Interesting places in Budapest
Ráday utca - the Quartier Latin of Budapest (District IX)
The former main street of the historical Ferencváros district in Pest has seen amazing development in the past 15 years. Ráday utca connects busy Pest square Kálvin tér with the southern part of the Grand Boulevard. Cafés, restaurants, bookshops and snack bars have popped up like mushrooms after the rain around Kálvin tér, and the street has been partially turned into a pedestrian-only street recently - only the bus # 15 is allowed to use the street in a protected lane.
The most popular places here are the Berliner restaurant, in a cavernous underground room, serving huge platefuls of food; the Paris, Texas (pizzeria and café), and the Pink Cadillac (restaurant). From late afternoons onwards, the place has an atmosphere compared to the Quartier Latin in Paris, due to several university dorms and schools in the vicinity. A great plus is that here you will find more Hungarians than tourists here.
Shoes on the Danube embankment
This world-famous composition, which comprises 60 pairs of metal shoes set in concrete on the Danube embankment, was set up in the year 2005. It commemorates the Hungarian Jewish victims of the killings committed by the Arrow Cross militiamen, the pro-German, anti-Semitic, national socialist party members of Hungary in 1944-1945.
The killings usually took place en masse - the victims were lined up at the embankment, and shot into the Danube, execution-style. At three separate places of the memorial, cast iron signs read in Hungarian, English and Hebrew: "To the memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45". This is a very simple but very moving memorial.
Central Market Hall
One of the most beautiful buildings in Budapest is the Central Market Hall, situated on the Pest side on Fővám tér. According to its main architect, Samu Petz "a beautiful building must be both harmonious and useful" - and he came very close to perfection with this piece of work. The ventilation caps and chimney pots of the roof are made of Zsolnay pyrogranite.
Upon stepping into the building, where selling started in February 1897, its sheer size and train station-like interior are amazing, but what really catches the eye is the number of people constantly moving around from stall to stall, to buy fresh goods, directly from the producer.
The first floor of the market has mainly foodstuffs on offer, and the second floor has traditional Hungarian folk art items and other typical products of Hungarian origin on sale. In the basement, a huge modern supermarket was opened in the 1990-s.
Marxim Restaurant
The major appeal of this restaurant is not particularly its cuisine (although it's really tasty food) but its décor and surroundings. Located near Moszkva tér, in a side-street bordered by a huge derelict factory, the entrance is marked by a neon sign, forming a Comminist red star.
The cellar space is virtually a museum of barbed wire, Communist propaganda posters, banners and cartoons depicting the era. Since Hungarian law bans "symbols of oppression", a lawsuit was filed against the restaurant, but was abolished shortly thereafter.
This is one of the very few locations in Budapest where you can see this kind of stuff on display, so thoroughly have symbols of the Communist period been erased. Make sure to try the Lenin pizza, or the KGB Pasta while crouching over a cold beer, and study the menu, which is full of cynical names for food, all referring to the Communist era.
Nyugati Railway Station
The first railway line of Hungary was built in 1846 between the city of Vác in the North and Budapest. The Budapest terminal used to stand where the building of Nyugati stands today, which was only completed in 1877. The large iron structure was built by the Paris-based Eiffel Company, which became world famous following the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
In 1980, during the construction works of Metro line # 3, a system of underpasses was built next to, and partially under the building. In 1999, the largest commercial mall of Hungary was built right next to the train station, and tracks 1-9 were given a protective roof.
Fans of Gwen Stefani may recognize the interior of the building from the pop singer's 2007 video clip "Early Winter", as the production was filmed here. Adjacent to the railway station is the WestEnd City Center, central Europe's largest shopping center, with over 400 stores.
Millennium Underground Railway (M1)
The first Metro line of continental Europe is underneath Andrássy Avenue. The National Assembly of Hungary has given its blessings to the plan as early as 1870, but construction started only in 1894 - and the works were finished as early as 1896.
In 1896 Budapest gave home to the World Fair, and masses of people needed transportation from the center of town to the area known today as City Park and Heroes' Square. The reason why the railway was built under the ground is because Andrássy Avenue was the most elegant avenue of Budapest even back then, and the city fathers have opposed any means of mass surface transportation.
The stops are marked with yellow signs, and staircases lead to the Metro - no escalators, as the tunnel is only just a few meters under the ground, supported by steels pillars. Every stop is a little museum, with photos and text in Hungarian, English and German.
