The Hungarian border fence:
Posted on 09/03/2023 5:59:09 AM PDT by bert
This Budapest Hungary in 4k HDR walking tour will show you how Budapest looks in 2022 during my walk. We will start the walk in the City Centre and then go towards Basilica and then finish the walk near the amazing Hungarian Parliament building...
The post is a video and is visual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdpSzAaiIuQ&t=387s&ab_channel=MostlyWalking
Watch a little of the video and decide
When you travel outside the United States, you will rapidly realize that the concept of "America" has moved out over the past few decades and is thriving elsewhere.
Disembarking at LAX is a firm reminder that one has returned to the Third World - not from it.
Amen sir. A definite AMEN
I know it is hard to believe these days but Seattle used to look like this—not that long ago...
I lived in Budapest from 1997-1999 and again from 2003-2004 and learned the language. Its an absolutely gorgeous city with lots of old world charm. I first started visiting in the early 1990s shortly after the fall of Communism (which the Hungarians started by tearing down their border fence with Austria allowing East Germans to flee to the West).
Back then it was still struggling to overcome the decades of the dead hand of Communism. The buildings though beautiful late 19th century architecture were covered in black soot and were slowly crumbling. If you walked around in the middle of the city at the end of the day you felt like you’d smoked 2 packs of camel unfiltered cigarettes because the little trabants they drove had a 2 stroke engine like your lawnmower and belched clouds of blue smoke which is what covered the buildings in soot. There still wasn’t much that was colorful such as signs, etc. There were lots of seat-of-the-pants little mom and pop type stores and businesses, etc.
They had enough money to either take good care of pensioners OR to properly educate their kids. They made the choice any country would have made and invested in the future, but it was sad to see poverty stricken old pensioners hocking personal possessions to try to get by but that was the tough spot 4 decades of communism had put them in.
Fast forward a decade later and they had cleaned a lot of things up, buildings got long overdue maintenance and repair, they were a LOT more sophisticated in running their businesses, understanding marketing, packaging, etc etc. Other than there still being lots of dog poop on the sidewalks (at least it wasn’t human poop) and petty crime like car theft, it had come a long long way.
I haven’t been back since 2004 but judging from how much progress they had made in 15 years from the fall of Communism until 2004, I can only imagine how much more progress they’ve made in the 19 years since then.
Beautiful country. Incredibly friendly people. The decades of communism inoculated them against cultural marxism/globalism. They do not go for the tranny agenda, allowing their country to be overrun by 3rd world savages or allowing George Soros to dominate their politics. The result is that in 50 years, Hungary will still be Hungarian. You can’t say the same for Western European countries.
What? no one rushed towards the camera to beat and mug the one holding it?
What? there are no druggies lining the streets with needles all over the ground?
What? people appear to have trust in one another, and are not full of disdain and mistrust!
So that’s what civilization looks like!
2nd biggest mineral hot springs in Europe. The Turks built baths when they occupied the country for 150 years back in the 1500-1600s and very nice luxury spas were built in the late 19th century when Budapest became a destination city for a lot of the well off in Europe to visit. Those spas have been fully restored and are gorgeous. They're great for everybody - not just pensioners. We used to go to a Turkish bath that was hundreds and hundreds of years old dating back to the Ottoman occupation.
By the way....the fist 15 minutes of this is clearly filmed on Vaci Utca. That is the main shopping street in Budapest - invariably filled with tourists. A lot of the people you saw walking around at least in that segment, were tourists.
Bttt
I love Budapest. Have spent over a month there each year for the past few years.
This past year I spent time staying in the Jewish Quarter in Center City. Was there when the big protest march by the teachers and government workers shut down the city.
Just across the Chain Bridge, is a hotel that is in front of Buda Castle and across the river from the parliment building. My room had a balcony facing the Danube River.
Much to my surprise, I had a front row seat for the Red Bull International Stunt Plane Competition. The planes started by flying under the Chain Bridge and then weaved between huge orange cones on barges in front of the Parliment Building. It was amazing.
In the underground unter City Center Square is a bakery that makes and sells stove pipe or chimney cakes. They are Kürtőskalács, made from sweet, yeast dough, of which a strip is spun and then wrapped around a truncated cone–shaped baking spit, and rolled in granulated sugar, coconut, or several other flavors.
They are a must try.
I’m headed back this Fall for a few weeks. Was supposed to present at a conference there in June, but a family member death changed my plans.
Thanks for sharing your memories.
Good food and drinks there, really cheap.
For a beautiful journey from Budapest that is cheap.. like 15 Euros, take the train along the Danube to Brataslava, Slovakia when the fields of sunflowers are in full bloom.
We used to go to a Turkish bath
Loved my Turkish bath in Istanbul, years later saw it in a Netflix movie about the Ottomans.
Totally agree with everything you mentioned. I was first there in 2005, and about a dozen times since.
My hat is off to you for learning the language. It’s a hard one.
It has really modernized since 2005, especially the airport. Used to hate walking from the plane to the terminal in pouring rain.
Everyone should read about the Siege of Buda in 1541 when the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire tricked the people causing Hungary to be under Muslim rule for 150 years. There is an important lesson there and it reveals why Hungary is closed to the immigrant invasion that hit Europe.
A beautiful city in a beautiful country with beautiful people!
As a previous poster stated (in so many words) now, when Americans travel abroad then return home they feel that the USA has become a lesser nation than when they were youngsters. At 87 I can attest to that. You are feeling empty inside, especially when you consider those who have led this nation to this state. We have had the worst examples of human in charge and our nation has been savaged.
Joseph Biden, Braaack Obama,Jimmy Karter, Lyndon Bird Johnson, Harry Truman, FDR, Woodrow Wilson and I have to include the Bushes!
Now, America is confronted with 2024 and the fact that there is only ONE chance to erase and eradicate a lot of this gargantuan thing called the Federal or Central Government. It and all Democrats and RINOs are killing us and our nation.
The solution is a very simple one: Donald J Trump! I know he can do it and it will take helpers that he can truly trust to join him and never stab him in the back!
If he wants help he can rely on us Freepers.
Just one example: kick that bowing, stumbling old crone Yellen with a real Treasury Department gem: Kudlow! For Secretary of Defense pick one of those Generals who are retired. Use Hucklebee in a key position. Ask Dana Perino to return as press secretary. Take the good ones left at Fox for other necessary positions. Eliminate all those departments and people that are no longer necessary. There are many.
I saw someone using a trash can.
BTTT
Try Turos Taska the next time you’re there. They are a pastry with powdered sugar on the outside and on the inside they have raisins and a dried sweetened cottage cheese. They’re absolutely delicious - some of my favorites.
I loved my short time spent in Budapest and the surrounds many years ago, while still Communist, but crawling out from under it. Hungary is a beautiful country. The waving fields of sunflowers grown as a crop, are a gorgeous thing to behold. Downtown Budapest has Roman ruins right in a hotel lobby in the old part of the city; there is a lot of Art Nouveau architecture in the center of the old city from the turn of the century; their Parliament building is an architectural replica of the British Parliament building, right on the Danube River (took a boat ride past it).
There are castle ruins, an art colony located just outside of Budapest with wonderful artsy crafty shops, and Roman ruins you can see off the road while driving out to the art colony. And the food is delicious. An incredible country, and their leader is Hungary’s version of Donald Trump. He is a great man and has helped to protect Hungary from the EU excesses and the influx of immigrants into his country. They can’t get in; he’s put up a wall that works. Glad I got to go there; it will survive; the EU on its current trajectory will not.
A nice surprise: the metro stop connected with the international bus station, so we walked under the busy streets instead of having to cross them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.