Have U ever been to Hungary?

[Gyuribá]

let me hear your stories...

 

[Uncle Buck]

Yes, 1999 for the Hungary v England match in the Nep Stadion. Getting on to the underground after the game and some nice local threw a CS gas cannister on to the platform. Beyond that Budapest was a cracking city.

 

[Gyuribá]

yeah, after the match sometimes I get scared from the ultras for all that Im hungarian too...

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Three days in Budapest in 1993 at the time of the Grand Prix (although that wasn't the reason I was there). A fine city, great food, very cheap. I stayed in a city centre apartment that I found through a woman who was offering accommodation at the railway station. Two Russian prostitutes were sharing the kitchen with me!

 

[Gwylan]

yeah, quite a few times. First went in 1988 and have been back very few years since then. Budapest is possibly my favourite city in Europe.

Love the Turkish bathhouses and sprawling out in the Széchenyi baths watching the chess players. Also discovered a good club last time, the Fono Club, watched a hot jazz quartet there.

Never seen football there though.

 

[Gyuribá]

that's your luck Gwylan

hungarian football, ehhh

 

[tricky]

Went on a boys trip there a couple of years ago and had a great laugh.
Shame it was outside the football season but did see some of the stadiums as our hotel was opposite the Ferencvaros stadium.
Do remember that we did end up walking around for ages trying to find restuarants every night.
Did get scammed at a "late night gentlemens club", we didn't mind so much getting overcharged but then the bouncers got quite agressive and almost started a fight. Quite lucky we kept our heads as they had paid for some coppers with guns to wait for us outside.
All in all, a great weekend and lots of fun.

 

[Gyuribá]

 

[Brixton Seagull 2]

I was in Budapest in March this year when it was snowing. It's a beautiful city, although I spent most of my time in dubbing studios so didn't get to do the whole tourist thing. I was told to avoid the Baths on the grounds that they are gay pick up joints The other funny thing was the really pushy prostitutes outside the hotel who didn't seem to want to take no for an answer I did eat lots of traditional Hungarian food though, which is nice and the local beer is fantastic. I had one cultural evening at the Music Academy which is a great concert hall.

 

[Gyuribá]

I dont like most of the traditional hungarian food. Theyre too fatty for me...

prostitutes- The Rákoczi Square is a legend

local beer- not too much hungarian beer, just Soproni Ászok, Kanizsai, Arany Ászok, Borsodi... i think theyre getting out of favour, Heineken, Gösser and Stella Artois coming into fashion

 

[aftershavedave]

budapest is fantastic, we had a great time in March also.

gundel is eastern europe's finest restaurant and does a wicked sunday lunchtime special buffet (foie gras, caviar etc) and a cup of champagne for about £10. v highly recommended.

 

[Gyuribá]

and in our TV's complaining about that in western Eurpope people think that Hungary is a poor, smelly, gray boring country...

 

[Soton Seagull]

Went to Budapest during Euro 2000. Watched the final in an Irish Bar with Hungarian commentary, which was quite bizarre.

Beatiful City, quite hard to find decent pubs though!

Alternatively , on the night of the final, I could have gone to a free open air Pet Sop Boys concert, to celebrate a decade of freedom in Hungary!

 

[the full harris]

I stopped in Budapest on the way to and from Romania (So I guess that means I have been twice, stayed only one night each time though).

Budapest is a really nice city i thought.

 

[fatbadger]

and in our TV's complaining about that in western Eurpope people think that Hungary is a poor, smelly, gray boring country...

Indeed. It's part of the standard right-wing message over here that Central and Eastern Europe is full of scum ready to swamp our wonderful land because it's so bad where they come from. You will, if you want to, be able to find similar messages on this board, I'm afraid.

 

[Gwylan]

I was in Budapest in March this year when it was snowing. It's a beautiful city, although I spent most of my time in dubbing studios so didn't get to do the whole tourist thing. I was told to avoid the Baths on the grounds that they are gay pick up joints The other funny thing was the really pushy prostitutes outside the hotel who didn't seem to want to take no for an answer I did eat lots of traditional Hungarian food though, which is nice and the local beer is fantastic. I had one cultural evening at the Music Academy which is a great concert hall.

I must have been to the baths on more than 20 occasions every year and have never seen any evidence that they're gay pick-up joints. Budapest is great when it's snowing.

I note Gyuribá's point about Hungarian beers. When I first went there, I drank local brews but now I find it's Heineken and Stella everywhere...shame.

But you're absolutely right about it being absurd that people from Hungary would want to move over here. It's a great country and if I spoke Hungarian, I'd be tempted to move there, I think the quality of life is higher. But your language is just impossible.

 

[Brixton Seagull 2]

Damn! I should of just visited the baths then. But the girl who told me about the pick-up-joint nature of them was quite adamant.
One other point though, why is Budapest so expensive? Compared to Prague which is really cheap.
One similar story I hear across the region is that although everyone is glad that communism ended, they all miss the zero crime rate of the old regime!

 

[tricky]

I thought budapest was pretty much on a par with prague - pricewise.
The pubs in town were a bit pricey but we did find some bars out of the main areas that were as cheap as chips. I remember going downstairs to this real spit and sawdust bar with some trepidation. But the locals seemed quite friendly and we got to watch the african nations cup in their!!

This maybe slightly patronising - but one of my favourite things about budapest was that so few people spoke good english. It's so freshing to go abroad and actually feel like you're somewhere else rather than some american franchise version of the world.
Even the people at the hotel hardly spoke any english - this makes the whole trip much more fun as everyone gets their guidebooks out or tries to impressions of beer drinking, eating etc etc

 

[Gwylan]

I thought budapest was pretty much on a par with prague - pricewise.
The pubs in town were a bit pricey but we did find some bars out of the main areas that were as cheap as chips. I remember going downstairs to this real spit and sawdust bar with some trepidation. But the locals seemed quite friendly and we got to watch the african nations cup in their!!

This maybe slightly patronising - but one of my favourite things about budapest was that so few people spoke good english. It's so freshing to go abroad and actually feel like you're somewhere else rather than some american franchise version of the world.
Even the people at the hotel hardly spoke any english - this makes the whole trip much more fun as everyone gets their guidebooks out or tries to impressions of beer drinking, eating etc etc

I find Budapest on par with Prague prices as well.

When I first went there, I found no-onewho spoke English of any description, I tended to use German (and the few words of Hungarian that I knew). It was great fun.

 

[Brixton Seagull 2]

Must have been teh hotel and surrounding area that so was so expensive then, although some of the locals I spoke to were moaning about the cost of living in the city, so maybe it's also a wages vs rent issue. Anyway, lovely place, hoping to go back this year!