A lovely sunny day with some autumn chill.
After much agonising, I decided not to try to exchange my shoes for the next size up, mostly because I hadn’t taken the box when I bought them so I thought they were likely to refuse to exchange them. As it turned out, I wore the smaller pair all day, doing nearly 15,000 steps with no problem, so if I could learn not to second guess myself, that would be great.
We headed back over to the Buda side to see a couple of things that looked interesting. First was the underground labyrinth where Dracula was reputedly incarcerated for years in the 1460’s. We paid our money and wandered around the underground labyrinth. There wasn’t much information about the tunnels themselves, just some bizarre displays, like scenes out of famous operas with waxworks figures, and also numerous cheap plaster statues of various kings of Hungary. There was a section where you could scare yourself by wandering around in the dark if you were so inclined, but in fact the lighting was very poor down there anyway. I’m not sure if the bulbs were blown or they were just trying to save money on power, but you could barely see many of the displays. There was a mock up of Dracula’s cell complete with heads impaled on spikes but I would question its historical authenticity. Simon was generally unimpressed by the whole thing.
Next was a much better museum, again underground: the Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum. This really was interesting. In fact they explained more about the underground tunnels than the first museum had. Essentially they had started as natural features in the rock under the city, people had used them for storage for centuries. They had been enlarged over the years, and then the government decided to do a survey of them and found that there were many very close together, so they knocked the walls through and made them into a system of tunnels.
They set up a hospital in there in the thirties that would be protected from bombings. It was in use late in the Second World War, the initial plan was for 60 patients but it was rapidly expanded to 200, and then there was the siege of Budapest by the Soviets. Conditions rapidly deteriorated, they ran out of food and water and infections were rife.
The hospital was only used once more, in the uprising against Soviet rule in 1956, another glorious defeat for Hungary. After that it was repurposed as a nuclear bunker during the Cold War, but as a hospital. The plan was that when the bombs dropped, all the doctors and nurses would rush there, and the doors would be locked after 15 minutes, no one in or out for three days. Then they would open to treat bomb casualties, who would have all their hair shaved off, have long showers and then put on radiation suits. Really it was all very impractical, especially as they only had three weeks worth of water. Luckily it was never put to the test.
The hospital is set up with wax works figures, mostly as things were when the hospital was in use in WW2. It was supposed to just be an offshoot of a nearby hospital above ground, with staff and supplies being regularly delivered, but as the situation worsened, they were quickly left on their own. It was fascinating to see the operating theatres, which had two operations going on side by side as there was so much work to do and no spare room to do it in. I am so thankful for the conditions I work in at home and I will never complain again!
They had an exhibit on the effects of atom bombs, what happened in Japan in August 1945 really was horrific. And my biggest concern yesterday was choosing shoes. I need to practice gratitude more.
We had a nice lunch on the other side of Buda hill, many steps down and then many more to get back up again to catch the bus home. We only had a brief break before another food tour that we had booked.
This tour had far more people than the ones we did in Portugal and Spain. Our guide was called Ray, she came from Mongolia but spoke English with a Californian accent. We had four stops on the tour, the first was a sort of paprika flavoured soup with bits of potato and bacon, that we ate standing in the street. Hearty and very traditional but not particularly inspiring. From there we went to a small cafe where we had beer and the local street food called lángos. This is basically deep fried pizza with a topping of sour cream and cheese. I was not prepared for how delicious it was but very filling, as you can imagine. Is this the deep fried pizza that I’ve heard about in Scotland? In which case, I will stop sneering.
From there we went to a proper sit down restaurant and had a plate of paprika pork and the small malformed gnocchi which is so common here. A sliver of tomato was the only vegetable. This was accompanied by a tiny dash of pörkölt, a nasty local fruit brandy which is apparently good for you, according to local tradition.
Our last stop was for a slice of cake and a glass of Tokaij. We chatted with a few people briefly over the course of the evening but weren’t up for kicking on as some of the young people looked set to do. We walked home through the Saturday night crowds back our hotel. I’m enjoying Budapest but I don’t expect I’ll return.