Weekend Walks- Rózsadomb and Bits of the Second District

This was a walk we took in the weekend prior to becoming 100% involved with Sziget, so that is my grand excuse for posting them only now, but let’s say they are still relevant for a possible August 20th festive walk away from the celebratory throngs.

We started off from Moszkva square- where the newly opened Zing Burger establishment proudly sports the real name of the place. While we’ll grumble about the renaming till the end of the time, we must give it to the urban planners involved in the renewal project that fresh life was injected into a place which was looking ever more grimy and depressed.

From there we wandered into the mostly unknown, namely the sleepy residential areas of Rézmál and Rózsadomb- although there be no dragons here,  at least not at first sight, we found some pretty castle-ish edifices peering out defiantly from the greenery. We also startled some lizards and at least one cat, for the residents of the area themselves seemed to have retreated to the privacy of their hillside dungeons and mercifully taken their dogs too.

Although not all those who wander are lost, we most definitely were, and went full circle around Gül Baba’s türbe instead of taking the straight road to it- the türbe itself is sadly still closed to the public, but at last we could indulge in the somewhat startling presence of Gül Baba street, which has a decidedly Istanbul vibe. A few streets onwards, however, we felt as if we stepped into Paris, and here I will come to the point where I muse on how part of Budapest’s charm is that it has so many things going on within it, sometimes almost side by side.

After some caffeination in Törökméz, which, in spite of them name does not serve Turkish coffee, but pretty good Italian one, we descended towards more familiar grounds and went cloud hunting along Fő street, which is always a welcome alternative when you feel a bit overwhelmed by the sights of the Danube promenade on its left. 

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.