Top 5 Favorite Hotels 2010-2020: #5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary

The Year of Our COVID, A.D. 2020, has not been the year for travel that I anticipated at the ringing in of the new year. I had planned an active international travel agenda on the occasion of my then-upcoming 60th Birthday in May. The one exception was a five-day trip to Quito just as the COVID lockdowns were being put into place. Other than that, 2020 had the least amount of international travel for me since 2009, the last year I failed to venture out of home country.

Rather than mourn the inability to do international travel this past year -- of which I have done plenty -- I would rather honor a preceding decade of an extraordinary, fantastic, marvelous, wonderful travel opportunities. I will now count down my five favorite hotels where I was able to stay during that great decade of travel, my 50's.

#5: art'otel, Budapest, Hungary.

Isn't the lobby artsy?

The room was quite nice and quite comfortable:

But it wasn't extraordinary. In fact, except for what will be #1, none of the hotels at which I've stayed qualify as "luxurious." I do not stay in the premier, world-class most expensive hotel in any town, unless the most expensive hotel in town is around $100 a night.

What made the art'otel of Budapest so extraordinary, so worthy of mention and acclaim, was the view:

I upgraded for a "river view" room and, oh my my, was it worth it. From the balcony of my hotel, I had the signature view of all of Budapest. It's better to see in daylight:

The Danube River and Budapest's premier landmark, the Parliament Building.

I've since been to Budapest two other times. I've stayed in different hotels in different neighborhoods each time. I would recommend all three of the hotels. I would recommend all three neighborhoods. But in no hotel in which I've ever stayed have I ever had a more extraordinary view from my room.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Béla Kun Memorial

The Béla Kun Memorial. In black & white.

And we end Memento Park Week with my absolute favorite of all the statuary in the park: the subversive Béla Kun Memorial.

It's not that the communist Béla Kun was a subversive, although he was. It is the monument that was subtly subversive toward the Communist elite. In 1919, Kun became the leader of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the second communist dictatorship to come to power in Europe. The regime was short-lived and collapsed six months later. In the 1930s, Kun was arrested by Stalin on the serious charge of being a Trotskyite, a counter-revolutionary. He was executed in a gulag and never returned to Hungary. His image was rehabilitated in the de-Stalinization period of the 1950s.

The monument was built in 1986, in the latter days of the Communist Era. The artist was Imre Varga. I should have been more familiar with him as he was considered Hungary's greatest living artist at the time of his death in December 2019. This monument shows genuinely talent is not cookie-cutter workman-like "socialist realism."

At the center is Kun, exhorting the Hungarian people and transforming them from the decadent bourgeoisie Hapsburgs in the rear to the soldiers of international socialism in the front. The problem is that the decadent Hapsburgs in back, rather than looking forlorn and beaten, look like they're having a party. And next to Kun is a lamp post. Artistically, it's a symbol of death, specifically violent death, as in "hanging from the lamppost." Kun died violently, as he was executed by the Soviets.

This is most definitely not a celebration of Communism. It did not need to be removed from Budapest at the time of the fall of Communism. Fortunately, it has a new home. It is the centerpiece of Memento Park and, let's be real, the masterpiece of this fascinating and historic place.

The Béla Kun Memorial. In color.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Marx and Engels in Granite

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels stiff in granite at Memento Park, just outside of Budapest. "Socialist realism" at its most stiff and least real.

This makes me think of that wonderful old song by Joe Strummer and the Clash, "The Magnificent Seven," when you get to the twelfth or thirteenth verse:

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels / Came to the checkout at the Seven Eleven
Marx was skint but he had sense / Engels lent him the necessary pence

Visited May 2010.

Phot-o' the Day: Shoes on the Danube Bank; Budapest, Hungary

This is the poignant "Shoes on the Danube Bank" memorial in Budapest, Hungary. This is to honor those the thousands killed here, along the banks of the Danube, by the Arrow Cross, the indigenous Nazi party of Hungary. The killings took place mostly in December 1944 and January 1945. Those killed were predominantly, but by no means exclusively, Hungarian Jews.

Why shoes? Those who were being executed were ordered to remove their shoes before they were shot. The bodies would fall into the river and be carried away by the current. The shoes here are correctly-sized, 1940s-style shoes cast in iron.

This is located on the Pest-side bank of the Danube River in Central Budapest. I visited here in May 2010.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest, Hungary

Szent István Bazilika. St. Stephen's Basilica. On the Pest side of the Danube in Budapest.

Churches are closed all over Las Vegas today due to the coronavirus shutdown, so we have to enjoy our Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day from the outside,

Visited May 2010. I walked past it on other visits to Budapest, but I only went inside on my first visit to Hungary. No flash photography was allowed inside, and the inside was very dark, so the interior photos are extremely dark. And that's the real reason why I am not posting any pictures from inside this beautiful basilica.

Phot-o' the Day: Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Budapest, Hungary

A special Ash Wednesday edition of Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day, since Ash Wednesday is a Holy Day of Obligation and church attendance is mandatory, not optional.

This is Mária Magdolna Torony, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, on Castle Hill, the Buda side, of Budapest, Hungary. More precisely, this is the bombed-out remains of the church. The church did not survive WWII intact.

I don't know how to love this church. I don't see why it moves me. It's just a church. And I've had so many churches before. In very many ways. It's just one more. Bonus points for getting the allusion.

This was my second visit to this church and my third visit to the wonderful, awesome, magnificent City of Budapest.

Phot-o' the Day: George Washington in Budapest, Hungary

Phot-o' the Presidents' Day is George Washington in Budapest. From my first visit to Budapest in May 2010.

I was wandering around the City Park on my last in Budapest -- my last day of what was my first big international trip in nearly a decade and a half -- visiting the Széchenyi Thermal Baths, and checking out the mock castle. I'm walking along the green, shaded pathways when, suddenly, unexpectedly, I see this. I do the proverbial double take. Is that really George Washington? Yes. Yes it was. I've never found out why he's there or what he's doing there. But there he is.

It's always nice to run into an old familiar friend when traveling abroad.

Gerbeaud!

A Christmas Tree of macarons because why not

Unfinished Budapest business got finished with a trip to Gerbeaud.

Gerbeaud is one of the world's great coffeeshops.  World.  As in the whole Big Blue Marble.  It is listed in my book "1000 Places to Visit Before You Die" or some other such melodramatic title.  I didn't make it either of my first two trips to Budapest.  One time it had just closed when I got there.

It all started as a confectionary shop back in 1858.  Now, it is the beautiful, ornate, huge structure on Vörösmarty tér in Budapest Centrum.  Let's have a look at the display counters.

And one more look at that Christmas Tree of macarons:

It is multiple rooms of chandeliers and draperies and decadent capitalist luxury that somehow survived the communist era.

It serves meals too, in addition to cakes and confectionaries.  I had the turkey cordon bleu with grilled mixed vegetables (or mixed grill vegetables, I can't remember which):

My reaction was "where have you been all of my life?"  I am sorry that the internet is not scratch-and-sniff because the aroma was incredible.  And the vegetables were awesome, perfectly salted and seasoned.  I even ate the cauliflower and I do not eat cauliflower ever.  The cherry tomatoes tasted like cherries, with a hint of tomato.  And the cordon bleu?  It tasted as good as it smelled.

Of course I left room for dessert.

This is the "salty peanut apricot slice."  It was not too sweet,  Cheap desserts are loaded with sugar and sweetness.  This was nicely sweetened.  The description was peanut butter cream, hazelnut praline, apricot, on a thin layer of chocolate sponge cake.  Here, read it from the menu:

I ordered it because my first choice, the cream cake, was sold out for the night.

This probably means it was awesome.  (The menu had some interesting other choices, such as the Mojito sundae, with rum, lemon ice cream, lime juice, mint leaves and sparkling water that sounded like the perfect summertime dessert.  This was not summertime however, so the Mojito sundae was left unordered.)

Back to my "salty peanut apricot slice."  I wasn't sure if that flavor combination would work.  It could be a symphony or a cacophony.  I trusted.  And my trust was rewarded.  The hazelnut was the dominant taste.  The peanut butter was the dominant after taste.  Hints of apricot came through on occasion,  It all worked.  Weirdly enough, the chocolate cake was over-powered and not really noticeable.

I ordered a cappuccino to go with it.  This is a coffeehouse after all.

It was closing time when I finished, so the place was emptied out.

It was all awesome.  Beautiful space.  Delicious food.  Excellent dessert.  A very merry Christmas from inside Gerbeaud.  And, when I walked out, I walked into the Budapest Christmas market,

Maybe it's the Christmas lights, but all Christmas markets seem to look better and more festive after dark.

This particular food booth smelled awesome.

Again, apologies for the lack of "scratch and sniff" technology here on the interwebs.

And with that it is time to bring the Budapest portion of this trip to its conclusion.  My observation from this third trip to here is that I still love this city.  It's still my favorite.  It's changed a bit.  Nothing stays the same in this world no matter how much I want it to, dammit.  (The expletive added, of course, to avoid ending that sentence on a preposition.)  Most noticeably, food and restaurant prices are now at "European" levels, instead of being a great travel bargain, even though Hungary does not use the euro.  Construction cranes are everywhere, so perhaps it will change some more.

But for now, other than it being pricier, it's still a great place.  My stress left my body just being here for a few days.  My three nights here translated into just two days, as the first day was "jet lag recovery day."  Tomorrow I will take the train to my next destination,

I'm Dreaming of a Red Christmas

I took the communism theme walking tour, so of course we walked to the man who slayed the Red Menace

Red.  The color of "workers of the world unite." 

This morning I went down to Vörösmarty tér (Vörösmarty Square, for those unfamiliar with the Magyar tongue) (which probably would be everybody who doesn't actually live in Hungary). I found that this was the place where the Budapest Christmas Market is centered.

But I did not go to Vörösmarty tér for the Christmas or for the capitalism.  I was there for the communism.  Specifically, the communist-themed walking tour of Budapest.

Christmas and communism.  Together in Budapest.  (Apparently, when Budapesters want to go to Christmas markets to get into the Christmas spirit, they head to Vienna.  So, yes, Budapest has a Christmas market, but it does not appear to be a "destination" type of Christmas market.)

Let's walk.

Good news for Budapest, but bad news for the tour, there are not many vestiges of communism to see in Budapest.  Budapest Centrum, the downtown core, was spared the Brutalist style of Soviet architecture, and the horrors of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus School of architecture, which decreed buildings must be unadorned and ugly.  In Soviet Brutalism, it was the actual intent to kill the spirit through public ugliness in architecture.  For the moderns and post-moderns, it was merely an unhappy consequence.

I mean, come on, St. Stephen's Basilica!  (Szent István-bazilika in the original Magyar.)  It's nice that there is no communism to its design.

On the other hand, across the street, is this monstrosity.

Soviet brutalism.  Why the tour was light on actual communist sights, it was packed with historical knowledge.  Such as:  Did you know that Bela Lugosi, you know, Count Dracula Bela Lugosi, fled Hungary in 1919.  Why?  He was part of the very brief communist revolution that seized power in Hungary at the end of World War I.  One.  Not two.  There were communist takeovers of Hungary at the end of both world wars.  The post-WWI communist takeover was brief, only 131 days, and the 37 year old communist fled for Hollywood after it was over, a place where the communist revolution took hold, and despite a brief hiccup in the McCarthy Era, has ruled Hollywood unabated since.  Oops.  Sorry.  Not going to get political.

This carving above looks like it could be communist.  Workers and farmers and all that.  But it's not.  And it's on the side of a bank,

Next up is a very very very controversial holocaust memorial:

The eagle represents Nazi Germany.  The archangel Gabriel below represents Hungary.  This is to represent a holocaust being foisted upon the innocent Hungarian people by the Nazis.  Reality, unfortunately, was more complicated.  Apparently the Hungarian Nazis, the Arrow Cross, were even more efficient than the Germans in operating a holocaust within their borderss.

That could be a communist era building there.  It's ugly enough.  Final note on the Arrow Cross and the communists.  After WWII, a large number of the members of the local Nazi Party, the Arrow Cross, joined up and became loyal communists, continuing their work of slaughtering the local population.

Speaking of controversy and of slaughtering the local population, above is an obelisk that serves as a memorial to the Soviet Red Army soldiers who were killed liberating the country from the Nazis.  If that is not the very definition of "mixed emotions," I don't know what would be.

Lots of nice buildings surrounding the Soviet Red Army memorial.  Such as:

And this:

These certainly would have been part of the pre-communist Budapest.  But the man more responsible than any other American for their being a post-communist Budapest  (and, perhaps, more responsible than anyone else on the planet -- you decide)

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Ronald Reagan.  He's posing here with our tour guide.  Tour Guide is in blue.  The President is in bronze.

And here's President Reagan posing with an elderly American tourist,

Here is a sort-of Hungarian hero of the communist era: Imre Nagy.  He was the premier of communist Hungary who allowed the 1956 revolt against communism to happen.  It was brutally suppressed by the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies.

Nagy was executed by the communists as a result.  Buried upside and in an unmarked grave.

After communism fell in 1989, Nagy's body was exhumed and he was reburied with proper honors.  But, to keep Hungary, a lot of red blood flowed in the interim.

The metal balls -- which are all over the courtyard and square behind the Parliament building -- represent each bullet that was fired into the crowd of true revolutionaries who died trying to throw off the yoke of communism.

Speaking of Parliament, this is Budapest's signature building, its Parliament building.

Most certainly not communist-era.  It now houses the democratically-elected national legislature.  Because communism is dead.  The only red in modern day Hungary is their delicious "Bull's Blood" red wine.  As it should be.

The communist tour complete, it was time for some other touring.

This is a non-evil eagle, the symbol of Budapest's multi-sport Ferencvárosi teams.  Well, non-evil if you're a fan.  Evil is cheer for a different Budapest football club, I guess.

I then went back to the hotel for a brief nap.  Woke up at 3:00 p.m. feeling well-rested and awesome.  Finally.  Then I realized that 3:00 p.m. local time is 6:00 a.m. Las Vegas.  I had just woken up at my regular waking time.  Oh well, time to head to the Rudas thermal baths for a soapy water massage!

It was only a quarter to four or so, and it already was dusk in Budapest.  The combination of being east in the time zone and rather far north makes for a very early sunset this time of year.

This area is St. Gellert Square, where the Gellert baths are located.  But we are not soaking in the water of the Gellert today.

Bridge with barges.  Artsy, no?

We are soaking at the Rudas.

No photos inside.  You would not want to see a picture of me wearing the loin cloth thing you wear to soak in the Rudas.  You really would not.

It was night time when I left after my soapy water massage, which is the Hungarian massage style using soap and hot water.  That's the Elizabeth Bridge above, named for "CiCi," an enduring popular Habsburg royal who pretty much lived a life that was the 180-degree polar opposite of "communist."

Unless you are referring to the "communist lifestyle" lived by high officials of the party.

Trams at Gellert Square.  Again, artsy, no?

Dinner was at a gluten free restaurant.

I had the porcini and sour cream soap for a starter.  I then had something truly American for my main course.

BBQ bacon burger with french fries and cole slaw,  On a gluten free bun.  The burger was tasty, with barbecue sauce, mayo (!), lettuce and tomato.  No cheese, however.  They missed that detail.  The bacon was crisp and thin-sliced like we Americans like our bacon, not all thick and fatty and European.  Yum.  The fries were given that double frying that makes them extra crispy, so that's a French fry-making secret that crossed the Atlantic.

The name of the restaurant was "Drop."  It was packed with Hungarian hipsters.  Yes, a little bit of Brooklyn all the way in Budapest.  I probably was the only in there because God said eat gluten free, rather than eating gluten free as some sort of Brooklyn hipster statement.  The restaurant was, literally, right across the walk from my hotel.  And I mean literally-literally, not figuratively literally.  The handle of the door fell off when I was leaving.  Which seemed like quality workmanship from the communist era.