THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510310470
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG RAVER-LAMPMAN, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 178 lines
A LOONY CARNIVAL erupted my first evening in Budapest.
After checking into my hotel, I roamed along Budapest's spectacular Castle Hill, a bluff on the western bank of the storied Danube, where cobbled streets meandered among medieval homes and taverns.
The moon, almost full but a dusky yellow, rose over the surface of Budapest's parliament building. The night was almost silent, save for the distant rumble of cars on the floodlit Chain Bridge. Green, red and yellow light smeared across the Danube's mirror-smooth surface.
As I approached the haunting spires of the neo-Gothic Matthias Church, the silence was broken by shouts and laughter. I rounded a corner to find myself in a surge of humanity - mostly teens wearing bizarre costumes - crowding toward Matthias Church.
Near Matthias Church's north tower, a counterfeit clergyman in white robes launched into a mock marriage ceremony for two men, the ``bride'' in drag, the groom wearing a tux and a black painted mustache. At the end of the ceremony, the groom embraced bride and the surrounding throng erupted.
Nearby, someone stoked a bonfire under a skewered chicken, whose head and feet dangled into the flames, while dancing celebrants howled out ``Honky Tonk Women.''
I asked a Hungarian friend what was happening and was told the bash was being thrown by Budapest's University of Engineering.
``Imagine,'' he added, ``these are the engineers.''
A fitting welcome to Budapest, a city of contrasts. Budapest combines romance, breathtaking vistas with a contagious joie de vivre. If you come into Budapest by train, you're likely to be swarmed by dozens of young proto-capitalists clamoring to offer guided tours, dirt cheap accommodations, directions to nightclubs and restaurants.
Even in the tiny Buda section, occupied for centuries by Hungarian aristocrats, you might run into some protest or party.
Budapest, which has suffered countless invasions by Mongols, Turks, Austrians, Russians and anyone else passing through Europe, is savoring its newfound independence. It roils with vitality as it struggles to create a new society out of the ruins of the old.
Peter Gomori, a wry, bemused official with the Hungarian Tourist Board, proposed drawing visitors with the slogan: ``The Russians came, Mongols came, the Turks came. They took everything. Come to Hungary and see what's left.''
The slogan, however, is misleading. There's a lot left to see in Hungary.
Often referred to as the ``Queen of the Danube,'' Budapest is also among Europe's most enchanting capitals. Although more than half the buildings were destroyed by bombing during World War II, Budapest was faithfully reconstructed in its unique hodgepodge of Turkish, Gothic, Romanesque architecture.
Through all its struggles, Hungary has maintained its unique culture, cuisine and its mind-bendingly intricate 1,000-year-old language, Magyar, unrelated to any other European vernacular, save possibly Finnish and Estonian.
In the six years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Budapest has been hard at work to recapture its pre-World War I grandeur. Many spectacular buildings constructed before World War I are getting extensive facelifts.
In 1991, Hungarian-born writer and restaurateur George Lang took over the Gundel Restaurant in Budapest's City Park, which had grown shabby after it was nationalized in 1949. Lang spent millions restoring the pillars, broad staircases, marble walls and training 50 chefs.
Since then, Gundel's has reclaimed its status as one of Central Europe's finest restaurants, where diners feast on stuffed mushrooms, paprika chicken or goose liver pate to the music of a gypsy band.
For many, Gundel's rebirth symbolized Hungary's renewal.
For Hungary, that renewal has been fast and furious.
At the time the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s, Hungary was champing at the bit to introduce some measure of free enterprise. Initial efforts to reform communism were crushed by Soviet tanks in 1956. Still, Hungary over the years had developed a mix of public and private enterprise referred to as ``goulash communism.''
Free of the Soviet shackles, Hungary plunged ahead, often with panache.
Gomori's first efforts capture the spirit.
Even under the communist regime, Gomori's job was to attract tourists. In 1989, with the winds of change blustering from Moscow, Gomori hatched a plan to lure tourists to an ivy-clad villa used by government guests and Communist Party bigwigs. The villa, an hour outside of Budapest, was connected to a legendary Transylvanian countess who slaughtered her chambermaids and bathed in their blood.
At least, that's what Gomori told a group of Swedish Dracula aficionados. Never mind that the villa was built in 1942, long after the countess's body lay rotting in her castle's cemetery. The Dracula buffs bit with both fangs. A dozen Swedes flocked to the villa, donned black tuxedos, red cummerbunds and plastic fangs. An all-night bacchanal ensued that included, among other bloody highlights, the feigned flogging of chambermaids.
``Stalin and Lenin would not have approved,'' Gomori shrugged.
Not that Hungarians today would care. Hungarians get their gorge up when referred to as ``East European.'' Budapest, they admonish, is smack in the center of Europe.
Hungarians have also made a concerted effort to blot out reminders of its decades behind the Iron Curtain. Street names commemorating communist ``heroes'' have been obliterated. Statues of Soviet soldiers who ``liberated'' Hungary have been removed from their pedestals.
Private enterprise is taking root. Floating casinos ply the Danube. Among the sputtering old Trabants and Ladas are Mercedes sedans driven by Budapest billionaires building homes as gargantuan and opulent as Medieval castles. Playboy now has a Hungarian edition.
For visitors, Budapest in many ways, seems two different cities, with distinct physical and cultural identities, neatly divided by the Danube.
Along the west bank of the Danube, in the Buda section, bluffs rise hundreds of feet. The earliest settlers recognized Buda's natural defensive position. From the hills of Buda, you can see for miles. The hills are also riddled with miles of natural and manmade caves, offering places to hide away if attacked.
Today, the hills of Buda are dotted with merchant's mansions, wealthy churches and the remains of ancient fortifications. Buda, largely residential, could be a hillside community in Vienna, Austria.
Across the Danube, literally in Buda's shadow, lies the very rim of the hot, often treeless ``Great Plain,'' pan-flat territory stretching well over 100 miles, all the way to the Ukraine. For centuries, the Great Plain has been home to the Hungarian cowboys, or Csikos, known for epic feats of horsemanship. Wearing black leather and peacock blue cotton, Csiko rode bareback, using 20-foot-long whips to herd ponies or cattle.
Eastern Hungarians had their own city, Pest, across the Danube from Buda. While Buda was occupied by merchants, Pest was more rough hewn, home to those without enough money to live in mansions.
In 1872, the cities merged, forming Hungary's only real metropolis.
As a whole, Budapest is a cultural center with spectacular architecture, jazz clubs, an opera house and 83 museums. Still, distinctions between Buda and Pest remain. While Buda is largely stately and residential, home to those with money or privilege, Pest bustles with markets, street merchants, riverboats, student hangouts, coffee houses, nightclubs and apartment blocks rising over storefronts.
In the open markets of Pest, vendors peddle pork and poultry next to stalls decked with kaleidoscopic displays of garlic and paprika, essential ingredients in most Hungarian delicacies.
During my last night in Budapest, I wandered through Pest and took a subway toward my hotel in the Buda, on Castle Hill.
As I climbed the steep stairways, I was struck again by how silent the nights could be. Near Matthias Church, where I witnessed that student celebration, the square was deserted, silent, almost eerie.
Toward the Danube, on a portion of the city wall known as the Fisherman's Bastion, young lovers gathered in the shadows, or leaned on parapets, whispering or just holding each other, staring out at the Danube.
The view that has enchanted for centuries, enchants still. ILLUSTRATION: GREG RAVER-LAMPMAN COLOR PHOTOS
Students of the Budapest School of Engineering party in the streets
in a carnival-like atmosphere.
Graphic
Getting there: Most international carriers, including KLM, Delta,
Lufthansa German Airlines and Malev Hungarian Airlines offer flights
with connections to Norfolk. All carriers have economy fares as low
as $728 if you purchase tickets 21 days in advance and travel on
weekdays. Budapest has two airports, Ferihegy 1 and Ferihegy 2, both
more than 10 miles outside Budapest. Buses and taxis can take you
into Budapest.
Accommodations: You'll have little difficulty finding a place to
stay in Budapest in any price range, from $10 a night on up. At the
main train station, you'll practically be assaulted by people
offering cheap accommodations, including student dormitories rented
out during the summer. Although some of the rooms are cheap, many
are well outside of Budapest. Before renting a room or pension, make
sure that it is in town or on a tram, metro or bus line. At the
absolute top of the price range is the Hilton on Castle Hill, a
spectacular hotel incorporating ruins of a 13th century cloister and
monastery. Prices start at about $120 a night. The Hotel Gellert, an
art nouveau masterpiece famous for its spas and pools, has rooms
starting at about $80 a night.
Transportation: With buses, trams, taxis and its renovated metro
system, you won't have any trouble getting around Budapest. If you
rent a car, Castle Hill is restricted to buses and local traffic.
The area is great for walking anyway.
Package deals: One of the best ways to see Budapest is a package
deal. Malev Hungarian Airlines offers a seven-day, six-night tour,
including round-trip airfare from New York, five nights in a
first-class hotel, a sightseeing tour, dinner at the world-renowned
Gundel's restaurant and tickets to an opera or concert. Prices start
at $799. For information, call (800) 877-5429.
- Greg Raver-Lampman
by CNB