I’ve never been to Hungary eventhough it’s just about 2-3 hours ride away. But we got the perfect opportunity to finally visit Hungary when i found out that the Mumford and Sons which we both love are having a concert in Budapest. There were just 2500 tickets so we had to decide immediately. We got really excited so we just bought the tickets and started jumping like two happy kids. We payed 27 EUR for each ticket and then another 50 for a return train ticket. We booked a guesthouse near the concert hall so that we would be able to walk back to it.
Budapest has 2 million inhabitants which is about the same as Slovenia but on a much smaller area (525km² vs 20 273 km²). The city is on both sides of river Danube and the bridges across it are one of the main tourist sights in Budapest. What is today Budapest were once tri independent cities: Buda, Obuda and Pest. These existed untill 1873 when they were united in one big city and became the co-capital of Austro-Hungarian Empire in which it had quite a lot of autonomy. Then came the 2. world war in which about half a million of Hungarian Jews were killed. In memory of this genocide there is a House of Terror in center of the city. An important part of Hungarian history is also communism, which left quite a mark on the country.
It takes about 9 hours by train to get to Budapest. But we weren’t that lucky because we had to took 4 different trains and two buses to get there because they were fixing the railway. On our return trip we had to take 3 trains, 1 bus and 1 tram and we got a free tour of Zagreb and the border area between Croatia and Hungary. It was interesting to see a bit more of both countries.
Hungary is very flat and you don’t see much of the landscape while travelling on the train. Most of the time the railway runs by Balaton lake, which is really huge – 592 km². There are lots of holiday homes that were abandoned at this time of year but i can imagine how crowded it gets in the summertime. Anyways, i immediately loved Budapest. I was so excited about the subway that really brought up that happy little kid in me, i was literally jumping around with the biggest smile on my face and a singing heart. It takes so little to make me happy. They built the subway system in 1896 – only London had it already. I can’t really say what exactly it is about the subway but it’s just those rides and this system that is working so well. It’s quick and so nice. Budapest is very easy to navigate, even for me and i’m really bad at orientation. An evening walk around the city is very special because all the major buildings are nicely lit and it looks very majestic (though not very nature friendly).
If i had to describe Budapest in one word i would say “gracious”. The buildings are nothing special, nothing new and very much like those in our capital, Ljubljana, just a bit taller and bigger. But the spirit of the city is very relaxed and nice and that 2 million people are just nowhere to be seen. Nothing is crowded which i like because i don’t really feel very relaxed when there’s bunch of people everywhere around. I also didn’t get the feeling that there were tons of tourists, even the main sights were sometimes difficult to find because there were no signs. But that’s also why i liked Budapest. And it’s cheaper than Slovenia so that is another bonus. And on top of all that, the concert of Mumford and Sons was just amaaaaaazing and i loved every second of it. It’s such a great feeling to sing songs you know by heart and soul and to experience all that with your favourite person in the whole world. So THANK YOU BUDAPEST 🙂
