Let me break the chronological order and come to the last place first - Budapest. I've been travelling for close to two weeks now - fatigue in my bones is probably an understatement. On my first day in the Hungarian capital, I walked towards the main square - till that point it appeared to be a charmless city with wide leafy roads and too much of traffic. There were some decent looking buildings and the girls were pretty in a shy sort of way. But that was about it.
On this main square, a horrendous accident had taken place which did nothing to alleviate my fast-souring mood (with wailing ambulance sirens and the police cars all around me). I was tired and a reasonably far way away from my hotel. I then decided to call it a day (in the hope that the next day would be better) when I decided to do one last bit of sightseeing - there were turkish-style thermal baths close to where I was. I walked into to have a look around - there was a long list of tariffs in Magyar - I was emboldened by the presence of a few diffident looking Indian boys who paid and walked in. Well if they can, so could I. So, I made the payment of 2600 Hungarian Forint and boldly entered.
Problem no. 1 - I had to change into something more appropriate for a bath - remember I was not sartorially prepared to go for a soak.
Problem no. 2 - I'm shy of public display of skin.
I somehow overcame both the problems - i'll spare you details of the logistical difficulties of before, just before, just after, and after I dipped into the bath.
There were number of rooms with little pools (all at different temperatures) and hundreds (i'm not joking) of people either lazing in the pools or wandering around. When I stepped outside, I was taken aback by what I saw - there were two huge outdoor baths with the most elaborate fountains and waterfalls and hundreds of people - some chatting, some playing chess (in the water), some drinking beer, some snoozing and yet others contemplating the meaning of life. Though it was quite cold outside, the water itself was around 35-36 degrees. I, despite the aforesaid fear of public display of skin and the fact that I am swimming-challenged, stayed in the water for more than an hour. I'm also proud to report that, unlike countless other who were holding their breaths while walking, I didn't have to do that as I've lost all traces of my paunch. Anyways, the baths (which I went for on each of my four days in Budapest) were easily the single most relaxing activity I have done in a long while.
Ok a bit of a rewind first.
I took an hour long train journey from Vienna to a town (village?) called Melk - it is (also!) on the Danube and is known for its 1000-year old Benedectine (something to do with St. Benedict) monastery. Monks have been living here for over 900 years. It has been done and redone up in the previous 300 years so it looks very colourful (quite unlike the dark and dungeony one where Sean Connery solved the mystery in 'In the Name of the Rose'). The town itself is as quaint as they come in the corners of Europe - narrow winding cobbled streets with tiny shops selling embroidered and wooden trinkets (run by cute old ladies who move is slower than slow motion). There wasn't much to do there apart from sitting on roadside cafes and watching the locals (who all obviously knew each other. Melk Popn: 6k) and tourists (thankfully no loud americans) walking by the corner fountains and pastry shops selling strudels and sachertortes. Though a lot of the architecture is old 16-17th century, the buildings have all been restored in the 18th century baroque fashion to give it a very rich look. All in all a very relaxing day.
Now onto Bratislava - it is the capital of Slovakia and is only about 50 miles from Vienna (actually Vienna and Bratislava are the closest capital cities in the world - if one doesn't consider the Rome-Vatican City connection). When the Turks overran Hungary, the capital was moved to Bratislava (How's that for history?). Anyways, when I reached Bratislava, I wandered around for quite a while at the railway station to catch Tram No. 13 to the centre of town. I could see trams going in and out of the tram station but I couldn't find a way of getting there! There was apparently a narrow alley between two buildings from where one had to take an escalator (a sign of things to come?). The short tram journey to the centre of town did nothing raise my expectations about Bratislava. There were ramshackle communist style buildings and the tram itself was falling apart (Somehow, the town reminded me of Ulan Baatar). Thankfully, the centre of town turned out to be a cute and agreeable place - colourful buildings, cobbled streets, and small shops (that seems to be the motto for this trip of mine!). The town really transforms itself at night when all the buildings are lit up (energy conservation doesn't seem to be too hot an idea in this part of the world). Touristically speaking, there is not much to see in Bratislava apart from
(1) Danube (yes, it was following me everywhere), and
(2) Bratislava Castle - which looks like an upturned table. It is currently undergoing renovation so I wasn't able to visit it.
What surprised me about Bratislava was that there were no Indians visible, and NO Indian restaurants (good cuisine obviously is not appreciated there. As of now, atleast). But there was a plaque commemorating (atleast that is what I thought ) a visit by Dzawaharlal Nehru, father of Indira Gandhiova!
Ok, now back to Budapest - As some of you know, Budapest is actually 2 separate cities - Buda and Pest. They are both separated by the Danube (again!). Buda is the hilly residential part which also houses the Castle (on a hill). The views from Buda hill across the city are really amazing - and it looks even better at night. Pest, true to its name, is the commercial and touristy part where all the visitors like yours truly spoil the character of the city. The city has large leafy boulevards and old baroque buildings (many of which are sadly crumbling) which seems to be the norm in this part of the world (so it has ceased to amaze me after 14 days).
The parliament house looks like cousin of the one at London but from inside this one is like a palace - it has very sumptious looking rooms and extremely rich interiors. There is small model of the entire building which was built out of matches (using over 100,000 matches).
It is interesting how people who speak an acquired language tend to use formalities and politesses which native speakers dont use. But in Hungary when they use those formalities they say it with so much of earnestness that it is endearing. The number of times i've heard someone say 'have a nice day' or 'thank you so much' and ACTUALLY mean it is really heartening. On a bus I moved to let an elderly gentleman sit next to me. He said 'Koszonom' (thanks in Magyar) a couple of times when he realised I spoke no Magyar. He asked me 'Speak English?'
I nodded my head in the affirmative
Then he said 'hello'
I helloed him back.
The rest of our journey was in silence.
Just when he was about to leave he said 'Good bye. Have a good day. Thank you. Hello.'
He used all the English words he knew to say bye to me. And he meant every word of them.
Another heartening aspect here is that despite the large number of tourists here, capitalism and greed don't seem to have spread their roots here (atleast as of now). The people come across as very simple and warm and one sees very few of the tacky in-your-face souvenir shops. If a person is begging he'll literally apologize for having to do so. And if you say 'no', he or she will still say 'have a nice day'.
And I won't be surprised if the person running a taxi service catering to tourists would gladly give directions to an alternative cheap bus service that runs from across the road and gives him competition. But I'm sure all this will change very soon. Sadly.
There were two other things that struck me about Budapest (apart from the thermal baths, that is).
Firstly, the number of bookshops. Almost every second shop is a book shop. People here must really like to read!
Secondly, the escalators to the metro stations are dizzyingly steep. Btw, there are three lines here (all of which intersect at the same station) and the first of these lines is apparently Continental Europe's first metro line
Well, as they say 'good things come to an end' - today was the last day of my holidays (sigh!) and I rounded up my trip with a Schubert concert in the main church in Buda.
