Buda-Pest – one city, two personalities

How could Buda exist without Pest?!

Walking around the two sides of the Danube river it is like being in two different cities. Buda has as many hills as wealth, glamour and historical elegance. Pest is as flat as crowded, buzzing and modernly elegant. So different and yet, I feel that the two personalities complement each other in a subtle way that made me fall in love the moment I landed in Budapest.

I visited Budapest back in the end of the summer’12. My friend Pedro was living there and so he shown me around. Sadly, the city still has deep marks from the second world war and from the sovietic occupation until 1989. Marks of what looks like made by gunshots are still visible in the indoors walls of some buildings. But the resilience of the Hungarians has re-built a modern amazing city.

The weekend I spent there was short and sweet: in between walks, I indulged myself in exploring summer kerts (ruinbar gardens, sort off improvised in free/abandoned courtyards) – a booze trend that started over 10 years ago. The best of all is the famous Szimpla Kert, where all the furniture is refurbished trash (you can find a bit of everything, a car, bathtub, old monitors, …) It is awesome and it is open all year around.

Hungarians treated my taste buds with either Palinka (a traditional fruity brandy) or cseresznyeleves, the cherry soup (yes! a soup that feels like a dessert before your main dish). .

As I was making my way back to the airport, my insatiable soul already wanted to come back, to explore more, to know more, to feel more of this full of character city.