a blog of a clueless traveller.

I wanna start with a deeply honest feeling about Budapest: I could not get rid of all my bad personal stereotypes. I entered the Hungarian city with mixed emotions about people, culture and the country itself. My serious goal was to get rid of all those bad stereotypes which were fixed in my mind.

At my arrival I got to know a nice guy, but his English was terrible. We tried to have a nice conversation, be he could either understand me, nor could I  understand what he wanted to tell me. So was the language barrier with many people over there. Maybe that was also the reason for people not talking to me, but the locals I met where quite unfriendly and not willing to talk.

After some time of getting organized with all the first impressions of the city, I started my trip. I left the industrial street and the construction area around the train station. I went up to Gellert hill, where you have a gorgeous view of the city, further to Szenchenyi bath – a traditional oldfashioned  bath with thermal water. And later to the romantic alleys of the inner city. Dead slowly, I got to know the city from another view.

Since my friend Wilvie convinced me at night to join some street musicians who were playing sing-alongs on Vica Utca, I also enjoyed the evening. We had nice talks with the musicians later and went out for drinks. So I could at least get to know some Hungarians talking to me, having fun together. Their English was not perfect either, but they tried to make everything understandable they wanted to say.

Next day, I climbed the hill to the Castle district and spent a day taking pictures and walking around, non-talking. Only some Chinese tourists asked me for taking a picture. I did really enjoy the day, hanging out in the city and at the market hall. When I went to the train station to catch my train back to Vienna, I tried to draw a conclusion:

Budapest itself was really nice and although I didn’t like it from the first moment, I started to build up a nice personal image. Thinking back, I do remember nice alleys, oldfashioned buildings like the parliament, our nightly boat trip and the street musicians at Vica Utca, the walk to the picturesque castle and spring flowers all over the city. I am of the opinion that you can make the best out of every trip and every city – if you try. The only bad stereotype which is still fixed in my minds, is the unfriendliness of the people.  Admittedly, I might me spoilt by warmhearted Western Europeans, Italians, Americans, Asians, Canadians, Australians and others. But I do think that people could be at least a little more welcoming. Which doesn’t mean that I am judging Hungarians and their culture after spending only three days in Budapest. Not at all. I might even go back one time and continue the Budapest project, cause I am not really happy with the final result.

More pictures at www.claramaier.com