DAY SIXTEEN: Simply The Pest

After soaking up all that Budapest had to offer by day, Day 16 gave me the chance to sample the city's night life.  Obviously drinking and partying wouldn't really constitute a new experience for me, but doing it Hungarian-styley meant entering unchartered territory.

Before properly painting the town red, Owen and I sampled some of Budapest’s cinematic offerings.  With its impressive cultural roots and a historically celebrated film industry (or so Owen informed me), the city has many quirky and independent movie theatres.  To kick our evening off, therefore, my host and I attended a free screening of a short film about dance, set to the music of Mozart and Debussy.  Like, totally cultural.  Apparently Budapest offers low-key events like this all the time: a brilliant and cheap way to spend an evening.

Post-film, Owen and I continued on to our next engagement: a Hungarian Folk Dancing Evening.  Well prepared with a few beers and several shots of herby Eastern European liqueur, we joined dozens of others in circle formation to dance to traditional tunes played on flute, guitar and wooden drum.  As fun as this was, it was strictly business for the locals, a ritual to be taken highly seriously.  As it took me some time to get the exact footing correct on one of the more complicated routines, I was subject to a few looks of contempt from the proud Hungarians.  However, once I’d mastered the steps, I was free to join in the festivities and group chanting.  Ay, Ay, Ay!!

Szimpla: A Typical Ruin Bar

With the dancing all done, Owen and I took to the streets to sample Budapest’s late-night activities.  Some of the city’s best drinking venues are called Ruin Bars: quirky little pop-up sites, formed by pitching large tents in between the foundations of old buildings.  These bars are typically decorated with collections of unique trinkets and vintage accessories.  Massively cool.

My night in Budapest didn’t end until about 8am.  Typical of Hungarian stamina, apparently.  We stayed in a little all-night bar called Piaf for hours on end, drinking and chatting to some of the bar’s friendly locals.  I later discovered that these charming ladies were actually “working girls”, and were only really after one thing.  Quite a shame, really.  I thought I’d made some new friends.

DAY 16:  Hit Budapest at night.  KULLANCS!


Peace & Love,
Rich xx