Kamikaze Canuck

As our train chugs towards Vienna through the thick fog, passing bleak looking Communist-era apartment buildings, I have some time to reflect on our time in Budapest.

Meg sits in a coffee shop called “Alexandra” that used to be a fancy casino in the 1800’s

Parliament building from across the Danube river

Mattias Church

St. Stephen statue

“How the dog-gone-diddly do I describe Budapest?”

Well to understand this country, we have to understand that the past hundred years haven’t been so rosy for Hungary.  After world War 1, Hungary was punished for siding with the Germans and was forced to give up 60-70% of the country’s land to neighbouring countries.  Ouch!

Then when WW2 rolled around, they once again sided with the Germans.  In 1944, as the Red Army of the Soviet Union approached Budapest, Hitler ordered his soldiers to fight until the very end with no option of retreat.  He viewed Budapest as a key stronghold that could not be taken by the allies.  The Soviets encircled the city for 50 days slowly tightening the circle each day – This is known as the “Siege of Budapest”.  40,000 civilians starved to death during the siege and when the battle finally happened it was a bloody one that ended with a Soviet victory.

Soviet forces entering Budapest to “liberate” it.

After WW2 ended, the Soviets “forgot to leave” Hungary for 45 years.  From 1945-1991 Hungary was part of the Soviet union and Communism was forced down the throat of the Hungarians.  Anyone who questioned Communism was tortured, killed, or sent to the Gulag.

In fact, Meg and I had a chance to visit the “House of Terror Museum” where the Hungarian secret police or “AVO” tortured and killed Hungarians who questioned the new government.

.

The Hungarian people revolted against the Soviets in 1956 but the rebellion was quashed and all those associated with the rebellion were “taken care of”.

The decapitated head of a Stalin statue during the 1956 uprising

I know what you’re thinking “Thanks for the riveting history lesson Jason!”

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here are some thoughts on Budapest:

The buildings are amazing.

Neither one of us is an architecture fan really but it’s simply amazing to walk by these extravagent, centuries-old buildings and not be amazed.  As strange as it sounds, the architecture itself is almost worth a trip to Budapest.

Even the place we were staying at (The Kapital Inn) had cool architecture

The Opera House

Ruin bars

What the H – E – double hockey sticks is a ruin bar you ask?  We had no idea before we came here either.

A ruin pub is a massive, delapidated, old building that is decorated with junk and turned into a bar.  Often times they are many stories and have the square footage of a small Safeway.  Meg and I visited one called “Szimpla Kert”

Szimpla Kert

I had a drink called Unicum which is a super bitter Hungarian drink that was mixed with ginger ale and lemon/orange.  It made your toes curl up but was actually pretty decent.

Tons of cool Museums

We got a chance to visit an outstanding museum called “Hospital in the Rock” which was literally a 10km cave system that operated as a hospital/nuclear bunker from the 1930’s to 1991.  This cave system was a COMPLETE hospital.  I’m talking operating rooms, staff rooms, showers, janitor rooms, triage rooms, 3 different in-patient wards, the whole shebang.  200+ wax figures were inside the hospital to give a feel for what it was like during its operation.  After WW2, the Soviets turned it into a nuclear bunker and classified it as “top secret”.  We weren’t allowed to take picture but here are a few I found floating on the internet.

We are off to Vienna now!

Thanks to our hosts Albert/Paul at the Kapital Inn who made our stay in Budapest unforgettable in more ways than one!