Mar
19
Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia Recognize Kosovo
March 19, 2008 | 2 Comments
“Ibiza is Serbia” - read the lighter tone graffiti originally
it got “corrected”. Photo: (c) Limbic / Jonathan Davis
UPDATE:
It is now official, Hungary has recognized Kosovo. ( at 13:00PM GMT, 19th of March. ) Previously the government has forwarded a statement to the Hungarian news agency MTI that it has signed a common statement with Bulgaria and Croatia yesterday, prompting to recognize Kosovo today, on the 19th of March in a joint gesture. The declaration of recognizing the breakaway state was made in the afternoon, after the government meeting in progress was concluded.
The reasons given for the timing was that “it has became inevitable to change the Status Quo in Kosovo”, probably a reaction to the recent outburst of violence in which a handful group of Serbs from the Serb-dominated North of Kosovo has attacked and taken (back) buildings that have been administered by the UN and now Kosovo ever since 1999. An Ukrainian UN policeman wounded in a supposed hand-grenade blast has died yesterday in hospital.
The statement also mentions that the three countries kept the decisions on the issue communicated by the EU so far in mind, and then immediately goes on explaining the message in detail: Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia wants stronger and better ties with Serbia, wants (to help) Serbia to be able to strengthen its ties with the EU and endorse its membership and visa exemption by all means.
All three countries signing the document agreed on that Kosovo has to offer guarantees to become a real multi-ethnic state which is based on just laws and democratic legislation, allowing Serbs and all minorities to take part in all institutional and governmental work, and not just on paper.
News spread after a diplomat working with Kinga Göncz, Secretary of State ( Minister of Foreign Affairs ) has notified Népszabadság (http://nol.hu/cikk/485603/) parallel to MTI being notified of the statement (http://nol.hu/cikk/485616/). Kinga Göncz is out of the country, currently in Tokyo, Japan, where she has amongst other issues discussed the Balkan events - one day prior to Japan becoming the second Asian country ( after Afghanistan ) to recognize the new state.
Timing was ill though, perhaps if only for Hungary and Hungarians.
The statement comes two days after a local politician, Milorad Mircsics from the Serbian radical party, the single largest fraction of the now dissolved Serbian parliament ( that’s facing re-elections ) aimed some chilling words at Hungarians in the Vojvodina / Vajdaság region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vojvodina). Supposedly citing intelligence reports, he said that if Hungary is to recognize Kosovo, there might be atrocities, perhaps even violence against Hungarians living in Serbia. And while the statement could neither be confirmed, nor dismissed, the fact it was put out in public worried the local Hungarian Minority Party leaders: as while this may only be some pre-election fear-mongering and no real threat, it might plant some ill ideas in the ears of radicals and far-right troublemakers.
The Hungarian minority in the north ( Vojvodina, the opposite end of Serbia, whilst Kosovo is on the South ) has been relatively calm so far, even during the wars after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. But as most of the now in-minority Hungarian communities are living in regions that were detached from Hungary in the 20th century, they are often criticized for different reasons and are targeted by far-right extremists in Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine. Such problems were not in the spotlight the past few years in the Vajdaság.
According to Index.hu (http://index.hu/politika/kulfold/ksv977/), Bernadett Budai, spokeswoman for the government said that the timing came from Hungary trying to keep its probably second largest national holiday, the 15th of March safe and undisturbed for the minority community in neighboring Serbia.
But István Pásztor, leader of the largest Hungarian party in the Vajdaság said the timing was still not the best, as emotions are very tense regarding the issue. He mentioned previously that if Hungary has to recognize the former Yugoslav-former-Serb state it should do so in a relatively calm period, definitely not within the first few countries and not alone. Also, he said he accepts the fact, but neither welcomes nor condemns the political move of recognition, and considers the move as “a given fact”. Hungary and Serbia have relatively good, but by all means peaceful relations.
( side note: Hungarian ethnicity population in Serbia is approx. 300.000 people, while ethnic Serbian ethnic population of Kosovo is about 120.000 people )
…
While the Serbian Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic said “I’m saddened to see that there are countries in our region which have or will recognize Kosovo. I’m telling you: don’t do this. Don’t offend the sovereignty and territorial unity of Serbia by recognizing Kosovo.” Jeremic is currently in talks with his Greek counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dora Bakojannis, during which he was asked to comment on the three-country statement: “This is an appeal.” - he said, and then asked the countries of the region to find a solution for the issue in Kosovo. “Serbia will try to find a compromise solution for the future state of rights of Kosovo with the patronage of the United Nations, and with the help of our friends in the European Union this compromise is not impossible.” - he said, but then added that Serbia will take every measure in law, politics and diplomacy to fight the recognition of Kosovo. (http://hvg.hu/vilag/20080319_jeremics_szerbia_koszovo_elismerese.aspx)( Note: Hungary and Bulgaria are EU members, Croatia is a candidate ).
Such reaction - when put in context of previous statements - is more or less in line with the underlying message to Serbia from its three neighbors that probably the only viable future - both economic and social - in the region is integration within the European Union, of which they will do everything they can for Serbia.
Feb
18
Budapest, Hungary to recognize Kosovo
February 18, 2008 | 3 Comments
Photo by: Thomas Guignard from Lausanne, Switzerland
The officials keep it quiet. As of yet, news headlines talk about who ELSE will recognize Kosovo ( United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy ) and who ELSE opposes its recognition ( Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece… ) but the official stance on what the final answer will be from Budapest, Hungary is still but a whisper compared to the publicity of other, far away countries’ opinions.
For, in case you didn’t know, Hungary is neighboring Serbia. And just across the border lives a significant Hungarian minority in the currently troubled former Yugoslav country that is now being forcefully sliced up by the same powers that once did the same thing to Hungary itself.
Re-drawing the borders unilaterally has bitter memories for Hungary that is pretty much the reason as to why and how such huge number of Hungarians live in neighboring countries. After World War I in which Hungary took the losing side, The ‘Antant’ allies ( as locals call them ) forced the then devastating and humiliating Treaty of Trianon on the Kingdom of Hungary which took away literally two-thirds of its territories and re-drew the map of Europe.
If one had ever wondered why Romania and Slovakia were against the independence of Kosovo ( with Romania being a NATO ally ), the reason is simple.
There is a huge number of Hungarians living on the other side of the borders.
Borders which were once forced on the region by the very same powers.
More on the Treaty of Trianon ( June 4, 1920 )
Hence, Budapest could become sentimental, and both for the sake of the Balkan integrity ( keeping good neighbors ) and its empathy for the situation, it could choose NOT to recognize Kosovo, or take the likely stance of going with the flow, in other words, waiting for the EU to reach an agreement ( most likely it never will ) and point to the powers that be in order to express an opinion while ‘not expressing an opinion’ at the same time.
However Márton Gergely from Népszabadság Online reports that the government and the opposition already reached an agreement and they will likely back the decision of Pristina to break away from Serbia, becoming the newest country on the planet and the latest state to emerge from the collapse of the former (just as forcefully created) Yugoslav system. While FIDESZ opposition party member Zsolt Németh said Budapest could recognize Kosovo on its own and shouldn’t wait for the ‘approval’ of the EU, the government is more cautious, and with a good reason.
As said before, Serbia also has a large Hungarian minority ( although by far not as large as its Albanian minority was, and is closer in numbers to the Serbian minority now stuck in Kosovo ).
Thus Kinga Göncz ( Foreign Secretary ) commented that Hungary will most likely wait for a unified European Union stance - or the official declarations from London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, i.e. the majority opinion - and only then recognize Kosovo.
Why this would not be a problem for the Hungarian Foreign policy? Because Hungarian minorities and Hungary has never had any plans not the sentiment to have the minority territories ( Transylvania or Erdély in Romania, Felvidék in Slovakia and Vajdaság in Serbia ) break away from their current countries.
With the acceptance of Romania and the possible future acceptance of Serbia into the European Union there’s little merit in the opposite stance, not to mention that the whole region is already weary of the turbulent history of the 20th century. Most parties - with perhaps the overly nationalist, near-paranoid Slovak government as an exception - like to play for the long term good relationships between the countries, where economic, cultural and wellbeing concerns are of higher importance, which can, and are already reaching through the so-called ( but already fading ) borders within the EU. Some conflicts remain, but such are usually but populist ‘herding’ of public opinion to take the focus far away from the real problems ( again, economy, culture, wellbeing, healthcare and so on ).
In Romania the local newspapers are reporting ‘fears’ that the Hungarian minority is ‘planning to use the precedent of Kosovo to form their own plans for secession’, some even blame Russian president Vladimin Putin for planting the idea with his statements. Russia has mentioned the country along with other (less) volatile regions such as Georgia, which may have put the issue on the table - albeit only virtually.
For local Hungarian minority leaders seem less interested in the whole topic as others claim them to be, some even arguing that this entire case is but a serious bending of international law, and even if its original purpose was to stop violence and ethnic cleansing ( which the NATO claimed to stop by bombing Yugoslav targets ) the whole idea is flawed to the very core, and by this logic ( that any state had the right to declare independence if it wanted to and without the consent of the whole country ) pretty soon a county that’s a part of the now ‘newborn’ state could declare independence because it didn’t agree to the whole idea, then a city within that county could declare independence as it didn’t agree to the idea of breaking away from the breakaway country, and then a ‘couple with mixed ethnicity could draw a country border on their sleeping bed’ for they had a dispute over which direction to choose.
Another argument, which is less unique to Hungarians and is a highly valid point is the legitimacy of a unilateral decision; there is reasoning that if all the efforts for autonomy in Europe that involved bloodshed - and were put down by force - should be unilaterally recognized, the same powers ( UK, US, France ) should just back every such attempt. The reason they backed the Secular Muslim Ethnic Albanians and not Basks or people in Northern Ireland is simple, the conflict is far away enough to only consider humanitarian and not economic or political aspects. Fact is that the US ( a far away country ) has led the NATO to bomb Serbs with warplanes in 1999 for war atrocities claimed or fact while fighting against the breakaway Albanian forces. Also a fact is that US warplanes killed many regular soldiers and even more civilians on their missions ( including ethnic Albanians ), raising the death toll of the conflict with a serious number.
The intervention, the NATO and within it the US rhetoric as to why intervene at all was while of course humanitarian, at the same time it was flawed from the start, with mass media used to manipulate public opinion very much the same way as when trying to rally up support for other military targets ( Iraq for example ). The region never fully understood how the US could have ‘gotten away’ with bombing even civilian factories in the former Yugoslavia in the name of greater good. While the entirety of Europe rooted for the ethnic Albanian civilians to evade the hardships and cruelty previously faced by Bosnians, the public would have never approved the bombing of civilian targets ( even if by accident ) to this extent. Also a fact that the US bombing did pave the way for land intervention, of which without the Kosovo War could not have been stopped.
***
Hungary will likely keep its voice low, and since it never had any plans for powering up the now low profile secessionist movements within communities across the borders, it will likely recognize Kosovo while making unrelated but positive gestures to Belgrade in turn to keep the economic and political ties the two countries have built ( with hard work ).
Most of the EU knows that an independent Kosovo will not bring any practical changes apart of the possibility of the now minority Serbs tuning up their resistance within the region. Serbia and Belgrade knows well that if they want to join the EU they will need to swallow their pride. While it’s arguably not the ’style’ of Serb politicians to bow before the might of the West, it can be argued that their long term plan to join the EU will benefit them more than the powers that will soon recognize the breakaway state. And once Kosovo ( economically dependent, and Europe’s second poorest region ) catches up to the EU, the Serbs will be practically reunited with the homeland of their religion and culture, much the same way as Hungary is already seeing an ease in business, economy and cross-state affairs since its neighbors ( with Hungarian minorities ) also became members of the EU.
It is important to note that Serbia has come a long way in improving its democracy and steering away from nationalism and aggressive regional politics, favoring Boris Tadic in the recent vote against the nationalist party of Tomislav Nikolic ( an ally of former president Slobodan Milosevic, who was in power during the Kosovo War ). Also note that even Tadic opposes the breakaway of Kosovo by all democratic and political means possible.
First and foremost is the security of the people of the region, for which everyone hopes this (not so) new turn of events will not ruin the efforts for. 16.000 KFOR NATO land troops and an additional 2000+ EU police contingent deployed to the area can keep the peace, but the tensions will not ease. At worst, the peacekeeping forces will need to remain in place right up until Serbia ( and then, possibly Kosovo, although with Spain and Greece vetoing this could become but a dream ) joins the EU, and erases the borders once again from between the two regions.
Feb
8
Budapest Blog Party
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
With the economy and internal political hurdles may lead in numbers when it comes to English language publications on Budapest, Hungary, the local blogger scene sure adds colorful, stylish and fresh points of view. More often than not, with complete disregard to the mainstream news, event or current issues, and as such could be considered the opposite end of the blood thirsty ‘regulars’ of Hungarian media.
As opposed to online newspapers, these blogs are cosmopolitan and universal. Their take on Budapest life is a sip of fresh air, hitting a much less formal tone of voice, focusing on parties, the arts, contemporary art, indie music and underground clubs, fashion, haute couture, design, candy, eye candy and all the themes and topics sweet and never sour.
Mind you, to these bloggers, blogging is not the main form of communication with the world, neither is a channel of income. The atmosphere lacks any tension of the all too material world. Even though the discussed topics are connected to worldly conduct or desires… this conduct remains half way in between childrens’ fascination and teenage priorities ( regardless of the fact that many of the scene are past 20 )… the authors are often not only admiring but are also involved in the arts, fashion, music or club life.
Interestingly enough the clique that has its grip on half of this subculture isn’t as connected online as in real life, they aren’t even always aware of each other’s presence and publications - even though they share the offline network of friends and work collegues.
Thus the upcoming ‘Blogger party’ at Trafo ( Budapest, Tuzolto u. ) can be viewed both ways. As an interesting initiative to get people together who share some of their interests such as an affection to style… or as an excuse of people who already know each other from a long time, are friends, or friends’ friends, and have all recently caught on blogging about their passion for taste.
Both would be correct, except that these remarks would forget to mention that the party - as it can be guessed from the article so far - will not be a geek parade, rather a trendy show of current indie star DJs, fashion designers, photographers, artists and their kin - who all happen to have a blog for some time now, sometimes even in English.
The idea brings a lot of less frequented, highly specialized blogs to light, some of which have been mentioned or featured in mainstream media ( such as EXIT, the concurrent free program guide to PESTI EST ), but most remain unexplored by the casual foreign readers due to their nature of keeping an inner-circle audience only.
However for those planning a real well planned tour of Budapest, the free minded but very decent, childish but professional, style-crazed but middle class, indie but brand sensitive bunch might show a colorful, vibrant and fun city that the ‘official’ guides could never care to. The subculture of not being fit for mainstream or any other subculture sure has its passport ready - there’s nothing that’s inappropriate as long as it’s fun and harmless - and won’t mind touring across different genres or even classes for you.
If you liked Budapest Navigator, had a good time in Merlin or Gödör ( local venues in downtown Budapest ) this party and these blogs are for you.
Jan
31
Budapest Restaurants
January 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment
For one who has been recently on vacation in Budapest finding a restaurant that is hip, where the food is great and prices are average-low is a no brainer. You pop up Budapest Funzine, or better yet, just flip through the pages of “where to eat” in your Lonely Planet Budapest Guide and there you go… all the up to date information on where to get stuffed for less, with the most extravagant, the most local, the most bizarre or most traditional surroundings in the background.
The Liszt Ferenc Square ( Liszt Ferenc Tér ), Raday Street ( Ráday utca ), Andrássy, and all the spots are reeking with tourists speaking languages of all kinds, but most of them - how uninteresting - either knows or has English as his or her first language, even though most tourists arrive from the surrounding EU nations and the not so far Germany. How come, you may ask. There’s no special trick to this.
From the local’s point of view this might be a mystery to solve. There’s definitely no special advertising in place that Hungarians would be aware of, so why do all these American and British tourists just walk into let’s say Kama Sutra, Menza, St Jupat’s, or even Náncsi Néni Vendéglõje? ( Aunt Náncsi’s inn ).
For one who has done some market research in the tourism sector however, this comes as no surprise. We’re living in the digital age, where a single blog post can spark a series of chain reactions, landing a future Lonely Planet editor in the local cafes, tiny pizza parlors such as Marxim, or just any of the treasured localities Hungarians thought to be their own, and only their own. The long time establishments get endorsements from your friendly concierge, as he/she remembers the family gatherings in these restaurants as fond times with plenty of food for inexpensive rates… ( no one in Hungary will tell you to visit a high-end restaurant as they simply won’t pay this much for the SAME food )… exchange students get tips on which Turkish buffet to visit and the next thing you know, Szeráj is flooded with an Aussie gang with the person who did the recon mission taking the lead.
Blogs, user-generated reviews, travel tips or even guides at major travel portals and word of mouth street wise. Now put an aspiring photographer or author into the mix. For if you didn’t know, most travel guide publishers will gladly sum up the tips and include them in the next edition of “Budapest” or “Hungary” related books, thank heavens they now have separate publications for all the Eastern European countries. They check the data against their own, and if the little old Budapest Restaurant really does exist, the next time the guide goes in print, you can be damn sure that season will see a 150% increase in foreigners for the given pub, restaurant, buffet or cafe.
This success story is of course is but the end result of the hard work on images - both from the restaurants and the publishers - as they try to keep their customers happy with providing them what they were after. If an establishment ripped off too many people, you bet it didn’t get to be in Lonely Planet. If the waiters didn’t speak English but were friendly in general, that’s enough to get mentioned, but in that case you’ll find the trigger somewhere else. In case of Marxim, it’s the communist-parody setup, the overblown use of communism era design. For Szeráj it’s got to be the food and the low prices, for Menza, it’s chic, retro, design, taste, style, and so on… at an affordable price.
Basically any Budapest restaurant that keeps its doors open during the night to cater all the night club goers… is a candidate. Most of the street wise information originates from the younger tourists, who have their friends showing them around.
And if you still don’t get the pattern, we’ve just arrived to where the mystery gets solved.
Local Hungarian press lets the local youth know about a new hip restaurant in town. They show off to the foreigners, or when asked about where to go out to have a good meal, they recommend these establishments. Sooner or later the circulation involves people who tip off the publishers of major travel guides, which - in hope of providing up to date info, and keep ahead of their competition - will push out a new edition every year, including the most recent additions to the food chain hot spots. The next thing you know, the same local youngsters find the restaurants to be overwhelmed with foreigners, and slowly but steadily drop these places off their lists, as being ‘too crowded’, ‘too noisy’ or downright ‘too expensive’.
For, what do you know, once the audience shifts to those who enjoy a western GDP, prices tend to go up! Not too far up though, and this isn’t a rule but a tendency. Kama Sutra, the Indian restaurant in Oktober 6 street for example only raised its prices to meet inflation, while others have often snuck a 0 behind the figures to the dismal of those who caught on the taste while in the honeymoon period.
Again, plain old marketing.
Low prices for locals, and once the information gets around, and the more wealthy, less price sensitive tourists start pour in, slowly but steadily raise them.
Take Vapiano for example.
While portions can be arguably smaller than in other Italian restaurants in Budapest, the location, the interiors, the service, just about anything would hint a pricey downtown fashion restaurant. And yet, the prices are way lower(!) than you’d expect.
The locals’ reaction is realistic: go there and enjoy the extravagant style and service while they feed the information through the usual network. You won’t be able to visit soon after it gets picked up. Sure enough, Vapiano has opened its doors after the main season last year, and can soon expect its first hordes of foreigners pouring in from Váci street, Vörösmarty tér, Deák tér and all the hotels in the vicinity…
…
On another note.
People in Hungary are well aware of this special symbiosis - tourism related income and local services - and are welcoming, friendly, but not without pride or self-consciousness. Fact is, an average Hungarian is likely to be much more aware and better educated in terms of real life than a western tourist, and thus any arrogance from a visitor is likely to spark debates the foreigners would find really unpleasing. Namely that the only aspect they can feel 100% better at is their wallets, which is sadly the case.
Foreigners are viewed as an opportunity to make friends, as an opportunity to make foreign friends, learn language, cultures, exchange ideas, impose ideals and for some… as an opportunity to travel or aim for financial gains. But at no point in this process will the western tourist be viewed as superior, in fact due to their upbringing, Americans will most likely be treated as inferiors in their limited knowledge of anything not-American.
How does this fit into discussing the Budapest Restaurant scene?
Many people ( mainly from the UK ) seem to be lured to Hungary on the promise of entertainment that is cheap, and most importantly, is far away from their home country. Entire special travel agencies take on the theme of Hungary being some kind of a playground for the wealthier westerners, which is a dangerous stance for such a prideful country indeed.
Tourists behaving as if they - or even their money - was superior to the local etiquette will run into many unpleasant surprises of their money or person being rejected, or in extreme cases of the not so uncommon ’stag parties’, a group of drunk tourists not being able to behave will pose much more provoking than if the same was did by locals.
In recent news, a restaurant the editors frequent as well, was portrayed. A group of tourists have claimed they have been assaulted in the middle of the night for little or no reason by the staff of the Turkish buffet - one of the most frequented and famous, right in front of the Nyugati Station.
http://www.pestiside.hu/20080129/tourists-skewered-in-budapest-kebab-shop-bloodbath/
Without trying to judge these events, a couple of notes on the restaurant, its staff and regulars might shed some light on what to expect - for those who don’t know Budapest.
The Turkish restaurants and buffets are your only choice for food late at nigh, apart of some major franchise chains such as McDonalds or Subway. They are overflowing with people every day, not only on weekends, with many night clubbers arriving in illuminated moods, before, during or after party. In the case of Star Kebab, one of the most famous ( and infamous ) clubs, the Bank disco is just across the street, often guarded by dozens of security personnel. Also, these establishments are frequented by the police, if only for their food, during a recent visit 3 patrol cards have stopped to eat within a 30 minute period. The traffic that goes on and off the busy Nyugati Ter is also controlled by security personnel from the BKV ( the local transportation company ). In this pretext, there hadn’t been a single incident in either of these Turkish buffets as of yet. The loudest are often the foreigners, but even so, not overstepping their boundaries, everyone considers these places as safe havens.
As the editor’s note, and this could be proven wrong later by the police investigation.
It is highly unlikely to get into trouble at these restaurants without seriously provoking or attacking the staff.
Jul
29
To hit a lighter note for the first time. A quarterly publication on the dining and cafe scene of Budapest, the Budapest Menu seems to be not only the best of English language cafe, bar and restaurant guides, but also the best considering the Hungarian booklets. Spread all across the city, this free booklet can be found in any hotel and restaurant to give you some ideas on where to look for your favorite mood, food or drinks. And even though it’s practically speaking, nothing but advertisement, it’s straightforward approach, well designed layout, clear, to the point nature validates it as a great helper. Full pages devoted to tasteful, mostly photo based ads, organized in a way that suggests that the management knew exactly that it can’t put anything lame into press. As with the Budapest Navigator, which has a history of well managed ads vs. staff writing every bit of the booklet, the Budapest Menu is backed by a management that seems to be very critical as of what can and what can’t be included in the guide. And only restaurant-wise.
The introduction of the 2007 Summer edition is from Bence Biro, the Assistant Chief Concierge of the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest, which gives you a pre-taste of the affiliation here with the Clefs d’Or concierges, with whom you can book reservations in all of these restaurants at the reception. “Look for the golden crossed keys symbol” or so the advice goes. And the list to choose from is nothing to be underestimated. Sorry for the enthusiasm, but any management that can pull together contracts with about a hundred and fifty of the best and best known restaurants in Budapest ( and generally speaking… in Hungary ) deserves an applause.
The guide is very thorough. And pictures speak a thousand words, the ads feature great and not over exaggerated shots of the food, interiors, and / or graphics to suggest the atmosphere. Knowing many of these places, the colorful introductions are more or less on spot with providing advice.
The scene features a whole lot of the in trend eclectic style restaurants and cafes, is practically a walkthrough of Ráday utca and Liszt Ferenc tér. A series of classic and traditional Hungarian food and hospitality gets a whole section, while you’ll find Italian, Indian, Japanese and different fashion restaurants scattered all over the pages. American style cafes, high-end restaurants, Irish pubs, Mexican food, steak houses, sushi. And yet the design doesn’t fall apart.
Grab a copy to get inspired, the booklet is of course free. And unless you are planning to stay for years, don’t set impossible expectations to be able to visit all these places.
Jul
13
Official publication on the capital, Budapest
July 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Not anything that a local would know about, is the official publication from the Tourism Office of Budapest, the Budapest City Guide. You may pick it up at any of the tourism offices, at the airport or in downtown, it is filled with well organized, although very generic and less detailed information on nearly all things of interest to a casual or business traveler. There are a few things this free booklet is good and some which it isn’t as fit for. For example, it starts off with a couple of pages providing information on embassies, climate, important phone numbers and the like, things you would ( or should ) already know about from your travel guide book. If not, or you don’t have one yet, the list could come “handy” ( at least this is how the booklet describes this section ).
The rest of the publication has its emphasis on classic and traditional culture, with the regular attractions fleshed out, some of which - in reality - carry little or no information on what the city and the country is currently like. Meaning you won’t be able to learn not even the “roots” of current issues, for that it’s always best to pick up discussions either in person, or in the press, and do your research by yourself. Examples would be the cliches that an interestingly high percentage of online resources would mention, yet no local would consider important or even interesting. If you’d like to get street wise, or pick up the pace and thinking of the locals, you better turn to Budapest Funzine or the Navigator, as this guide is set for those who’d like to learn about history, religion, and classic culture… for the sake of entertainment, curiosity, or taking a couple of photos and memories home. Things that an average person living in Hungary has ( sadly ) little energy left for, nowadays at least. Museums, churches, avenues with the most well preserved neo-classicist blocks, the Square of Heroes which ( officially dubbed as Heroes’ Square ), all the regular sights that would be the foundations of any guide. Such locations, events are all detailed with precise paragraphs while on the other side, the currently trendy and hype locations, contemporary art, restaurants, shopping is only presented along the lines of a generic list on where to actually find them.
In other words, this publication is what it has been aiming for to be, a good, thorough albeit basic booklet of information, allowing people who stay for one or two days or weeks to run through all the classic historic and cultural heritage spots, listen to music, admire age old architecture…
… but if you plan to stay longer and/or would like to actually understand what’s going on here and now, you may want to skip following the “by the book” tourist publications and go for the ones that have all this and more. ( see the Publications about Budapest page on this site for more details ).
Also, interestingly enough, the English in this free booklet, and as a matter of fact on the website of the Tourism Office of Budapest as well… carries interesting characteristics found only in Hungarian. Basically, every second phrase gives away the fact that it was first written and then translated from the local language, sometimes word by word, with very little knowledge of the regular language used in English travel publications. As for being easy to comprehend, it actually is… the translator(s) carry on the trend throughout the entire copy which makes it pretty easy to get used to. Also it’s entertaining, as you can track back the associations in the semantics, of course only if you know the local language.
Jul
9
Global press vs Local publications, Budapest
July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
English press releases are quite often quoting European agencies which have a tendency to be biased towards the louder parties. In-depth publications are often buried deep within the well respected newspapers and magazines.
In short, there seems to be an utter confusion among English language media on where Hungary stands, what Budapest is like nowadays, and while European agencies try their best to bring these to light, there’s little or no room in the US and UK media for this Eastern European country, unless there is a scandal to report. Not to mention that this behavior of even the most liberal papers and agencies does nothing less than paints an even darker picture of the region, making it harder to do business, lowering the reputation of the economy and does so in a hit-and-run fashion, reports the entry level leaks, the bait left at their doorsteps by rivaling companies and political parties, then when the story becomes too complicated for a daily, it abandons the issue.
While the market may have been stretching itself a bit longer than it should have, the potential in Hungary, and especially in Budapest has not faded away. The problem is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the proper information to go by, and learn to identify the local foundations that are unlikely to suddenly disappear. In order to see through the half political, half economical media war going on, and without the knowledge of Hungarian or perhaps German, there are still means to catch up with the locals’ pace. There are several locally managed English language newspapers and magazines available about a large scale of interests. And as the city and the entire country is becoming more and more popular as a travel destination, these publications now cover so much of the current events, contemporary culture, trends, fashion and shopping that it’s becoming embarrassing.
Carry on to different sections of this website in order to learn of these booklets, books, newspapers, magazines. There’s quite a few and in order to choose the right source of information you may want to refer to our recommendations. Not because of the differences in quality ( or not only that ), but because right now, there’s a different source for all major archetypes of visitors. Let it be a long term stay, business, or just reading up on tourist spots.
In order to stay informed, with the least effort, without disappointments in accuracy, rely on the proper publication for every topic.