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My trip was Vienna, Budapest, Northern Romania (Maramures & Transylvania), spas in southern Hungary, Serbia and now Croatia. I leave tomorrow for Ljubjana and home Saturday evening.
A great 3 week drive.
I hate you !! I am so jealous, you seem to be constantly gallavanting around the world...
I've heard that Romania as a country is more beautiful and has more to offer than Hungary but if it's only between the two cities Budapest wins hands down.
I suppose I have never partied ( nor wanted to) like a rock-star so did not really miss that much in Budapest ! Though I am sure it has its party spots...
You are right of course the language is incredibly difficult to get to grips with and though I feel I am reasonably gifted at languages it took me a lot of effort to even manage a few sentences.
But I did find Hungarian people very friendly ( especially after my hilarious efforts at Hungarian !) and helpful ( I am disabled and it was one of the places which was the most polite when it came to giving up their seats on public tranport etc...).
Hungarian people are quite reserved but I found once they started to open up they were actually very gregarious . I found my German and French to be invaluable especially with older people and ended up speaking a mixture of pidgin Germano/Franco/Magyar to them which they thought was amusing and I fear endearing !
I have spent many an afternoon in "Gerbeaud's" and "Angelika's" coffee houses , as they such a lovely places to waste a few hours and most times ended up striking a conversation with someone there. Same with quite a few restaurants in town.
I have been to Budapest so many times and I was amazed last time how Westernised it had become in a relatively short period of time. Buidling sites everywhere, almost everyone under the age of 50 had a mobile or a blakcberry it seemed and consumerism was rampant which to me was slightly disappointing . I fear like many places in the world it is losing a lot of its uniqueness and character but to me it still rocks as a city.
Thinking about it, one of the things I really loved about Hungary was all the many, many, many independent cinemas everywhere.
There is also an expat community, who published things in English. One of them, I counted the various DIFFERENT films that were in English (usually with Hungarian subtitles), and there were 97 DIFFERENT english movies being played throughout the city alone.
(In contrast to either Korea or Japan, where it'll be less than ten throughout the entire country, and most always will only be the big hollywood blockbusters).
Location: NY-NJ-Philly looks down at SF and laughs at the hippies
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
I adore Budapest, fantastic architecture, great cultural life, restaurants, etc... One of the places I could happily live in. Beautiful, beautiful city with fascinating history.
Bucharest iMO is sadly a dump due to the brutal destruction of many parts of the city by the Ceaucescus and their bizarre idea of grandiose brutalist architecture. It does retain some prettier areas but they are overshadowed by the horrors of the rest. Not a nice city at all IMO. So much of the beautiufl historic quarters were destroyed by the Ceaucescus.
I love Romania but mostly the smaller towns and more rural ares like Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains which are one of Europe's true undiscovered gems.
Budapest is just brilliant though. Like Prague except less phony.
I have a really good friend whose father immigrated to the U.S. through Budapest. I was offered to go on vacation with them for a week. I took them up on the offer and really enjoyed Budapest too. The architecture, trying different food and overall culture was a good experience.
I have never made it to Romania. I have sort of avoided much of Western Europe because it's seen as the poorest, most unsafe, less cultured area of Europe. Did you feel safe while visiting Bucharest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by chielgirl
I am in Eastern Europe on holiday at the moment.
I did not bother with Bucharest because the roads suck, drivers are insane and it is not very pretty. There is a Rembrandt in the museum, though. I loved backroad Romania.
Mooseketeer did you read my itinerary?
You are the second person who has mentioned the infrastructure issues in Bucharest.
06-16-2011, 10:52 PM
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(set 10 days ago)
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I have been to Bucharest three times.
I have family that live in Romania.
Bucharest is not nearly as bad as some people say.
I actually saw some impressive great charming areas of Bucharest and had an interesting trip there.
However, it was a big mistake that a lot of great areas of Bucharest were demolished a few decades ago. It used to be called to be called the "Paris of Eastern Europe." Despite that, there are still some charming areas of Bucharest left.
Also, Bucharest seemed safe to me, and the infrastructure not bad.
I have never been to Budapest, Hungary but my sister lived in Budapest Hungary for 6 months to study abroad for college there. She also showed me a lot of pictures of Budapest. Based on that, I would pick Budapest over Bucharest. But Bucharest is not bad at all.
As someone who has lived in Bucharest her entire life, I can tell you that Budapest is far more beautiful. Bucharest has some nice places, but all in all, Budapest is better.
As for the safety, it is not worse than any other major city in the world. There are some bad neighbourhoods, but no tourist should have to be interested in those.
I wouldn't really recommend Bucharest like a tourist destination, but it is worth a day or two if you are passing by (the main destionations being Maramures, Bucovina, Transilvania - those are must see places).
Sometimes I am really bothered by some people's prejudice when it comes to places they have never seen. But then again, maybe I have a bad opinion about some places, too, without ever being there.
My advice for those of you who have the means and the opportunity to visit Romania, is to go for it, there is nothing like a first hand experience. And Budapest definitely deserves a visit, but I have no idea how the rest of Hungary is.
As someone who has lived in Bucharest her entire life, I can tell you that Budapest is far more beautiful. Bucharest has some nice places, but all in all, Budapest is better.
As for the safety, it is not worse than any other major city in the world. There are some bad neighbourhoods, but no tourist should have to be interested in those.
I wouldn't really recommend Bucharest like a tourist destination, but it is worth a day or two if you are passing by (the main destionations being Maramures, Bucovina, Transilvania - those are must see places).
Sometimes I am really bothered by some people's prejudice when it comes to places they have never seen. But then again, maybe I have a bad opinion about some places, too, without ever being there.
My advice for those of you who have the means and the opportunity to visit Romania, is to go for it, there is nothing like a first hand experience. And Budapest definitely deserves a visit, but I have no idea how the rest of Hungary is.
I agree about safety. I never felt threatened by anyone in Bucharest though I am sure like all major cities it does have its bad spot. It is to me a rather ( mostly) unattractive city ) and the infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired still though.
I love the rest of Romania, a beautiful and still undiscovered country, I feel places like Transylvania and The Carpathians could be tourist heaven with a little investment ( which is slowly trickling down especially in the agro-eco tourism sector). Lovely people though I feel there is still ( not surprisingly after what the country went through politically) a certain feeling of national gloom among certain Romanian .
Romania is definitely on the up though and I am so glad. It has so much potential and I hope visitors will give this beautiful Nation a chance.
A perfect vacation for anyone who desires a vacation off the beaten track and for something a little different.
For anyone heading to Transylvania I would recommend Count Kálnoky's guest houses . I loved it. Cosy, comfortable, lovely home made food, actitivities like horse riding , hiking, cultural tours etc... A perfect place to spend a relaxing time.
I don't often recommend large cities, but I also agree with the Maramures and Transylvania, and I got to see a bit of Bocavina. They were lovely areas and the only thing I didn't much like were the roads. Some of them were horrible. I felt safe and comfortable for the 8 days I spent there. I even picked up hitch hikers. It was no big deal.
I've traveled to over 40 countries and still feel safer and more comfortable in most of the rest of the world than I do in the US.
budapest is very beautiful. going down the river at night is a site to see. the buildings are lit up and it is probably better than paris in that particular mile long stretch.
bucharest, i have not been, but i have seen pictures and my professor is a balkan historian who has been there many many times. he always said it is a bit bland, due to the communism of past
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I am so jealous, you seem to be constantly gallavanting around the world... 
