Culture, history and relaxation are all in a we e ke n d ’s grasp in Budapest, as NICK JENKINS discovers
O
NE thing all the guidebooks agree on is that a visit to Budapest is not complete “without bathing in one of
its world-famous thermal spring spas”. To be honest, we were in two minds about the idea at first. With just a couple of days in the city, did we really need to spend some of that precious time at a swimming pool? The answer, it turns out, is definitely yes.
We chose the Szechenyi baths, partly because they are the biggest and partly because – unlike most of the others, which are usually segregated – they are mixed every day, and we weren’t disappointed. Szechenyi is like no other public baths you
have ever been to: a glorious confection of yellow and white neo-Baroque extravagance. The minerals in the water are said to be good for arthritic conditions, and you can watch bathers playing chess while enjoying the soothing heat .
One fact that most people know about Budapest is that it is really two cities – Buda on the hill on the west of the broad Danube, and Pest on the flat eastern bank. Buda is the old city, with quaint colourful houses, and Pest is largely a creation of the mid-19th to early-20th Centuries, all broad boulevards, grand mansions and art nouveau. So what to see in a short stay? Budapest is certainly a city of museums. Whatever your interest – even if it’s telephones or marzipan – there’s a museum to appeal to you. We chose just two, both housed in imposing mansions and, conveniently, almost opposite each other on the grand Andrassy Ut boulevard, a World Heritage site in itself. The first was the Franz Liszt museum, in the apartment where the great composer spent the last years of his life. My wife – a former pupil of a pupil of a pupil of a pupil of Liszt – was in raptures. Over the road, No.60 houses a different sort of museum – the House of Terror. This was the HQ of the notorious Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascist party, and later, the communists’ state security organisations. The interior has been transformed into a breathtaking and very modern museum of totalitarianism, and it saves the best – or worst – until last. Most of the exhibits are on the upper floors and a lift takes you back down afterwards. But this is a very slow lift, and as it descends to the basement, a former official describes on video the horrific way in which prisoners used to be executed. History weighs heavily on the city. “The last hundred years have been turbulent for B u d a p e s t ,” I suggested to one local. “One hundred years?” she responded. “M a ny,
Budapest and the Danube. PA
P h o t o / t h i n k s t o ck p h o t o s .
BATH TIME
Sausage in Eiffel's Central Market Hall, Budapest. PA Photo/Nick Jenkins
many centuries.” Budapest was restored after the battering it
received at the end of the Second World War and is a welcoming place these days. You could just go there for the food and drink. The beer and wine are excellent, and you’ll
GET GOING
BEST FOR: A short getaway, with plenty of history.
DON’T MISS: The spas, also cake at Cafe Gerbeaud.
NEED TO KNOW: Don’t clink glasses – Austrians did it after executing Hungarian generals in 1849 and it can still cause offence.
TRAVEL FACTS: Nick was a guest of Cresta, which offers three nights’ B&B at 4-star Danubius Astoria Hotel from £296, ex-Luton with Easyjet. Regional deps incl Manchester (£360). 0844 879 8014 and
www.crestaholidays.co.uk
love the city if you like cake. Goulash soup is on every menu, but Hungary has a rich cuisine, making much use of pork, beef and veal. One evening, we ate in a cosy little restaurant called Spinoza in the old Jewish quarter, where we made sure we tried different dishes. Both were based on smoked goose – very Hungarian. For a cheap, filling lunch, go to the massive Great Market Hall, designed by Gustave Eiffel, of Tower fame, where upstairs stalls sell hearty food at great prices. We shared a plate of pork and potatoes for just 1,000 forints (about £3) and two large beers for the same again. Since the John le Carre days of the Cold
War ended, all the big international hotel chains have moved in, but you can still stay in places with character. Our hotel was the Danubius Astoria, built 100 years ago in the dying years of the Austro-Hungarian empire and lavishly decorated in marble, gilt and mirrors. It’s an old-style grand hotel of a type that is hard to find now, with a porter who materialises when the receptionist pings the bell. The hotel played a role in the Hungarian independence of 1918, the Nazi occupation and the Soviet crushing of the 1956 uprising. But if you find all that history hard to live with, you might enjoy the quirky and very modern riverside art’otel. American artist Donald Sultan provided all the pictures on the walls and wittily designed everything from the carpets to the bedding. A 24-hour Metro ticket (about £5) will take
you all over the city and make sure you use Line 1, which locals will proudly tell you is the oldest underground line in Europe – after London.
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