Budapest: I Could Live Here

From Vienna I took a short train to Budapest.  The trains were very old, which gave them a bit of charm, the same charm that I got from the entire city of Budapest.  When I got off the train I instantly saw one of Hungary's most famous past-times, chess.  Throughout my trip I saw people setting up chess boards just about anywhere you can imagine to play the game all day long.

Budapest is split by the river Danube into two different cities, Buda and Pest.  My hostel was on an island in the Danube river.  The hostel was called Island hostel and was smack dab in the middle of a huge beautiful park filled with fountains, beer gardens and dance clubs (at night).

My first day I just walked around the Pest side of the city for a bit and saw the Parliament building.  Then I went for dinner and went to a few bars with some other travelers that I met.  It was a great start to Budapest but it wasn't till the next morning that I began to really love the city.  The next day I walked to the Buda side of the city and spent the entire day walking around looking at monuments, castles, and outdoor markets.  Everything in Budapest is beautiful, the architecture, the sunsets, the cafes, and the people.  At night I had dinner and drinks at the hostel with the people I had met.  Great conversations from people from around the world:  the owner was Hungarian and I met some travelers from Brazil, Spain and Austria.  Great memories from the hostel and from the city.

My third day in Budapest was eaten up almost entirely by the thermal public baths.  An incredibly relaxing and enjoyable experience.  Thermal pools of all sizes and temperatures, both indoors and outdoors.  The temperatures of the pools ranged from 16 degrees Celsius (60 F) to 40 C (104 F).  The Hungarian owner of the hostel gave me directions of how to do the thermal baths like a Hungarian.  Basically you spend a good chunk of time (4 hours) at the baths going from bath to bath and sauna/steam room to the cold baths.  I couldn't fully do it like a Hungarian because I couldn't handle the coldest water.  However, I did spend some time in the hottest sauna which came in at 100 degrees Celsius (212 F), which is the boiling temperature of water.  Those temperatures are only really tolerable for a couple minutes.

My final day in Budapest I walked around a bit more and ended up in the House Of Terror.  The House Of Terror is an old building, on one of the cities most famous streets, that has been headquarters to multiple fascist and communist dictatorial regimes during the 20th century.  It is an erie building with a tragic history.  There are parts of the museum that explain and show where/how many people were detained, tortured and killed during these regimes.

Later that day I hopped a train to start my 15-hour journey to see Jacob in Hannover Germany.  Not 12 hours after arriving in Hannover did my already upset stomach (from Morocco) become unbearable and I ended up spending the entire time in bed.  I had to cancel my trip to Copenhagen in hopes that this passes in time for my flight home in 2 days.  That being said this will be my last blog post until Mexico in late July.

Vienna: Bier and Wienerschnitzel

My last night in Morocco was in Tangier again, and this time around I was much more comfortable and I stayed in a slightly nicer hotel. In the morning I flew out and arrived in Vienna Austria around 1 am. My first impression of Vienna was not what I was expecting, granted I was wandering around a large city at 2 am looking for my cheap hostel. There were a lot of prostitutes, brothels and casinos.

By daytime the city seemed completely underwhelming after arriving from Morocco. I did not experience much of the “I'm in a new place” feeling that I have always had when traveling to a new country. The only thing that seemed somewhat unfamiliar was people speaking German. It was my first time in a German speaking country. I think I was experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock (if there is such a thing).

That being said the city was beautiful, and architecturally, the only place that I have been that compares is Paris. There are beautiful sculptures, fountains and monuments everywhere you look. I really was not sure what to do on my budget (which did not include any museum entrance fee's) so I simply walked around. From walking around I noticed that Vienna seemed to have two clashing cultures. On one spectrum there are huge pretzels, huge beers, huge hot dogs and wienerschnitzel's (fried pork) everywhere you look. On the other hand Vienna is known for its delicate pastries, wines, fancy coffee's and expensive shopping districts. These two norms seem to coexist as well as the coexistence of the opera/classical music culture and grimy brothels, strip clubs and street prostitution. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to get stumbling drunk on Austrian beer and eat wienerschnitzell till I exploded, or buy an opera ticket and eat chocolate cake. That being said I did neither, I just enjoyed the weather, architecture and did some people watching over a glass of whatever beer they gave me when I ordered a “beir.”

I think to fully appreciate Vienna you may need to have museum entrance fee's in your budget, and maybe have a bit more of a sweet tooth than me. For knowing nothing about the city other than that the most famous landmark is a ferris wheel from an Orson Wells movie, I really did enjoy the sense of adventure and discovery that came from my lack of knowledge. Next stop Budapest.

   

Day 3 in Fez: Getting Used To The Moroccan Way

My third day in Fez I decided to escape the hustle of the old medina and take the hour long trek up a mountain to the old Jewish neighborhood, or Mellah. The trek to the neighborhood was interesting, I was able to get away from most of the touts but not the ever-so-shocking differences of Moroccan culture from my own. On the walk up I nearly stumbled over the backbone of a large animal before noticing the skull (it looked like a camel) on the side of the road. The busy traffic and lack of sidewalks kept me on my toes and I noticed a blind man trying to cross the street a few hundred meters away. Before I was close enough to offer help he started to cross, a taxi came to a sketching halt and horns started to blare. The blind man started to step backwards slowly before eventually the cars told him to cross.

When I arrived in the old Jewish neighborhood it felt like a completely different city (but not a different country) from the old medina in Fez. The jewish neighborhood apparently only has a couple hundred jews remaining but UNESCO has protected a couple synagogues and a large very important Jewish cemetery. Before making it to the cemetery I walked through a couple markets. I walked through a meat market which was quite different than any meat market I have ever seen. There were stacks of goat heads, cages packed with pigeons, baby cats drinking blood stained water from the walkway, and large ballon looking pieces of meat hanging from the stalls.

After walking around the market and diligently ignoring everyone who shouted at me or approached me, I made it to the cemetery. The man at the gate explained to me (in Spanish) that there are important Jewish saints buried here dating back hundreds of years, then he asked me for 20 Dirham (2 dollars) to enter. It was really large and I was the only one inside. After walking around for about 20 minutes I headed out. On my way out he asked if I wanted to see the synagogue and I agreed, he asked his friend to take me there. For another 20 Dirham I was guided by a slow walking old arab Jew wearing woody allen glasses. Another 20 Dirham got me entrance into the extremely small synagogue.

As I walked through the market to head back down to my hostel another man approached me and asked if I enjoyed the synagogue and he wanted to take me to another one. He told me he was Jewish and was very nice. He seemed a bit heartbroke as he shuffled away when I told him I did not want to go. This is the consequence of not completely ignoring people as they approach you; either heartbreak or hours of pestering.

I was thirsty so I popped into a cafe that was filled with locals watching horse-racing on the TV. I ordered a bottle of water and a coffee. The tables where covered in flies and the old men sitting at the table next to me where scooping hashish out of a paper satchel into a long, skinny, decorated pipe. I paid about 10 Dirham for the large water and coffee and headed back to the hostel.

Note: The 20 Dirhams I paid for each entrance and the escort is very high (5 would suffice) but I did not feel like haggling over what converts into less than 1 dollar. That and I knew that the 20 Dirham would make them all very happy.

Fez: Medieval Medina

I woke up early in the morning and caught a train from Tangier to Fez Morocco. The train trip took about 5 hours and I arrived in Fez at 4 PM. I took a taxi to the hostel but the taxi dropped me off in some unknown place and I was approached by a “tour guide” within 10 seconds of exiting the cab. I figured he was yet another unlicensed tour guide but he had all of his teeth and spoke English very well so I figured I will let him show me where my hostel is rather than getting lost. After I got to the hostel he waited for me outside and seemed very disappointed when I told him I didn't want a tour. He didn't want to give me a phone number because he really wanted me to schedule a time for him to meet me. He finally left and I checked into the hostel.

After checking in, the lady working at the hostel gave me a map and showed me where the medina was. I decided I would go check it out on my own. I lasted about 10 minutes on my own before I figured I better wait and take the hostel tour the following day. The medina is the worlds oldest and largest functioning medieval, car-free city/maze/labyrinth in the world. It is difficult to describe the experience of the medina as it is completely overwhelming to every sense. There are smells of cooked and raw food, every kind of spice imaginable, donkey's, trash and other smells I have never experienced both good and bad. In the middle of the medina is the worlds oldest functioning leather tannery. They use ancient methods which consist of cleaning the leather with bird crap and dying it in the open air. This place had one of the worst smells I have ever experienced, thankfully we were given sprigs of mint by the shop owners to help with the smell. The medina has 9000 different streets and ally ways and 400,000 inhabitants; walking through it is an out of this world experience. After spending yet another hour in a carpet store, explaining that we didn't want to buy one, we enjoyed a traditional Moroccan meal of tagine, couscus and multi-plate salad starter.

After the tour I relaxed for a few hours before heading out, in search for dinner, with a couple of people I had met in the hostel. Our first attempt was to head for the madina and find anything that looked edible, but we ended up with an especially pushy and annoying tout (or “guide) who we simply couldn't lose without returning to the hostel. After returning to the hostel we went to a sandwich place that was not too far away. We ate chicken sandwiches and french fries as we watched cockroaches crawl across the walls waiting for us to finish.

My first day in Fez was interesting, exciting, frightening and mind opening. I hope that the photos and story are able to give it some justice. More on Fez in the next post.