Budapest (Sep 16): Half-marathon & tourist guide

Wow! What a city! We were here for the Budapest half-marathon but managed to fit in 5 days of sight-seeing around it, all in the late Summer heatwave.

Budapest: Daily Highlights & Picture Albums

Day 1 – Fri 9th Sep 2016: Arrival / walk to Viki’s / Dinner at Menze / Beer Festival

Click here for the Day in Pictures: budapest-day-1

Dionysos – great Greek restaurant we found by the Danube, nice terrace and amongst the poshest toilets I’ve ever seen! [Belgrád rkp 16, 8,590Hf for 2 for drinks and mezes]

Heroes Square at the end of Andrássy Ut, the longest avenue in the city, it contains all the statues of Hungarian chiefs and kings. All you can see of Stalin though are his boots – the rest of him was removed to Momento Park, a dumping ground for all the Soviet-style statues on the SW outskirts of the city.
Anonymous Statue – this one isn’t actually in Heroes Square, but in the City Park, outside a museum and by the largest outdoor skating rink in Europe…when it isn’t full of water that is (it is iced over for the winter). It’s apparently very famous and good luck to touch it (like another statue near the Buda Castle….a horse with very shiny balls which students rub for good luck before exams!)

Day 2 – Sat: picked up half marathon registration / touristy stuff in town / Wine Fair

Click here for the Day in Pictures:  budapest-day-2

A La Maison ‘in’ brunch place where Viki took us, near the Basilica, very chic. Specialities of Eggs Benedict(1,600Hf, £4,50) and Blueberry pancakes (1,700Hf) with very posh lattes (600Hf) [Nádor utca 5]

St Stephen’s Basilica was only completed in 1905, hence it’s in pretty good nick. It’s reputed to contain the mummified right hand of St Stephen, the first king of Hungary about 1,000 years ago who decreed that Hungarians needed to convert to Christianity to integrate with West Europe and established the Hungarian state.

The Hungarian Parliament building is modelled upon London’s version – all very gothic with lots of spires. It was originally built to unify Budapest(which was created from 3 disparate cities) and there is evidently symbolism in its height (96m – the Kingdom of Hungary being formed in 896) and the number of spires (365, representing days in a year)….although it all sounds rather convenient to me. Let’s just say it looks very impressive.

Kurtoskalacs (or chimney cake) is a local delicacy, kind of a spiral dough cooked on a stick which is then dipped in sweet toppings – coconut, cinnamon, poppy seed….etc

Wine Festival in the courtyard of the Royal Palace – stunning setting, great wines, a quite magical evening….only problem was, we had 13 miles to run the next day!

Day 3 – Sun: ran half marathon / trip to Szentendre

Click here for the Day in Pictures:  budapest-day-3

Széchenyi Chain Bridge was designed by an English architect (Tierney), and is a scaled-up version of his previous work, the Marlow bridge! The lions guarding the bridge were all missing a body part and the sculptor promised to jump off the bridge into The Danube if anybody could identify it. A 4-year old duly did so and, splash! [Answer: it was their tongues!]

Aquincum – we drove by this place on the way to Szentendre, an amazingly well-preserved Roman military base where Marcus Aurelieus was based and wrote part of his book, ‘Meditations at Aquincum’ ….obviously

Szentendre (pronounced a bit like ‘St Andrews’) about 20km north of Budapest, and now regarded as an artists’ place.

Lángos – another very typical Hungarian dish, basically fried bread and sometimes referred to as the Hungarian pizza. We had one from a stall in Szentendre.

Paprika – also sold liberally. An old saying goes; ‘You should taste good paprika twice – once when going in, and once when going out’ [or something along those lines]

Day 4 – Mon: Margaret Island / Buda Castle / Touristy stuff / Drinks with Chris / Hungarian dinner

Click here for the Day in Pictures:  budapest-day-4

Margaret Island is a special landmark slap bang in the middle of Budapest where all motorised traffic is banned apart from the odd bus and police cars. It does contain a 5km long ‘professional’ jogging circuit, as well as swimming pools, a Japanese garden and sunbathing turtles?!

Buda Castle consists of several buildings; the former Royal Palace (now containing the National Gallery, but quite expensive for exhibitions – Modigliani was almost 5,000Hf), Sándor Palace (President of Hungary – guarded outside, changed regularly), Fisherman’s Bastion (Gaudi-like structure for views over the Danube)

Szecheny Thermal Bath is the biggest spa complex in Europe. It’s not cheap, but best to go in the afternoon as it doesn’t close until 7pm and I think the morning session only gets you a limited time (Hf4,700 including use of a locker – presume a cabin (more expensive) is just a bigger locker?)

Day 5 – Tue: Baggage booking angst / Terror Museum / Passport chaos

Click here for the Day in Pictures:  budapest-day-5

23rd Oct is Hungary’s National holiday, marking the 1956 Revolution. Bullet holes can still be seen around Budapest, especially round the Hungarian Parliament where protesters first gathered before being fired upon from the rooftops by Soviet soldiers.

House of Terrors – Terror Háza is the living monument to Hungary’s enforced descent into Communism, being the HQ of the National State Security dept (think Stasi) where dissidents were bought to, tortured, and executed. Very popular attraction, very thought-provoking.

Top tips for Budapest

1. Public transport is great, but don’t think about fare dodging – they are STRICT with large on-the-spot fines (we saw instant justice being administered more than once) versus very modest fares (a single metro ticket costs 350Ft – about 95p – and a 24 hour travel card 1,650Ft – £4.50)
2. Hungarian beer is just as good as imported stuff and almost half the price – well, maybe not half, but around 450-600Ft for Sampino in a bar compared to 800-900 for Carlsberg
3. Spas are a must….but remember a swimming cap! – not particularly cheap; we paid 4,400Ft (£12) for an afternoon session with a small locker (you pay about 500Ft extra for a large one, confusingly called a cabin). However, to swim in the inviting lanes in the middle of the spa, you need to have a swimming cap (1,000Ft) or the lifeguard whistles loudly at you and you have to get out!
4. Hungarian festivals are all contactless payment – with some (The Wine Fair) you can put a 500Ft deposit down and get a card which you can charge up (and redeem at the end of the evening), with others (e.g. The Beer Festival), you have to have a valid contactless bank card – best to check first!
   

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Hungarian Wines – a brief swill

We were fortunate enough to be in Budapest for the Annual Wine Fair (2nd weekend in Sep) and did sample a fair few wines whilst there, both in the restaurants and courtesy of Viki.

I think the standout for me were the rosés from Villány, which may have had something to do with the fact it was about 35 degrees most of the time we were there, but still they were very good indeed.

A quick rundown of the main varieties (with thanks to a local magazine from which I lifted a lot of the information!):

Tokaj – sweet wines rated from 3-6 according to number of puttony (baskets) of sweet Aszú grapes added to the base wines (goes with sweets, but also foie gras and strong cheeses). Also produces dry whites, with Ferment (apples) potential to be best white around (late harvest Ferment good with cream-based dishes, new Ferment with pork dishes).

Eger – home of Bull’s Blood, but Pinot Noir is the signature grape. On the same latitude as Burgundy in France

Villány – big-bodied, Bordeaux style, high in tannins. For whites, Sauvignon Blanc (excellent with goats cheese)

Szekszárd – most affordable red wines, softer and less spicy than Villany – drink with Hungarian staple dishes (Kekfrankos or Szekszard Kardarka)

Badacsony – signature Olaszrizling is best dry white everyday drinking wine (excellent with fish). Volcanic soil so gives wines a mineral taste. Premier grape here is Kadarka, late-ripening low yield. Good Chardonnay from southern shore of Lake Balaton

Somló – again, mineral, almost flinty. Harslevelu and Juhfark are indigenous grape varieties (Harslevelu is good with chicken)

Budapest half marathon times

This was our reason for coming to Budapest, so it does deserve some ‘blog space’.

Official times

Matt 10km 57:36 / finish 2:13:46

Jackie 10km 1:14:30 / finish 2:18:41

Hmmm….so officially, Jackie was only 5 minutes slower than me, and ran the 2nd part of the marathon (11.2km) in just over 1:04 (compared to my 1:16), which would have meant that she ran the 2nd 10km in about 57mins, around the same time I ran the 1st 10km.

Hmmm…..that would make it Jackie’s fastest ever 10km….over the 2nd part of a half marathon….in searing heat….something wasn’t quite right here!

[scene: Matt lying on the grass watching the big tv screen showing the finishers, resigned to a 45 minute + wait for Jackie….who suddenly pops up round the corner 15 mins later]

[Matt] Wow, you’re here already! How come you’re looking so fresh though….?

[Jackie] Oh, you know….I got a 2nd wind and it just felt quite easy

[Matt] But it took me 7 mins to cross the start line – it must have taken you about 15 mins…and now you’re only about 15 mins behind me at the finish….so you can’t have finished much more than 5 minutes behind me. How on earth did that happen?

[Jackie] I felt good and was running well – must have been all that training…

[Matt]….but what was your first 10km split….’cos mine was OK, but I fell apart in the 2nd half?

[Jackie] Times….they don’t really matter do they…I don’t pay much attention to them….let’s talk about something else eh?

[Matt] ….but, I don’t understand….

I’m sure the official time & distance was right, but my watch said 2:13:08 & 21.4km, although it was such an awful time that I won’t quibble and draw attention to it!

I’ve written down all my splits though to help me relive the agony