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Day 17 - Culture Wars
May. 15th, 2024 11:30 amBudapest is quite an interesting place due to its long history of being occupied frequently. There was the Ottomans and the Austrians then came the Nazis and the Soviets and originally it was all part of the Holy Roman Empire. Seems Hungary wasn't capable of defending their capital. Now western influence is here which is even harder to block. All that amounts to a melting pot of a culture.
Now they don't have all the imposing museums of Vienna and their castle rebuild suffered from Soviet era budget limits. The parliament building is nice from the outside but the fee to enter is double for non-EU citizens (me). That's a pass.
Perhaps the most notable structures are the bridges. I would not consider a bridge to be a good tourist attraction however. Still, they are impressive in that they span the Danube river and join Buda and Pest together which makes them culturally significant and incredible engineering given the year they were constructed.
After crossing a bridge, what else is there to do? Well the best thing is to just wander around. It's a very walkable place and I explored on foot today. I found a park where people like read so I did as well. I bought a t-shirt since the weather has been warmer than I packed for. A grocery store provided a resupply on snacks. Finally I stumbled upon a real hidden gem: an unofficial Star Wars museum.
Legally they could not use that trademark but it is a mega-fans collection all put on display. This diehard collector nearly equals an official Disney attraction; that's how impressive it was. I bet Star Wars has at least one Hungarian that contributed to it so that should count as local culture.
Now they don't have all the imposing museums of Vienna and their castle rebuild suffered from Soviet era budget limits. The parliament building is nice from the outside but the fee to enter is double for non-EU citizens (me). That's a pass.
Perhaps the most notable structures are the bridges. I would not consider a bridge to be a good tourist attraction however. Still, they are impressive in that they span the Danube river and join Buda and Pest together which makes them culturally significant and incredible engineering given the year they were constructed.
After crossing a bridge, what else is there to do? Well the best thing is to just wander around. It's a very walkable place and I explored on foot today. I found a park where people like read so I did as well. I bought a t-shirt since the weather has been warmer than I packed for. A grocery store provided a resupply on snacks. Finally I stumbled upon a real hidden gem: an unofficial Star Wars museum.
Legally they could not use that trademark but it is a mega-fans collection all put on display. This diehard collector nearly equals an official Disney attraction; that's how impressive it was. I bet Star Wars has at least one Hungarian that contributed to it so that should count as local culture.
