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.
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.