Sincerely Yours, Budapest

 

 

 

I don't have enough words to show how I feel for a city and a country that welcomed me as its inhabitant for more than 2 years. I will rather consider these words as a start of many others to be followed, about its food, its people, its places and its traditions.

For me Budapest is not always yellow - quoting Chico Buarque, Brazilian singer and writer in his book Budapest. In my perception this city has two colors. In the summer is yellow, and in winter is gray or raw. The sky is silver, with the sun always hidden, reflecting this color on the Danube and across the city. In the summer morning or sunsets even the buildings themselves have such a yellow crisp tone as Chico mentioned on his book.

 

Budapest is my Paris, my city of love. Several areas of the city, if not all, can be a beautiful postcard or a perfect backdrop for any photograph or film. Budapest is extremely keen in the art of camouflage, we easily see it passing as Paris or Moscow.
In its short summer, this city is extremely hot, as hot as a southern city in Latin America in their summers. It's hard to find trees along the streets, trees that provide at least a fair shadow to its diurnal inhabitants. But there is always the option of finding a hiding place on Margarit Island, in Varos Liget, in Erszebet Tér among other places. Here in summer there is a tradition of going on improvised picnics. Often people plan these gathers after work or during their weekend, taking their own drinks and food, joining friends in a sunny day in the park. You can eat raw paprikas, impressively tasty burgers and super chilled beers.

 
Besides the long winter - like other countries in the region - there is something that I value a lot in this city and in Hungary in general: the seasons are extremely well defined. Here a photography project is very rewarding because the landscape changes significantly every 3 months. You can see the snow sleeping on the roofs or the green spring shoots in the beautiful trees of Andrassy. Among the trees in full summer canopy to leaves of yellow and orange tones in autumn. For me this is a very particular sight, as were I come from Autumn and Spring are too short and we never see snow.
All cities, especially European ones, have a thick book of history that marked them, either physically or culturally, but here everything seems to have happened about 5 years ago. The scars left by the various wars and conflicts are still present in buildings, and in most cases is deliberate - perhaps to never forget? Maybe. It is also interesting to remember that the holidays in Hungary are often a memorandum of historic lost battles, and the human loss it brought - and year after year the scar is marked on the face of this charming woman called Hungary and its gorgeous daughter Budapest.

 

 It is a city that I consider unique and I will always remember it as my second home "of my younger years." The Danube is so often mentioned in songs, films or people's names, that when I got to know him personally I finally understood all the charm that covered him. A storyful river that unites countries and cities so unique and beautiful. Being Budapest, for me, his precious pearl. To understand this view, you have to go to Vigadó tér and just admire the landscape, either at night or day, of the Chain Brigde, the hilltop castle, the Fishermen's Bastion, the boats passing by ... - It is a truly unique mirage. The photos are not realistic enough. You must be included in this picture, to feel and realize of its greatness and the feelings it gives you.

                                   




Finally, what I like most in Budapest is the ease with which we can go anywhere, either by public transportation or by car, the extensive cultural offerings and its accessibility. The ease with which in the same week you can go to the opera, the theater, a club or a more refined "romkocsma" - without bankrupting.On the famous Budapest nights the most typical corners are undoubtedly the "ruin pubs" or in Hungarian the "romkocsma", where it is worth mentioning Szimpla, Grandio, Ankert among many others. One only need to walk in the streets of the District VI and VII and watch the bars that lend themselves ahead. The offer is grand, creative and surprising.
 

 

This is my first impression of a city that I call mine. A city where I always feel at home when I return. I'll have to devote some extra time to talk about the Hungarian people, equally friendly and private - for having a Hungarian friend it's a tasty treat that only a few can afford to have.