Budapest

[Nobody Soup]

did anyone thing the last room of the house of terror was a bit mean?

was it not something like "they may have served their time, but we will never forgive the following for their part in the attrocities: magda borsky, secretary etc etc etc."

come on, lay off.

[MojoJojo]

For me, I love spice and they do this dish, it's like a hot (spicy, but a nice warm spice) soup. Fucking fantastic.

I think you're talking about goulash. The national dish.

[hewantstolurkatad]

I was in Budapest the day after I went to Auschwitz. Found it incredibly jarring how Auschwitz's presentation of Hungary's role in WW2 compared with the one I found presented in Budapest so I mostly kept away from that kind of stuff as much as I could.


One thing Budapest does have, aside from a great landscape (that hill on the far side with the amazing view of the city was so good I went at both sunset and sunrise) is a fucking amazing Pinball museum. $5 entry and free to play inside. Better than any of the ones I was at in the US (didn't go to the Vegas one, clearly) and a fraction of the price. Can fill a day in there easy.
Talking 100 or so playable machines, mind. Don't expect something the size of the British Museum.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I think you're talking about goulash. The national dish.

Could be the Szeged Fisherman's Soup which is a fish stew absolutely rammed with smoked paprika. Probably the gulyas soup though.

Anyway, the gulyas soup is alright but the goulash most people are actually expecting is porkolt.

http://www.fricipapa.hu/eng/menu.php

In Budapest go here for the slow cooked porkolt. It's tender, and utterly fucking delicious. No-nonsense. It costs 2 quid.


2 quid.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It's 400ft to the quid if anyone wants to make sense of that menu.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

I'll have bean soup with clod and salad as The Papa likes it, please.

[Claude Balls]

Oslo.

[Inspector Norse]

I'm going to Budapest Friday-Monday. Planning on walking around looking at stuff. Weirdly for someone about to go to Budapest I'm not mad keen on meat stew, what else is there to eat? Fish with paprika?
Anyone got anything to add to what people said three years ago on this thread?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Langos
Chicken paprikash
Savoury pancakes stuffed with chicken
Kurtoskalacs
Goose leg
Lecso (wouldn't recommend unless onions are the biggest thing in your life)
Cabbage rolls stuffed with mince /peppers stuff with mince

This sort of thing contributes to why Hungarian men have swollen stomachs that look like they are trying to digest basketballs and die aged 60.

[bgmnts]

Make sure to see the Columbo statue, I had no idea it existed until after I left.

[shiftwork2]

Ronald Reagan statue.

[SteK]

Make sure to see the Columbo statue, I had no idea it existed until after I left.

'Just one more thing...'

I went to Budapest in 1984, Eurorailling, went all round the Eastern bloc, Yugoslavia, Romania etc, all shitholes but Budapest was lovely. The metro was honour-based, (ie free lol!) and was rapid, accelerated like buggery.

In those days the shops had the three-queue system, one to chose, one to pay and one collect.

We sat beside a fountain chomping these bratwurst type sausages, bright summers day, fit mostly blonde women (as they are Finnish in origin, Hungarian is similar to Finnish I understand). One of the best days of my life!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

We sat beside a fountain chomping these bratwurst type sausages

Ah, potentially Debrecener sausages! Popular even in Germany.

Not for sale in any restaurant I went to, researched or walked past in Debrecen. Useless cunts.

[Inspector Norse]

Make sure to see the Columbo statue, I had no idea it existed until after I left.

First on the itinerary obviously

[Inspector Norse]

Stunningly beautiful city, that. Probably the most impressive I've visited. Aside from the obvious, amazing landmarks like the castle district, parliament etc, I really liked spending some time just wandering around quieter residential districts: even there, the buildings are remarkable, although often a bit seedy and dilapidated. Lots of fascinating little things to discover, too: a block away from where we were staying was an abandoned art school, courtyard eerily full of half-finished statues.
The Terror House was interesting though we had to rush round as it was rammed and they were going to close. I missed Columbo, though I walked past a block away. I did find a little area in the city park dedicated to murdered Swedish politicians.

Little underwhelmed by the food and nightlife: the places that were probably cool ten years ago are now completely full of tourists (ie Szimpla Kert), and if going again I think the districts south and north of that centre are maybe better for lively local bars and more varied food (the traditional stuff is a bit dull and heavy, really). It's a bit hypocritical saying it as a visitor myself but the only other place I've been that seems quite as tourist-infested is Barcelona; the desperate scramble for tourist cash has ruined much of the centre.

Nice people. Good wine.

[Norton Canes]

It's tokay.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Little underwhelmed by the food and nightlife: the places that were probably cool ten years ago are now completely full of tourists (ie Szimpla Kert),

Definitely true. Peaked 2012-2017.

Many of the venues like Kuplung, Ankert, Instant, Ellato have now closed anyway. The scene is really dying out. I still need to visit some of the venues that locals have migrated to. Less dramatic but more authentic.

Szimpla is still great though. Going during the day for the farmer's market, or in the chilly off season is still a good bet to avoid the tourist crush. Tbf it's one venue that never was 'only locals', the international flavour has always been what made it special.

[shiftwork2]

Still a lovely city.  It's the only real holiday choice in Hungary - went Debrecen with werk last year and didn't find much to sustain it beyond one night.  Shoulders may have more gen I believe.

[bgmnts]

Hungary is fucking desolate.

Mohacs is nice though, go during Busojaras and get molested by a man dressed as a devil ram.

[the science eel]

Still a lovely city.  It's the only real holiday choice in Hungary - went Debrecen with werk last year and didn't find much to sustain it beyond one night.  Shoulders may have more gen I believe.

Szeged's nice. And Kecskemet. I did my first TEFL stint there in 1993. Exciting times.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Still a lovely city.  It's the only real holiday choice in Hungary - went Debrecen with werk last year and didn't find much to sustain it beyond one night.  Shoulders may have more gen I believe.

The Thermal spa is definitely worth doing, it was fantastic. Their local team are v well supported. If a trip coincides with  a game, that will fill some activity time. The Deri museum was a nice basket of odds and ends, aristocratic plunder. Other than that, slim pickings.

It is also has the 2nd best ruin bar in Europe, Roncsbar.
https://[SPAM - REMOVED].com/2019/02/05/roncsbar-debrecen/

I was there for 2 days and that was ample. The pub scene was very good and it was absurdly cheap. 60p a pint in some places.

It's amazing for a 2nd city of such a major country how you walk 10 minutes down the street and you're down to single story country houses which then turns into park land half an hour further...then.. Nothing. The great plains region, I suppose.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Echo Szeged. Student City. Salami, fisherman's stew, enormous brick cathedral, nice Austrian centre. Probably edges out nearby Timisoara for that part of the world unless you really happen to like abandoned art nouveau monoliths, which some may. Shits on Novi Sad.

[bgmnts]

I preferred Pecs to Szeged.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Oh, forgot. Gyor is one of the prettiest cities in Hungary. Lovely river, gorgeous centre.

How is it pronounced again? DJEEEEEEEEEOR or similar?

[the science eel]

It's amazing for a 2nd city of such a major country...

Debrecen?

They told me that Miskolc was the second city back in the 90s. Maybe in terms of size and not population. Or significance.

Anyway I always wanted to go because I heard it was a charmless shithole. Never made it.

Anyway this business of not needing to see any city other than the capital is true of a lot of countries, don't you think?

[Inspector Norse]

Anyway this business of not needing to see any city other than the capital is true of a lot of countries, don't you think?

Yep - certainly for Monaco and Singapore if not others

[Inspector Norse]

Szimpla is still great though. Going during the day for the farmer's market, or in the chilly off season is still a good bet to avoid the tourist crush. Tbf it's one venue that never was 'only locals', the international flavour has always been what made it special.

It was interesting to go there but I do think the only Hungarians we saw in there were one bloke who stood chatting to his mate behind the bar for ages meaning nobody got served, and a bunch of older people who we only really noticed because one woman looked like Liza Minnelli and they kept knocking a bench over. And they were tourists too because we saw them at Fisherman's Bastion the next day.
I got the impression that they've gone a bit too far overboard on the interior as well to play up for the crowds: might have been a bit szimpler a few years ago, now it was a little too wacky.

There's a place called Trädgården here, one of the best clubs in Stockholm (faintish praise to be honest), and I think it's inspired by the ruin bars (the name means "garden" which the dictionary told me "kert" also means). A mainly outdoor club under a set of big old concrete bridges, with various different rooms and areas and some random activities like a giant-screen SNES and boule.

[SteK]

It was interesting to go there but I do think the only Hungarians we saw in there were one bloke who stood chatting to his mate behind the bar for ages meaning nobody got served, and a bunch of older people who we only really noticed because one woman looked like Liza Minnelli and they kept knocking a bench over. And they were tourists too because we saw them at Fisherman's Bastion the next day.
I got the impression that they've gone a bit too far overboard on the interior as well to play up for the crowds: might have been a bit szimpler a few years ago, now it was a little too wacky.

There's a place called Trädgården here, one of the best clubs in Stockholm (faintish praise to be honest), and I think it's inspired by the ruin bars (the name means "garden" which the dictionary told me "kert" also means). A mainly outdoor club under a set of big old concrete bridges, with various different rooms and areas and some random activities like a giant-screen SNES and boule.

I think from Swedish lessons back in the day 'Trädgården' is 'The Tree Garden' - the Nordic languages of course having post-participial articles, the 'the; is an ending and this is from memory 30 years ago as an example;

En Flicka - A girl
Flickan - the Girl
Flickor - Girls
Flickorna - The Girls

If that's correct I've amazed myself!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Anyway this business of not needing to see any city other than the capital is true of a lot of countries, don't you think?

Let's see. I'll try Europe. And this is as though you were just visiting cities rather than small towns/countryside:

Albania: Possibly
Austria: No. (Graz/Salzburg/Innsbruck)
Belarus: No (Grodno)
Belgium: No (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven)
Bosnia: No (Mostar)
Bulgaria: No (Plovdiv, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo)
Croatia: No (Split/Dubrovnik)
Czechia: No but tbf Prague covers a lot of what you'd see in the other cities
Denmark: Possibly, heard Aarhus is alright
England: No (York, Bath, Liverpool, Newcastle)
Estonia: Yes
Finland: Yes.
France: No (Nice, Marseille, Dijon, Toulouse, Aix, La Rochelle etc etc)
Germany: No (Nuremberg, Konstanz, Hamburg)
Greece: Good god No
Hungary: Probably yes
Iceland: Yes. Weird holiday though.
Italy: No (Venice, Florence, Naples, Bologna, Verona, Siena)
Latvia: Yes
Lithuania: Probably yes
Luxembourg: Yes but as opposed to what...
Malta: Not much choice...
Moldova: No (Tiraspol)
Montenegro: Yes though it would slightly miss the point
North Macedonia: Yes
Netherlands: No (Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, Gouda, Rotterdam I suppose)
N.I: Yes
Norway: No (Bergen, Tromso)
Poland: No (Kraków, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Torun)
Portugal: No (Porto)
ROI: Mebbe.
Romania: No (Brasov, Sibiu, Cluj, Timisoara)
Serbia: Probably yes
Scotland: No (Glasgow)
Slovakia: No (Kosice, Banska Bystrica)
Slovenia: Yes but only through lack of competition
Spain: No (Valencia, Sevilla, Santiago, Barcelona, Palma etc etc)
Sweden: From what I've read, Yes.
Switzerland: No (Zurich, Basel, Luzern
Ukraine: No (Lviv, Odessa)
Wales: sort of

[Inspector Norse]

I think from Swedish lessons back in the day 'Trädgården' is 'The Tree Garden'

The closest literal translation is probably "tree yard", but it's generally just used to mean any kind of garden.

En Flicka - A girl
Flickan - the Girl
Flickor - Girls
Flickorna - The Girls

If that's correct I've amazed myself!

Yep - right down to the correct letters in the plural form. I've lived here 13 years, use the language at work and with friends and still have to check the articles and plurals sometimes.