Budapest

There are a lot of really cool cities in Europe; most of them are, in fact. You have heard of all the big ones already, the major capitals and principal tourist traps: London, Paris, Barcelona, Venice. If you have already been to Europe or are planning to travel alot, you've probably also considered Prague, Amsterdam, or Munich. But don't confine your curiosity or your travels to the list of places you already know, because there are some amazing cities, particularly a bit East of the beaten path. My case in point is Budapest, Hungary, which is both the farthest East I managed to get, and one of the cities I was most taken with.

I went in late February with about seven friends at the start of a week that was going to take us along the Danube from Budapest through Bratislava and ending in Vienna. We didn't know much about it before we left, but a bunch of friends who had interrailed through the area strongly recommended it, and we had a Hungarian friend we planned to meet up with and get that native connection. We stayed for two and a half days, which is long enough to get a good sense of the flavor of the town, though a little longer there wouldn't go amiss. There is a lot to see, and good enough nightlife that you might not want to get up too early in the morning, if that is your thing.

Budapest's charm is mostly in its mix of modern cosmopolitanism and an antique milieu. Until the end of the First World War, it was the 2nd Capital of the Austro Hungarian empire and its architecture is full of examples of that Empire's 19th century pomposity. The country was communist until 1989, however, and maybe because of that seems to have less of a museum-like veneration for its pristine condition than, for instance, its wealthier neighbor Vienna. There was construction everywhere when we were there, which was in my opinion rather exhilirating than frustrating. It was really neat to see the process of modernization swarming around but not eclipsing the remnants of the past. A particularly humorous example came our first night, when my friends and I cracked up laughing over the bright red neon of a 'Szex Shop' sign, almost walking right past Europe's second largest synagogue right behind us. Budapest is full of that sort of juxtaposition between old and majestic and the slightly sordidly new.

Speaking of 'Szex shops', be prepared to be more befuddled than ever before by signs and menus. Hungarian is completely unrelated to the Indo-European language family that English is a part of, and even if you happen to be fluent in Finnish or Estonian, the differences and vocabulary and spelling make Hungarian a special case. Of course, if you are doing any significant amount of travelling in Europe, you aren't going to speak most languages you encounter, but the foreignness of Hungarian is particularly extreme. Your high school Spanish won't help here like it might in France or Italy.

The currency is also quite surprising. Hungary isn't yet part of the Eurozone, and I guarantee that the conversion to the Forint will be the most confusing you will ever have to deal with. At the moment $1 converst to 181 Forints, possibly leading to brief moments of terror when you see the price of a burger listed somewhere around 400, only to realize you are saving money. I recommend finding the exchange rate when you get there and establishing a quick rule of thumb (I think ours was 10 Euros to 2800 Forints), because if you try to work out exact conversions every time you want a cappucino, you'll soon go insane.

Oh, and when you are in Budapest, don't forget to go to the famous thermal baths. Hungary is situated on one of the largest hot spring systems in Europe, and Budapest capitalizes heavily on that. There are probably half a dozen different bath houses in the city, the largest of which are the Gellert on the side of the Danube called Buda, and the Szechenyi on the Pest side. Depending on who you ask, one or the other is too expensive, crowded, or touristy, but when you can spend most of the day soaking in lovely hot water for around 10 Euros in what is essentially a 19th century palace, I don't think it really matters which side of a river you do it on.