Szentendrei Skanzen

Szentendrei Skanzen [map] [website]
Szentendre
23km North of Budapest

Q. When is a museum not a museum?
A. When you can spend the whole day there.

Having been to the ethnographical museum in Városliget, I was well-prepared for a slow "death by folk culture", but thankfully, the Skanzen museum near Szentendre isn't the murderous type. It needn’t be regarded as a museum at all; rather a collection of historic, picturesque villages set against the Pilis hills. If you think you can combine it with a trip to Szentendre, you'd better be talking about the weekend rather than the afternoon.

At the entrance, now a faithful replica of the railway station in Mezőhegyes, a map gives you some idea of the scale of the site, which sprawls out over 60 hectares. As I stroll towards region VI, “Market Town In the Great Hungarian Plain”, which feels like the natural direction to walk in, the landscape unfolds. The sails of a windmill emerge over the ridge against a backdrop of green hills, while authentic thatched cottages appear further along the path.

Many buildings are open to the public. The furnishings are quite literally at home, sidestepping the predicament of the conventional museum: i.e. how to present functional day-to-day items without harming your visitors' brain function. Nosing around authentic houses from the last three centuries left my senses pretty much intact.

Barns, shops, workshops, mills and a small farm are all teeming with activity, presenting numerous opportunities to observe, purchase or take part in a small piece of Hungarian village life. Hammering holes into pieces of leather with a blunt chisel is also a decent way to keep 10-year old children occupied.

The amount of time you spend at the Skanzen really depends on how much you like wandering around villages and whether you're aware of everything on offer. House-viewing fatigue does set in after a while, so a visit to the wine cellar or the inn might perk you up a bit.

The Skanzen’s peaceful car-free environment is ideal for a picnic, which can be supplemented with produce from the local bakery. Granted: bread may be bread may be bread, but the Skanzen's bread hasn't been sitting in your bag all day.

The latest addition is a railway line that connects up five of the regions, complete with a 1930s railcar (which, this being Hungary, was still in regular service until 1989.) For 500Ft, and if you get your timing right, you can make the long walk back to the car park a breeze. Well, if breezes travel at 15km an hour, that is.

You can get to Szentendre in 40 minutes by HÉV (the suburban railway), leaving from Batthyány tér or Margit hid. The Skanzen is a further 20 minute bus journey from Szentendre station.

Andy Sz.

The Chinese Market

Disused Railway Sidings [map]
Pest VIII, Kőbányai út 21 (T28/62), 1 min

Hungary is not the most multicultural nation on the planet. 95% Magyar, 2% Roma (derided by 95% of the population), and 3% strays and waifs. Also in amongst this is a Chinese population, many of whom make a living in the ubiquitous and universally underwhelming "Gyors Bufés." But, believe it or not, Budapest does have its own Chinatown! Well, China-shanty-town, at least.

Blaha Lujza tér is not the prettiest part of Budapest but if you walk in four out of five directions, you're still in town: cosmopolitan enough to find tourists looking at upside-down maps. The fifth direction, however, along Népszinház utca, is as well-known as the fifth dimension and you can take a tram straight into it. English voices here raise eyebrows, or at least the temper of the drunken tramp standing two feet away from me. He got quite angry but stopped short of lunging at me. (It seems I'm something of a disgruntled tramp magnet.)

You know when you're at the market because the tram takes a sharp left in front of an enormous brick spacecraft-of-a-building, before stopping a hundred metres later, next to some disused railway sidings. The latter announce your arrival. It's at this point that you're wondering what the Hell you're doing here.

The market has scaled down a little in recent months, making the collection of makeshift stalls negotiable without a compass, although walking from one end to the other is still a distance event. On sale: counterfeit brands, fake perfumes, genuine radio alarm clocks from the 1980s. I'm told it's the only place you can buy Vichy skincare products without going to a chemist. I've also heard rumours that you can buy guns, although that's not exactly advertised. Personally, I think the atmosphere is the best value, although socks come a close second.

The market also serves as a gambling den: poker games go on in full view, particularly during the week, when business is slower. Little piles of notes are not so much as hidden, although furtive glances are de rigeur. Photos are restricted to what you can capture discreetly on your phone, unless you want to be yelled at or lynched.

So many Chinese people in one place need feeding, and consequently the food here is a big improvement on the city's Bufés, at a decent price too. (More on what's on offer here.) But don't believe that price board that looks like it's been there for a decade: it has, and protesting that your rice is twice the marked price is unlikely to count for much.

The Chinese Market is a real oddity, and if it's not the most immediate of Budapest's attractions, it is a side of the city that's bafflingly interesting, in a grimy kind of way. The down-sizing, however, could be a sign that the authorities are starting to tighten the noose, so get your sneaky snapshots of Budapest's underbelly while you can. If they ever do succeed in shutting it down, I hope provision is being made for those of us who want socks, Chinese food and fake perfume in the same place. And what on Earth will they do with all those Chinese people?

Four trams run along Népszinház utca from Blaha, but only two, the #28 and #62 take you to the Chinese market. All are equipped with drunken tramps.

Andy Sz.

Gellért hegy

Szent Gellért tér [map]
Buda, XI, Gellért tér (T18, 47, 49) 1 min

Budapest is a bustling metropolitan city of incessant clamour, miserable people in shops, trams, buses and smog. The homeless and dogs alike use the streets as their toilet, while underground, people rush headlong into your path in a no-holds-barred free-for-all. That’s why a spot for some inner solitude is crucial.

On a Saturday afternoon in mid-winter, I found myself in a clearing, amongst boulders and brambles. A light snow began to fall, and in the near silence, the moment approached the surreal.

It’s surprising how little traveling you have to do to feel like you’ve reached the verge of suburban and earthly terrain: just a little south of Castle Hill and within spitting distance of the city center (depending on the power of your expectoration.) Although the cave-chapel, close to the foot of the hill, is certainly worth a look, it doesn't give much respite from the masses - not least due to its tiny proportions. My mission for peace was of the urgent, selfish variety, so I opted for a more personal route.

There is a surplus of paths snaking their way through the park, akin to the inner reaches and windings of New York’s Central Park. No matter which strategy you have for traversing the trails (both paved and muddy), you’re bound to stumble upon surprises along the way: a tent pitched on a small patch of grass, couples getting mawkish, and strange playgrounds that materialize out of nowhere.

Five rather massive slides lie somewhere about halfway up the hill. They may look like a death wish for small children, but after I'd youthfully bounded up the steps, I found the downhill journey a bit on the slow side. Fun nonetheless.

There are countless lookout points where you can catch your breath from the arduous climb, and take in the now calming din and expansive views of Budapest below. It’s pretty easy to wax nostalgic about the beauty of this place. Sure, city life is a daily war, but here, towering above it all, you can feel like a conqueror.

The "Statue of Liberty" and Citadella, lie atop the hill and for some, will be the main motivation for the climb. But for me, it’s the serenity of the journey itself that’s the main draw. At the top you’ll find the typical tourist hubbub and vexing vendors rushing you with their, “English? Deutsch? Français?”, which might prompt you to find the nearest trail and lose yourself again in the undergrowth.

The most popular approach is from a Gellért Baths, direction but you can also start at the foot of Erzsébet hid, by the Szent Gellért statue, or take a #8 bus to Sánc utca for a lengthier exploration.

Jacob P.

Szeged

Szeged [map]
175km South of Budapest

If you dare venture far enough away from downtown Budapest, so far that even the musk of kolbász wafting from the hentes bolts is but a distant memory, fear not, for you are in Szeged, home of famed Pick Szalámi, halászlé (fish soup) and the virulent seeds of the 1956 revolution.

A walk from the train station, however, down wide, poplar-lined streets to the Hősök kapuja (Heroes' gate) at Aradi vértanúk tere suggests little more than the fresh-air pleasantries afforded by life outside Budapest. Bike paths abound, people are inclined to smile. Maybe Tisza water just does the body good.

Szeged is a little scant on cultural programmes, especially compared to its museum-laden neighbor, Pécs, and is certainly best taken in on foot. If you’ve already covered the usual routes to the smattering of churches at Dóm tér, up the banks of the Tisza toward the leafy grounds at Széchenyi tér, be sure to explore the pedestrian mall at the heart of the downtown. This grid of streets, where refurbished neoclassical buildings house the usual foreign chains and local cafes, has a Vaci utca-esque vibrance without the decadence. A certified people-watching spot.

But the afternoon bustle belies the sleepiness of the city. Once the downtown has all but cleared out, you could do worse than settle at Café Corso for an inexpensive pint (but avoid the mulled wine.) Located on Kárász utca, it’s a surprisingly unpretentious alternative to the overpriced confectionary cafes that seem to dominate the nearby square. In the summer months, try Acapella, next door, for its highly touted ice-cream. When the waiter hands you your cone, see if you can spot his Szegedi accent, probably the closest thing to a Hungarian southern drawl.

Once you've lapped up the relaxed atmosphere and absorbed the architectural highlights, you may find yourself looking for something more. If so, take advantage of the fact that you're just a stone’s throw away from the Serbian border. While it's an inconceivably slow stone's throw, the one car train journey is brimming with character, making it worth every puttering minute.

If you have more than a day or two, Szeged makes for an ideal starting point for more drawn out excursions into nearby northern Serbian towns like Subotica (Szabadka) and Novi Sad, where a little Hungarian, even in a Budapesti accent, might go farther than English.

Pocket-sized Szeged isn't exactly packed with things to do but with or without the Serbian add-on, there should be enough to satiate the weekend wanderer or Budapest escapee.

Trains run every hour from Nyugati taking approx. 2hrs.

AZL