With a few exceptions, Pest is grit, glitz and urban excitement, while Buda is leafy and quietly confident. I love escaping the city for a ride in the hills—even within the city limits there are plenty of lush streets with great views. But because Buda’s outermost neighborhoods simply run into the forest, roads give way to trails. The network covers many square km and is as pleasurable as it is easy to find. Book your trip today!
3206:
Here, a worker installing the latest McMansion, Buda style. I considered pushing him to his death to send a message to the vampiric contractors. The message, which I actually wrote from my vantage point further up the hill and which was to be pinned to this man’s chest with my hunting knife, said that you cannot simply put up houses everywhere there is a view to be exploited. We the masses will not allow the crass overdevelopment of the jewel of Buda so that you richies who cheat on your taxes can throw lavish parties and hurl empty bottles over your decks and into the forest below, your triumphant laughter echoing throughout the valley! No way.
In the end I resisted the urge to send the message this way. Mostly because that poor man was one of us. But also because I didn’t want to lose my hunting knife. And the note was written in English, which would have been awkward to say the least.
3217/21: a lookout area just 20m from that lucky construction worker.
3220: I am sure some teenager has fallen down this crevasse after drinking/smoking a bit too much up here. Luckily, this being Hungary, they didn’t feel the need to put up a barrier here because anyone who falls into this crevasse probably deserves it; and in any case s/he won’t sue the state afterward, like in the US.
3223: 3 minutes away from that view, I’m in the forest. I saw a huge cat upon entering—it looked like a puma—but it jumped into the brush. I kept ringing the bike bell as I passed through because I was so scared. This was no housecat, and it kind of stared me down for a second before hopping away, as if to remark that he’ll be watching me. I will have to check into whether they have pumas or lynxes out here.
3228: a quiet street on Buda’s perimeter.
3230: you are here: red is city, green is forest.
3231: no scary cats here, nor people.
3232: trails gives way to a street
3236: I saw more and more houses like this as I made my way back toward central Buda. Nice mountain style, now just do something about that old-skool komunista fence.
3241: after descending through a long valley for 15-20 minutes, you finally arrive baback into the hub of Buda, Moskva Ter (Moscow Square). However Buda is so green that even up to this very busy area I’d been riding in a park.
3374: Obuda (North Buda) seen from Margaret Island
Hello, welcome to my photoblog called Bibabab, which stands for "back in Budapest and blogging about bullsh*t." (Read backwards, it stands for "back and blogging about bullsh*t in Budapest", which makes it a functional palindrome!) This is the most creative title I could come up with that would also match google searches for Budapest, blog, and bullshit. So it's practical. And, as you may have noticed, it's fun to say out loud! Kind of like the Hungarian word for welcome, üdvözöljük.
The purpose of this photoblog is to report on and enhance the aura of Budapest, where I lived for two years (2002-04), and where a little throbbing piece of my heart will forever reside. Bp is one of the world's great cities, and I am one of the world’s great photographers, so if that’s not an explosive situation—yowzas!
Anyway, even if I fail to stumble upon noteworthy happenings, or embark upon remarkable misadventures— because I instead have to spend most of my time writing a master’s thesis in something called “European Studies”—I will simply make stuff up. Mostly for my own entertainment and love of the city and culture. Like most blogs, this is a useless narcissistic exercise in catharsis, information production and self-congratulation. However, if you are at all entertained, or sufficiently pleased by the effort to keep distant friends informed, please do consider making a karmic contribution to the New York Mets professional baseball team. They need your prayers.
