crowd to themselves. Then it was back to the Pest side where yet another was being filmed, this time taking up the entire Andrassy street and causing us to detour. We stopped at a cafe for drinks (the aforementioned absinthe drilling a cavity into my forebrain) and staggered home with said Riesling and chips. A good night, and we haven't even gotten to the festival yet...
_travel
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