Budapest

You're right James, anarchy was a poor choice of words. I suppose repressive is more accurate. Thanks for the correction. While we are not "big city" fans, we have visited Rome, Milan, Madrid, Seville, Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Zurich. Compared to those cities, we felt that Budapest has a ways to go regarding "clean-up." However, as I stated the people are exceptionally nice and they are eager to speak English. I might add that all the food I tried was very good.

My wife and I were in Budapest for five nights this past May and also enjoyed it very much. You are right about the people being nice, and more people should visit. We did not get the impression that it was dirtier than any other big city, in fact cleaner than average with respect to the streets being free of trash and cleanliness of restrooms in restaurants and such. Did not notice the buildings needing a scrub down, maybe because it had rained quite a bit recently. Some of the 70's era buldings, including a few on the waterfront were pretty ugly though. The part about disrepair, I think is accurate but we attributed that to the lingering effects of economic underdevelopment under Communism. Budapest is such a wonderfully user-friendly city, with outstanding public transit, yet still very walkable in sections if you like to walk. The trams are great, especially the ones along the waterfront. Uncrowded and light traffic makes it even better. A lot of people used bikes to get around town. The bridges and the river give the town so much personality. The tourist atractions are not overwhelming, but that means you can just enjoy being in the place instead of ticking major sights off your list. (Unlike Rome or Paris where even with a week, you are going to miss some must sees!) That can be very liberating.

Being in the construction industry, I have a great deal of experience in what it takes to clean buildings, primarily using water pressure and expect there is a significant amount of work yet to be done to bring those magnificent structures back to their original beauty and grandeur. I agree that the past sixty-plus years of Nazis and Communists did nothing to maintain the city. We found a great place to eat, actually many places, all on a street named "Liszt Ferenc," I believe. There were well over a dozen restaurants on both sides of the street which has been closed to vehicular traffic and the street replaced with excellent landscaping. Budapest definitely deserves more visits from my wife and me.

This is the story with a lot of post-Soviet cities (or even most of them, I would hazard to guess). What the communists loved to do after descending upon a city is to install a ton of cheaply-built highrises and perhaps a 60s-SciFi-style TV tower, and no one ever did any repairs on those buildings. Especially the ones that were just giant concrete slabs pasted together like a gingerbread house. When I was a kid, there were buildings around ours where the slabs started to literally drift apart and were just hastily "re-glued" together. I'm from Moscow originally, and traveling around Budapest, Berlin, and (to a lesser extent) Prague made me feel like I was "back home" sometimes, with all those buildings everywhere. Moscow is finally getting around to knocking down a lot of those relics, so maybe there is hope for the rest of the former Eastern Bloc.

I agree, Budapest didn't seem to be dirty. There was a lot of unsightly graffiti around.

I don't think "dirty" is quite the right word. "Gritty" might be better - and then only in regard to certain locations, not overall. We found most of Budapest - at least the areas where they would want tourists like us to be most impressed - to be as pleasant as any large European city. But if you looked closer, you could see that some buildings had not yet been restored. However, we also went to two locations outside Budapest, and although these were both pleasant and quaint in their own way, there you could more clearly see little signs of distress or neglect. Oddly, the thing that I noticed most were the sidewalks, and areas nearby that were weedy and devoid of attempts at landscaping. It makes sense though, as things like that would be low priority and last on the list to see attention after decades of oppressive rule and neglect. But we found "touristy" Budapest to be every bit as presentable as London or Paris, etc.

This is the basic difference between Western Europe, which has basked in tourism for generations, and knows what they have to do to keep us happy, and former East bloc Europe, which is just getting started on this process. The Communists had no pollution controls, so the buildings are covered with decades of grime. Some of them have been cleaned up. others not. Enjoy it for the "reality" you are seeing. Why should every place be as "nice" as every other place? These are cities filled with real people, not Disneyland. They have many things to occupy their attention besides making the tourists happy. Of course, tourism is a lucrative industry, so in a few more years, you won't notice this to the degree you do now. And if you want to see an example of a city that's got fabulous architecture that's somewhat dilapidated and grimy, come to Philadelphia. We also have plenty of tourism, but most natives couldn't care less about keeping the tourists happy, and cleaning buildings costs money. We visited Prague, Budapest, and Krakow in the past year, and felt right at home!

I visited Budapest for five days last September. While I did not notice any dirtiness, I might offer at least one reason why you may have found it to be dirty. Hungary's economy is struggling. Many loans and mortgages were acquired from Euro zone countries, so the monetary values are in Euros, not Forints. The Forint sank in comparison to the Euro during the financial crisis and Conservatives succeeded social democrats in the Hungarian government. I'd not be surprised if the city government has cut costs on maintenance and upkeep. I'd not be too quick to place all blame on Hungary's socialist past. One thing that the Soviet countries did right was to invest in infrastructure, and Pest shows the evidence--broad avenues and squares, parks,museums, baths, good public transportation. Budapest is a wonderful city, blessed both by a varied terrain and a majestic river. I just wish I could have found an ATM at Keleti palyaudvar, but, I guess, the walk to Erzsebet ter did me some good!

I have been there a few times and most recently this May and I have to say I was shocked when you found it dirty. I never noticed anything out of the ordinary for a large city, but maybe, as usual I was wandering around with my rose colored glasses. Guess I should check my images and see how much dirt I took out with photoshop! Loved Budapest, and I think it is my favorite big city. Edit: Well, maybe it is now tied with Istanbul.

What would you consider the 'must see' events of your time in Budapest? Did you go to one of the baths?

Laurie: There is so much there that "must-see" is dependent on your interests. For example, if interested in any form of classical music then a night at the Opera is a must (seasonal, of course). If interested in history then there are many places to consider, with the House of Terror leading in my books. Architecture addicts will have a field day, especially on the Castle Hill/Vizivaros area. City park and the Szechenyi baths are a must (we bathed twice).The main bridges should all be walked. There are several fine museums associated with the Castle. For religion fiends, the Matthew and Istvan Churches, and the Great Synagogue.
I've only scratched the surface, and that is based only on our tastes. There is no right or wrong here.

In reply to the poster about Berlin v. Budapest, if Berlin is your favorite city, I think you will love Budapest also. Budapest has a diff. vibe than Berlin but I thought it was a beautiful city with an easy to use public transportation system. I did not think it was dirty at all for a large city but in general it seems to me that a lot of people always want to give the ex-communist countries this description. ( I think another poster already explained all this) If you do go you should check out Kerepesi cemetery (near Keleti train station) it sounds strange, but it is a huge, beautiful cemetery with lots of unique tombs. They give tours but I think you need to call or email ahead of time. The area around the cemetery was "gritty" LOL

I think they call it "la patina del tempo" in Italy!

Dirty? yup; impoverished dirt. The Hungarians are trying hard to hang on to their history but until the economy improves these buildings will just have to wait. Where the Hungarians can make a difference they do. At least once a week they come and clean the city streets. Well, I'm not certain of the extent. I do know that the sweep and wash Andrassy ut (a major tourist street) and the street my apartment is located on, Vasvari Pal utca ( a narrow little side street that most people don't know exists). I assume they get most of the rest as well. Rather than concentrate on the decay that is there look and discover the history in the decay. For instance there are some buildings behind the opera house that are riddled with bullet holes. WWII? 1956? Doesn't matter, makes you feel that much closer to both. This is a place of living history. It's not in a museum under glass; it growing all around you as Budapest struggles to transition from 1930 to the present. I tell people it can be eerie. At time you can find yourself rooted in the 21 century with technology that rivals anything in the world while at other times you are dead certain that it's still 1938; and its not all the "architecture", it is as much in the tastes and attitudes of the people. What is wonderful is given a few days you can become part of it and examine it from the inside out as opposed to being some distant third party wandering a museum. Gritty is a good word I guess but even the worst are areas like District VIII are full of wonderful surprises of survival and renewal. Oh, yes, in three decades of travel I have never met better people.