67% of Budapest's Islands

Lately I’ve been assaulting Google with those kind of dumb questions which then cause major merriment when the auto fill helps out your queries. The first one, namely the identity of Guus Hiddink’s wife (don’t ask why, though it almost made sense at that time, no, really, it did.) was already helped by the auto fill- the information seems to be more researched than his present club, which is a reflection either on the shallow interests of the world in general or on the arch of Hiddink’s career in particular. Next up was whether Guinness contains fish- you guys, it does, isinglass in particular, and so do most cask ales, so no Guinness for vegetarians then, which is cool, because more is left for me.

Having reached such high levels of competence over the long weekend I didn’t bat an eye when, pondering the number of Budapest’s islands I realized I only had a hunch, not a certainty.  No worries there, let me type this thing into good old Google- the auto fill is back in action yet again and shows that I am not alone in the land of the confused and clueless but at least my hunch proved to be correct- Budapest has three islands, of which Csepel is the biggest, followed by Óbudai and Margit, with Szentendre island lying just above the northern border of the city hence already outside.

Although I’d half harboured a hope that maybe somewhere along the Danube’s Budapest stretch there’s a puny patch of land which might just qualify as an island, much as Pluto is occasionally a planet, and I could fetch the lazy photographer to go on a bold new discovery mission, I had to settle with the pleasant thought that over the weekend I’d visited 67% of Budapest’s islands bedecked in their full autumnal splendour.

We’d even managed to catch that elusive golden hour which on Margit island, due to the evil geographical placement of the Buda hills and the even eviler daylight saving arrangements which happened over the weekend has now become a golden 11 and a half minutes around four in the afternoon. 4 PM wouldn’t really qualify as dusk in my book, but sadly that’s exactly what it is these days-luckily we have a great suggestion for a place where you can drown your sorrow in both drink and food- Pozsonyi kisvendéglő has been faithfully serving the people of Újlipótváros and not only since 1992, and provides unsophisticated yet excellent fuel for chilly winter evenings. 

Walk the LIne

About two weeks ago, we set out for a casual walk into a springish Saturday morning. Which reminds me, isn’t it great how weekend days don’t wash into each other anymore, as you damn well know which one is the Saturday, because the stores are open? Well no, it isn’t, actually,  the jolliness lasts up until the second you realize you’re out of butter on a Sunday morning, and start on a journey far more impressive than the one I’ll be writing about here.

For so it happened that our casual walk, which was intended as a yearly pilgrimage to the strategically placed early blooming tree that makes for ridiculously scenic shots with Freedom bridge, became an outright odyssey that took us full circle across the hills of Buda, through Tabán and all the way to Margit island.

One of the first things we learned on the way, and pretty much of capital importance, is that the waffle place near Ferenciek square opens at 11. So, should you set out on a jolly and ridiculously early morning walk and suddenly feel a devastating urge to eat waffles (trust me, the struggle is real) , you must settle for the considerably more expensive ones on Váci street. The only way I can explain the steep difference in price is that they are Belgian- a trick which works splendidly with chocolate and beer as well, just add Belgian and sell it at triple the price and no one bats an eye.

The waffle detour did however take us through the Astoria underground passage, where some people were, quite naturally, playing Bach. Later on during the day, after having successfully summited and then descended from Gellért hill, we ventured into one of those restaurants I keep ogling at through the window, say they’re nice, then move on. Turns out it was a real shame we’d never been to Lánchíd Söröző before: their beer is Czech, the food is tasty and affordable, and also totally naturally, they have Bono’s autograph in a frame.

The final stretch took us to Margit Island, which was still in a rather incipient state of bloom at the time-much progress has been made since in that direction. And to end the entry with factual and possibly useful information, we counted the length of our journey, and came to the conclusion it was a whopping 15 kilometres, on the Oktogon- Deák square- Ferenciek square- Freedom bridge- Gellért hill- Batthyány square- Margit Island- Nyugati square- Oktogon route.