Diving into Budapest

It was supposed to be easier. Travelling on an overnight train, they said we’d have to work out how to meddle through the Magyar streets on our own. The "they" were border control guards who had woken us from our slumber somewhere just over the Slovenian/Hungarian border to check our passports. Fortunately, there were no heated discussions about legitimacy of our passports but conversation around sites to see in Budapest. They spoke briefly about the Bastion and the Cathedral, but also of "good alcohol region", alas with no directions.

Yep. That’s what they said.

We found ourselves disembarking into the Budapest Keleti railway station. The station itself had seen grander days, just like my travelling companion and I (after spending 14 hours on the overnight train from Venice in an extremely humid sleeper class carriage shared with 8 people; with only room for 4). There were signs of renovations beginning, perhaps even happening.

We stumbled out of the station and seemed to tumble back through a wormhole back in time. The architecture is stunning. The buildings slam up against each other unceremoniously. Wearily we arrived at our hostel for the night. A tenement-sized building with tenement-brickwork. We settled in, even though we were informed that the hostel has been broken into the night before. Kudos for the full disclosure.

After a quick nap we headed out into the city proper. We explored the main streets and some of the rabbit-hole alleys around Budapest. Tucked away up a side-street we found our treasure. Our "good alcohol region". The place was called Szimpla Kert and simply it was a dilapidated old building, or ruin, that had been re-purposed as a bar for travelers to meet and hang out and talk about their stories.

It was no ordinary bar. There were random fairy lights strewn around the place in no particular order. No two chairs looked the same. No two tables looked the same. Drapes hung where the ceiling once was. A claw-foot tub adorned one of the off-shoot rooms. A rotary-dial telephone hung on one of the walls and didn't look out of place at all. It was chaos, but really organized and fun chaos. And it was glorious. It's what makes travelling worth it. Finding those hidden gems where you least expect them.