EL LADO OSCURO DE BUDAPEST — Transcript

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1. 0:00In the previous video, we explored the oldest part of Budapest. Today,
2. 0:03we cross to the other side of the Danube, to the heart of the city, its center, also full of history,
3. 0:09legend, and special places that I'm taking you to with me today. Join me as
4. 0:12we explore the Pest side, the monumental part of the city, where some
5. 0:17of the most difficult episodes in its history took place. Are you ready for today's adventure? Let's get started.
6. 0:47How's it going, everyone? Welcome to today's video. This is the second part of the
7. 0:51Budapest video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This city is full of
8. 0:56historical and legendary surprises that I'm going to share with you today, covering more areas than I did
9. 1:01in the first video about Buda. We're in a truly privileged location, right on the banks
10. 1:06of the Danube, with spectacular views of the Hungarian Parliament Building. It's incredible,
11. 1:12especially at night. One of its most interesting facts is its height: it measures exactly 96 meters.
12. 1:19Of course, this fact is no coincidence; it's built this way in honor of the year 896,
13. 1:26when the seven Magyar tribes were established here in this territory. It's one of
14. 1:32the largest parliaments in the world, and its neo-Gothic architectural style is absolutely
15. 1:37breathtaking—one of the most incredible in Europe. Another interesting fact is that it has
16. 1:42365 points on its structure, each representing a day of the year. Something else I found
17. 1:48fascinating is that the materials used to build this beauty were
18. 1:52mostly of Hungarian origin, making it a true national symbol. As I mentioned
19. 1:57before, its height is 96 meters, and by regulation, no building in the historic center can exceed it.
20. 2:04The only one that matches it is St. Stephen's Basilica, which we're going to visit right now.
21. 2:09It's absolutely stunning and houses a relic I'm very eager to show you.
22. 2:23On top of that, we have the incredible privilege of being able to witness this concert featuring the organ
23. 2:29in St. Stephen's Basilica. Its construction began in 1851, but it wasn't a simple process,
24. 2:36as its dome completely collapsed in 1868. The cause was a combination
25. 2:43of structural errors and a storm that further weakened the structure. The building
26. 2:48had to be partially demolished and practically rebuilt from scratch. It measures exactly 96 meters,
27. 2:55which, as I mentioned, is the height limit for any building in this part of Budapest. But
28. 3:00the most important feature of this basilica is found inside. Here is kept the Holy Right Hand,
29. 3:05the mummified right hand of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the country's first king, who died
30. 3:11in 1038. It is one of Hungary's most important relics and has been preserved for
31. 3:16almost 1,000 years. Every August 20th, Hungary's National Day, this relic is carried in procession through the
32. 3:22city streets. The rest of the year it remains in this church within its precious reliquary
33. 3:27, and it's incredible to think that this relic has remained incorrupt for almost 1,000 years.
34. 4:02To better understand what happened in this city and its complicated history,
35. 4:06we have to come to the banks of the Danube. Very close to the Parliament building is this monument:
36. 4:11the Shoes on the Danube is one of the most graphic reminders of what happened
37. 4:16here during World War II. It consists of 60 pairs of iron shoes placed right on
38. 4:22the riverbank. They represent the Jews who were executed right here on the riverbank
39. 4:27between 1944 and 1945. The shoes are here symbolically, as the Jews who were executed
40. 4:35had to remove their shoes before being thrown into the river. Today, these shoes serve as a reminder of the horror
41. 4:40experienced during one of the darkest episodes in Budapest during World War II.
42. 5:06Well, guys, as always, we need a good break to feed these bellies, and
43. 5:12we'll start with a Hungarian Dreher. It's really good. It's a fairly standard lager, but
44. 5:18it goes down really well because it's a bit warm, like spring, although quite windy in
45. 5:23Budapest today. And as you can see, here we have a broccoli cream soup, a broth with extra-
46. 5:30long noodles, and a typical yuage. It's potatoes with meat, a typical dish from here, with some pieces of pasta.
47. 5:37Also, vegetables, carrots. So let's try it and see how it is. It's very good.
48. 5:52This is a typical Hungarian dish. It's salty and it's called chusa and it contains the cut
49. 6:01cheese. This one this is the uh and this one is the sour cream which is always going to get
50. 6:07Hungarian dishes. These little pieces were the bacon. And the way how to make this dish is
51. 6:15that first you have a large you cut into little pieces you fry it and then you will get the
52. 6:20bacon pieces and with the large what you have you will put over the cooked pasta and after
53. 6:27that you mix it with the cut cheese and heat it up a little and that's it put on the plate
54. 6:32and after that put the sour cream as a top as a decoration and sometimes with the parsle dish
55. 6:41is a very typical hanger and dish also usually the hunters were making it because the meat
56. 6:47is wild meat after hunting usually it's dear or it can be like the white pig I don't know
57. 6:54how to say it in English and ones are pen dumplings and it is very typical it goes
58. 7:02together and the sauce is made of cooked carrots and parsle roots and after that when it's cooked
59. 7:18cream. After this stop, we will continue our tour along Andrássy Avenue,
60. 7:23built at the end of the 19th century, it was designed to house the elite of the
61. 7:28Austro-Hungarian Empire. Aristocracy, nobility, and the upper bourgeoisie built their mansions here,
62. 7:33mostly in the Neo-Renaissance style. Some buildings are made of stone, while others
63. 7:38are not. They were covered in stucco to imitate this material, but they are actually made
64. 7:44of brick. Honestly, if I didn't know this, it would be incredibly convincing, and I would have believed it.
65. 8:02To maintain the aesthetic of this avenue, they built the transportation system underground.
66. 8:07This is where the Budapest Metro begins. It's the second oldest in Europe,
67. 8:13built in 1896. If you want to know which was the first metro built in Europe, which was
68. 8:20actually in London, you can find more details about it and see a very old station.
69. 8:26I have a couple of videos of the impressive Chamberí station. The ghost station
70. 8:31of Chamberí. What I also found really curious is how few steps
71. 8:35you have to go down to get to the station and how well preserved everything is, all the
72. 8:41white tiles. It really reminds me a lot of the Chamberí station, which I've told you about,
73. 8:46and also of what I've seen online, of what the metro was like when it first opened.
74. 9:11And now we stop in front of the Hungarian National Opera, inaugurated in 1884. It's one of
75. 9:17the most important cultural buildings in the country. When it was under construction,
76. 9:21Emperor Franz Joseph I demanded that it be smaller than the Vienna Opera. However,
77. 9:27when he saw it fully built and finished, he confessed that he found it even more beautiful.
78. 9:32And as is the case with many old theaters, this one also has its legend. One of the
79. 9:35most famous tells of a young woman who tried to make it big but never succeeded. She
80. 9:42died before achieving her dream of singing here. And since then,
81. 9:46some claim to have seen a figure in the royal box during rehearsals,
82. 9:50when the theater is completely empty. It's as if she never left the stage.
83. 10:07I've never actually been to the opera, and I'd really like to. I can only imagine myself
84. 10:11dressed in my finest, descending these red-carpeted stairs to enjoy a wonderful concert.
85. 10:18And the great Montserrat Caballé comes to mind, but that's not really possible
86. 10:24anymore. Look how beautiful these mosaics are on the floor, with all their tesserae
87. 10:28forming different patterns. Notice how interesting these steps are, the difference between
88. 10:34those along the path and those at the entrance. The ones along the path are made of stone, and those at the entrance are made of wood.
89. 10:40This was so that when the horse-drawn carriages arrived, they wouldn't make so much noise at the
90. 10:45entrance and disturb the people enjoying the performance inside. As a point of interest, I'll mention
91. 10:51this man, the composer Ferenc Liszt. He's an internationally renowned composer. And I'll also
92. 10:56share the very interesting fact that Budapest's airport is named after him.
93. 11:10We stopped for a short break at a café that opened in 1898, and this is where the
94. 11:18Writers were meeting. Writers and artists, if you'll excuse me, to exchange opinions and ideas.
95. 11:25I'm going to try some typical Hungarian sweets that I'm going to have a little trouble pronouncing. By the way,
96. 11:30the coffee is called "Artists' Coffee," which is impossible to say in Hungarian,
97. 11:34so I'm not even going to try. Actually, I said sweets, but these are like little pastries
98. 11:40with cheese. It's called Shitos Root. Let's try it and see how it is. And I also have
99. 11:46one that reminds me of scones from the UK, which are like little buns, and in this case, it's savory,
100. 11:52which they also have there. It's called a cheese scone, and here it's called pogácsa.
101. 12:01Delicious, soft, and cheesy. For me, well,
102. 12:05it's just perfect, there's no better situation. And now let's try this one. And some
103. 12:10Hungarian experts here tell me that it actually tasted the same
104. 12:16as the little scone. So, well, let's enjoy it just like we did with the other one.
105. 12:28With furniture straight out of your grandmother's house, the place is truly spectacular.
106. 12:49We're at a point on this avenue that stands out from the other buildings, because
107. 12:54we're in the house of horrors. This isn't just any museum. Here, in this very
108. 13:00building, people were interrogated, tortured, and many never came out again. First,
109. 13:05during the occupation in 1944, when it housed the Hungarian Fascist Party, the Arrow Cross, and
110. 13:13then for decades under the communist regime when it fell into the hands of the secret police, the AVH.
111. 13:20Today we can't go inside because it's closed, but we can still see some photos of
112. 13:24the interior, and what's truly shocking is knowing what happened inside this building.
113. 13:29Political opponents were interrogated here, solitary confinement cells were used, and
114. 13:34physical and psychological torture was inflicted. In some cases, executions were also carried out
115. 13:38inside the building. For years, the locals knew perfectly well what was happening
116. 13:42in this building, and it was said that when they passed by, they even lowered their voices out of respect
117. 13:48for the imposing building and the thought of what went on within its walls. Here we can see some of
118. 13:54the people who were tortured and died in this building. We only see 280 photos here,
119. 14:00but the actual numbers were much higher. It's certainly not a comfortable place to visit. It
120. 14:05's a place that forces you to confront one of the darkest chapters in recent European history.
121. 14:26Another interesting detail is that in front of the House of Terror, there are two elements that help us
122. 14:32understand what Europe meant in the 20th century. Behind us, we can see
123. 14:36a real fragment of the Berlin Wall, a wall that for decades divided not just a city,
124. 14:42but an entire continent, separating families, ideologies, and ways of life.
125. 14:46And right here we also find another very symbolic sculpture representing the Iron Curtain,
126. 14:52that invisible border that divided Europe into two blocs for more than
127. 14:5550 years, from the end of World War II until the fall of the wall in 1989.
128. 15:17Before continuing our stroll along the avenue, I wanted to share a rather disturbing fact:
129. 15:22for decades, Budapest had a rather dark reputation. In the 1930s, it became known
130. 15:28in the international press as the city of suicides. And this was no exaggeration. Hungary
131. 15:33had been registering exceptionally high numbers since the end of the 19th century. Between 1930 and
132. 15:401938 alone, more than 50,000 suicides were recorded in the country. Budapest, the capital, accounted for the majority of
133. 15:47these cases and was among the cities with the highest rates in Europe. And you might wonder why
134. 15:52this was happening. Historians point to a combination of causes: the
135. 15:57economic crisis following World War I, the consequences of the Treaty of Trianon,
136. 16:01social instability, and also problems such as alcoholism and depression. The situation became
137. 16:06so worrying that some rather curious measures began to be taken. One of them was
138. 16:11the so-called "smiling courses." Yes, literally, courses to learn to smile.
139. 16:16The aim was to slightly improve the general mood of the population and teach people to display
140. 16:21a more positive attitude in their daily lives. Honestly, thinking about it today seems like a...
141. 16:25It's not very surreal, but it reflects quite well the atmosphere in the city at that time.
142. 16:36As I mentioned, the Danube divides Budapest in two, but not only that,
143. 16:41it has also been one of the great communication routes in Europe for centuries. At over 2,800
144. 16:47km long, it is the second longest river on the continent. Second only to the Volga, it flows through
145. 16:5210 countries, connecting very different regions, from Germany to the Black Sea. In cities
146. 16:57like Budapest, its importance has been key to development, trade, and transportation. Today,
147. 17:04the river is crossed by eight bridges throughout the city,
148. 17:08facilitating daily life and offering some of the most spectacular views of Budapest.
149. 17:13Furthermore, the Danube has also marked Budapest's history during difficult times. Over
150. 17:18the centuries, its floods have caused significant inundations, such as the one in 1838, which severely affected
151. 17:24the city and forced a rethinking of its urban development. So, you see, right now
152. 17:29I'm here on the banks of the Danube
153. 17:35, and locals here in Hungary are telling me, "Look, I'm going to go up the stairs and I'll
154. 17:40tell you about it." The river, you see it there so calm, well, it's risen all these stairs
155. 17:48and covered that road we see over there, basically reaching that wall. And
156. 17:55of course, they close the road and do what's necessary to prevent it from overflowing
157. 18:01. They also have a series of holes to channel the water.
158. 18:05I don't know exactly where, but anyway, these are some of the measures
159. 18:09they're taking to prevent this from ending in a complete catastrophe.
160. 18:28Now we're at the entrance to one of the most intriguing buildings
161. 18:32in Budapest, and it's in the Kodály Körönd. It's this circle we see here, and if you notice,
162. 18:39all the buildings have this circular shape, which I found very interesting. But let's get to the
163. 18:44heart of the matter: the building. During its construction in the late 19th century, it is said that the
164. 18:49twin sons of architect Bukovix Yula died here in an accident. From this point on, all
165. 18:56the stories begin, with workers and later neighbors claiming to see figures in the hallways.
166. 19:01But the most unsettling events occurred during subsequent renovations. Two workers disappeared
167. 19:06inside the building at different times and reappeared days later unconscious in
168. 19:11enclosed spaces within the building. Many claimed to have seen two children inside. None
169. 19:16of the workers could explain what had happened to them, as the rooms were locked from the
170. 19:21inside. During a later expedition, one of the workers found an old box,
171. 19:26decided to open it, and cut his hand. Inside was a strange book
172. 19:29that was immediately confiscated. That same man died the next day from an infection.
173. 19:34Since then, stories of this kind continue to be repeated. They say the twins
174. 19:38still haunt the place and that the building was never truly empty.
175. 20:22If there is one thing that defines Hungary, it is its relationship with water. The country sits atop a veritable
176. 20:27sea of ​​thermal springs. It's estimated that there are more than 13 hot springs throughout the country, and Budapest
177. 20:32is rightfully considered the city of thermal baths. But the most iconic are the ones we have right here
178. 20:38behind us: the Sechei Baths. Opened in 1913, this impressive
179. 20:44yellow neo-Baroque palace is the largest thermal complex in Europe. What makes this place special
180. 20:49is the origin of its waters. They spring from two artesian wells more than 10,000 meters deep. To
181. 20:54give you an idea, because I didn't know, an artesian well is like a natural tap of the
182. 20:59Earth. The water is trapped; there's so much pressure between the rocks that when the well is drilled, it rises
183. 21:04to the surface on its own, without the need for pumps. Due to that depth and the Earth's internal heat
184. 21:08, the water emerges here at around 76°C before being cooled for the pools.
185. 21:15It's water rich in minerals like calcium and magnesium, and its therapeutic properties have been
186. 21:20known for centuries. This is where you'll see one of Budapest's most curious sights:
187. 21:25local bathers playing chess in the water, with the boards floating on the mist.
188. 21:31This isn't just a healthy activity, it's also a great social spot.
189. 21:51Well, folks, this video and our visit to Budapest ends here. It's been a real
190. 21:57pleasure, an honor to visit this city, especially with a lot of help from a couple of Hungarian friends I know
191. 22:04here—thank you so much!—and also from a very special family member. So, I've
192. 22:10had a wonderful time. It's a beautiful place, and I highly recommend it if you have the chance to come,
193. 22:15even for just a few days; it's absolutely worth it. I just wanted to let you know that
194. 22:20a video you've been asking for for ages is coming very soon, and
195. 22:26I'm so excited to bring it to you. You're going to be blown away, I'm sure of it. So,
196. 22:31I'm a bit nervous that everything goes well, but please send me good vibes and lots of
197. 22:37encouragement so that it turns out to be one of the best videos on the channel. So, you know,
198. 22:42join me on my next adventures. Sending you a big kiss and a hug. Bye! <3