Labyrinth of Buda Castle

The old side of town, Buda (as opposed to Pest) rises up from the Danube and is covered in impressive ancient buildings. We were wandering behind Buda castle in the afternoon and stumbled upon the entrance to the Labyrinth museum. Quite easy to miss if you're not looking for it . Just a small cave-like entrance that leads up a stone-lined tunnel inside the hill with pictures of different labyrinths lining the walls.  I had read that a series of caves existed underneath the castle which were open to the public but was unsure what to expect.

                      Reading the history of the Labyrinth once we arrived at the ticket office we discovered they began as naturally formed small caves caused by thermal springs.  They were later joined and extended once the castle district was built above and used for wine cellers, torture chambers, jails and military storage throughout the middle ages. In the 1930's during the war it was converted into a shelter and military hospital and then was reinforced with concrete to become a secret military installation during the Cold War. In 1996 it was reconstructed to its pre-cold war era state to be used as a special kind of cultural museum.

                                            

The museum is set up with the idea of using the cultural meaning of labyrinths as a guide to what is shown and how it's displayed. Like the spiritual labyrinths of history it is presented as a pilgrimage to find enlightenment at its end and to achieve a contemplative state. Its a bit toungue-in-cheek and has some of the hokeyness of a ghost tunnel at times but given the amazing history of the place and the thoughtful displays I found it really affecting. You are given a gas lantern then head off to wander the damp and surprisingly extensive tunnels.  Its set out in ages of history - first pre-history then ancient concentrating on Hungary's place and then a fantastical part looking back on our own time from way into the future. The diplays, sculptures and paintings you stumble across are cloaked in darkness only revealed by your lantern. Atmospheric sound is used to great effect- for example  a deep slow heart beat pulses throughout the pre-history section giving you the feeling you were in the bowels of the earth.

I loved the way the museum pulled you in by making the displays often quite cryptic, making you work to find the connections between things.

fossil of a laptop

                                                                                        fossil of a giant coke bottle

Hungarian TV

McLeods Daughters in Hungarian.
We were looking forward to tv after a few months camping and this is the best we could do....

roaming budapest

Today I took some photos in one of Budapest's many cool little cafes. I always feel self-conscious getting out our camera for daggy tourist shots when we are somewhere like this but I think in the end it's better to just let your true tourist colours/cameras shine, no one minds and you may regret having no photos later. Also, self-consciousness in front of people that you will probably never see again is even sillier than ordinary self-consciousness.

We went on to find a great shop which sold locally made clothing, accessories and art. They had wonderful belts made from recycled bicycle tyres (using old spokes for the buckle), wallets and satchels made from recycled bicycle inner tubes (I think you bought a wallet like this in Melbourne once Nicki?) and ear rings made from bike chain links! I have decided that next time my bike plays up, I will threaten to bring it here for reycling. The shop only opened a month ago and I hope they do well. It's called Nüansz and is at VII Kertesz utca 42-44 for anyone visiting Budapest (addresses are confusing here - I think VII is the district, utca means street, and numbers always seems to come last in Europe).

Recycled tyre belt

Inner tube wallet

Chain link earrings with spoke clasps

 Inner tube satchels

And now over to Matthew who has something shopping-related to add..

We also stumbled on a tiny vinyl store at the back of a lovely courtyard in a cupboard-sized space. The owner was a fountain of knowledge and very interesting. I couldnt resist getting a few rare records even though Ive been trying hard to resist my collecting instinct on this trip.

He had an old record cleaning machine that he used on my purchases and even wrapped them ready to post. We had to convince him we were ok to post it off ourselves he was so keen to help! Recommended  for great finds in Jazz especially modern but also rock and lots of Eastern European artists. The shop was Newport records =  Budapest, VI. Korut 8.

St Stephens day!

This is the great view we had from our flat of the St Stephens day fireworks. The dome is from the Parliment building that sits on the Danube. 

We thought we better at least know a bit about who Stephen was so we looked him up. He is not the boxing day Steve that the rest of the Christian world is familiar with but an 11th century Hungarian ruler. He converted to Christianity and was aided by the Vatican to set up Hungary as a more formally unified country. Before this the Magyars ( who are modern day Hungarians)  were relatively new to Hungary, a nomadic tribe that could have gone the way of the Huns if this formal order wasnt imposed.
From the end of the 15th century until 1989 apart from a few short intervals Hungary has been under foreign rule from a number of different empires. This seems to make the national holiday a bit more meaningful. The mood on the streets was festive but calm . People dressed in traditional clothes and paraded and lots of stalls were set up with traditional foods.

I saw a few people with this funny t-shirt - Spencer is a iconic spaghetti western actor here.

budapest

It feels good to be in Budapest. It's where we will take a good break from the saddle, fix a lot of our gear thats been nagging us for a while and plan a good cycle route for next stretch of our trip. We also are staying here long enough to have a good relax. A holiday from our holiday.
It also feels like a milestone. We can look at the Europe map and it wonder at how our daily amble along got us so far across. According to our daily tallys we have riden nearly 4000km since leaving Amsterdam. Yay for our bulging calf muscles.
We feel we got lucky with our accommodation considering we didnt know Budapest or its areas. We ended up in a great spot right next to the parliament building (pictured above). We booked a studio apartment through a website of private listings. They are usaully cheaper than a hotel especially if you're sharing and it means you have a kitchen and laundry. Great for two hobos like us for washing the months of accumulated filth from our belongings. Its surprising how quickly I have started taking for granted drying myself with a towel that doesn't smell like socks.
Below is a few pictures from our second day in Budapest. We awoke to a military band and speeches in the square across the street. A ignorant web search revealed it was Saint Stephens day, Hungary's biggest national holiday! Chuck anouther paprika-powdered pretzel on the barby!




Lots of interesting statues dot the city.



Men playing chess in the park

We soaked our limbs in these beautiful thermal pools. It's popular among older men to play chess while sitting in the pools.

Slovakia

We have taken our time traveling through Slovakia from Bratislava. It was about a 250km ride and we had a week before we had reserved our flat in Budapest so we could do short riding days and amble. It was a great place to do this in. As Jenny mentioned in the Bratislava post the locals here have been very welcoming and relaxed. We have had lots of wild camps on the river with no one seeming to mind.
We were given a very different impression of the feel of Slovakia by the guide book we have with us (the Danube Cycle Way published by Cicerone) but had long ago become used to taking their recommendations with a grain of salt. If anyone else uses this guide (there is not many/any other choices for the Danube trail if you want it in English) be aware that the information may be dated and although it can be good for finding out interesting things about towns you pass through it's really catering for the conservative comfort seeking cyclist or more specifically "fuddy duddys". Great if your interests lie in church architecture but it seems to be offended by anywhere with any rough elements.
The guide warns you off taking the trail on the Slovakian side of the Danube and sends you straight to Hungary after Bratislava. I hope other travelers get to experinace the sleepy bohemian charm of this part of Slovakia and not be put off by such advice because it was one of the highlights of the Danube route for us.

Wild camp on the Danube. Lots of people fishing nearby and huge barges groaning and creaking up the river through the night.

Crane's nest?

Does anyone know what these cylinders would be for? There is at least one in even the smallest town.

One thing these pictures can't capture is the soundtrack we experienced in Slovakia. It felt like everywhere we went no matter how quaint, rural or sleepy or what time of day it was we were blessed with loud, high energy dance music often embarrassingly sleazy with thinly-veiled double entendres. It was sort of surreal sitting having ice cream with kids and oldies with music blaring that's usually reserved for the sleaziest of clubs. I'm sure no one really follows what the English lyrics are crudely hinting at.
The strangest moment occured when we rode into a small rural town in the middle of a hot day to the throbbing of hardcore gangster rap blaring from public address loudspeakers on the telegraph poles. We thought there must be a festival but the streets were deserted. We only noticed a few old guys riding bikes as we left.


Th above few are from a town with thermal baths called Komarno. It had a wonderful pedestrianised centre with restored traditional architecture and good cafes and restraunts. It seemed a great place for a relaxing holiday.

A bit of a bleak picnic spot here as the Danube is concreted in to control it for the huge hydroelectric plant down river. Notice the beetroot spread - delicous!