Work trip to Budapest, Hungary - 9th to 11th May 2007

A couple of days in Budapest, to attend a conference that my company organises - the same thing took me to Berlin last year, so a nice change of scenery this time. Bob Geldof was the main speaker, and the company always seems to pull out the stops for this one - so some nice hotels, and lovely venues for social events are usually on the menu.

I had been to Budapest twice before, once at some point in the late 90s (it all seems like a blur now!), the most recent in 2003. This was also my first trip to Eastern Europe for a while. I always remember Budapest as being a nice city to visit, not as good as Prague all in all, but not bad for a weekend. They call it the Paris of the East - funny, because Shanghai, Riga and Bucharest all claim the same title. If you stay close to the River Danube, they have a point, but in much of the city, that description is stretching the truth a bit!

During my stay in Budapest, I spent a lot of time sitting in taxis or cars, being driven from one place to another around the city. When I say I spent a lot of time, I mean much more time that one would reasonably expect. Traffic is bad in a lot of cities, but Budapest is a complete joke. The road from the airport into the city (the capital city, remember!), is a single carriageway road, that trundles along for ages, with red traffic light after red traffic light. Then, once in the city, you hit the real traffic jams. Crossing the river is a complete nightmare at any time, and it is quite often quicker to walk. So, lots of time spent sitting in taxis, whilst they generally went nowhere fast.

Of course, much of this is the fault of the 40 years that Hungarians spent being ruled by Communists. They couldn't have nice consumer goods like cars for a long time. As soon as they were introduced to capitalism, they all went out and wanted to buy Western cars. In fact, so many people did so, that they all now sit in their Western cars, going nowhere because the city is completely snarled up. Of course, they have every right to buy however many cars they like, but it does not make Budapest a nice place to visit if you need to get around town.

The other interesting legacy of Communism is that it seems to be compulsory for Hungarian men over the age of 35 to have either a dodgy moustache, or a fully poor beard. Communist architecture also still scars the city all over - you see magnificent churches, museums, bridges and palaces, not to mention stunning buildings that are not even used for anything all that grand - then next door, a horrible 60s communist square concrete building.

Whilst in town, I did get the opportunity to see most of the nice bits (and they are truly lovely), and was also reminded by the great May weather that this part of Europe does have some fantastic summers. The parliament buildings, chain bridge, fisherman's bastion and castle, as well as the River Danube, are all beautiful attractions, so it was great to get to wander around and see all of them again.

In Budapest, you do get the feel of being in a decent sized city, where things happen - a feeling that you don't get so much in places like Prague. But it is hard to get over the fact that, away from the riverside bridges and buildings, and outside the Buda side of the river where the castles and palaces are; much of the city is not terribly attractive or endearing. The touristy stuff is fantastic, and will divert most people very enjoyably for a good weekend, but having done all that before, and now come here for work, I doubt I'll feel the need to rush back too soon.