Tag Archives: Travel

Market Mania

Quick Currency Conversion

My wife is flea market crazy. I don’t mean that she likes or is slightly interested in flea markets. Oh no, she’s completely and totally bonkers, nuts, out of her ever lovin’ skull, just can’t get enough of, crazy about flea markets. She has dragged me to the most God awful, disgusting, trashy yard sales, jumble sales, boot sales, garage sales and impromptu street markets in broken down Grange Halls, dilapidated industrial sites, abandoned warehouses, trash strewn vacant lots, very scary dead end streets and deserted parking garages in every city we have ever visited just so I can have the immense pleasure of gazing upon and fondling acres of other people’s useless and discarded junk.

Budapest has proven to be an exception to this otherwise nightmare scenario. Wendi has coerced me into two flea markets here and, I have to admit, they are terrific. Big, sprawling old school Markets, untouched by the tidal wave of cheap third world tshirts and trinkets. These are Markets were you can still find hidden gems and long forgotten items for a bygone era. Exactly the kind of Markets that made them popular to begin with.

Our first stop was at the Szechenyl Market is the middle of the large city park. The smaller of the two, Szechenyl has a bit of a yard sale feel but was still really interesting.

Will you hurry up!

Have to get one of these.

Our last visit was at the Ecseri Market and it is the pièce de résistance. Located in the suburbs southwest of Budapest, getting there required two Metro transfers and a 20 minute bus ride, but was well worth the effort. A truly terrific treasure trove.

Ecseri Market

Wash Station

Better hurry, this kind of market is rapidly disappearing.

The Secessionists

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Take my word for it, Secessionist Art is really cool. It was one of the Art Nouveau disciplines that was popular between 1890 and 1910 and slightly predates Art Deco and was huge in Budapest. This modernist artist group included the likes of Gustav Klimt and Karoly Lotz, They were renegades who separated from the support of official academic art and its administrations during this period.

The Kiss – Gustav Klimt

Woman Bathing – Karoly Lotz

Budapest, like both Berlin and Vienna, was a hot bed for this new and exciting art movement. Some of the country’s most famous architects designed buildings in this style. Some of them were inspired by traditional Hungarian decorative designs, Transylvanian traditions, or Far East (Indian or Syrian) styles.

One of our favorites is the Museum of Applied Arts, designed by Odon Lechner and Gyula Partos from 1893 – 1896. It is the third oldest applied arts museum in the world. It is currently showing a very exciting exhibit of Hungarian Posters from the 1920s called Bolder Than Painting.

More Art Nouveau Architecture

The Cold War

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25 years ago this poster would have landed you in prison.

For most Americans, unless of course you happened to work for the CIA or were unfortunate enough to have friends or relatives behind the Iron Curtain, the Cold War always remained a sort of conceptual notion, like the Boogie Man hiding in the closet that could burst forth at any moment and annihilate us all with hundreds of unseen thermonuclear devices, more of a threat then something real and tangible.

Not so for the Hungarians. After the Soviets drove the Nazis out at the end of WWII, the Communists held this place in a grip that was total and absolute and lasted over 40 years. In Hungary the Iron Curtain was not some scary ethereal miasma. Here it was very real, fashioned out of guns, spies, interrogation, propaganda and fear.

Iron Curtain Sculpture

Capitalism, with all it’s pluses and minuses, is now the system du jour and virtually all signs of Soviet domination have been eradicated with a few notable exceptions. Flea markets, where the sale of Soviet era paraphernalia, i.e. coats, hats, pins, etc., is an ongoing enterprise, and two museums, the House of Terror Museum and Momento Park, stand as constant reminders of life under the Communist boot.

The House of Terror, located at Andrássy útca 60, is a memorial to the victims of the fascist and communist dictatorial regimes who were detained, interrogated, tortured or killed in this building.

The House of Terror

Pictures of victims stretch the length of the building.

The Nazi’s took possession of this very fashionable location during WWII. When the Soviets and Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party took over, they expanded it to include almost the entire block and converted the basement into a labyrinth of cells and interrogation rooms.

Iron Curtain Sculpture

Memento Park is an open air museum about 20 minutes southeast of Budapest. It is filled with monumental statues from Hungary’s Communist period (1949–1989).

Main Entrance

Cubist monument of Marx and Engels.

Onward Comrades

Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Memorial

Together we will dominate the world.

Monument to the Martyrs of the Counter-Revolution

Break Free of Imperialist Tyranny.

The Republic of Councils Monument

The Republic of Councils Monument

The Hungarian Fighters in the Spanish International Brigades Memorial.

Red Army Soldier

Lenin Relief

Soviet Heroic Memorial

Soviet Heroic Memorial

Most notably absent are any statues of Stalin. Apparently all of them were destroyed after the Soviets fled in 1989. All that remains are Papa Joe’s boots.

Stalin’s Boots

And finally, just for scale.

Wendi is unintimidated.

Budapest – Our First Look Around

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Budapest is a great big, busy and exciting city. It’s the capital and largest city in Hungary, and one of the largest cities in the European Union, with a metropolitan population of 3.3 million.

View of Pest from the Dome on the National Gallery.

Budapest is a very beautiful place that is ranked as the most liveable Central and Eastern European city on EIU‘s quality of life index, “the world’s second best city” by Condé Nast Traveler, “Europe’s 7th most idyllic place to live” by Forbes, and the 9th most beautiful city in the world by UCityGuides.

View of Pest from the Dome on the National Gallery.

The Chain Bridge

We’ve rented a great little apartment, Liesel/Pierre, in a historic building at Szervita ter 5 in the center of downtown Budapest.

Szervita ter 5

Through here.

Across the courtyard.

We’re on the top floor.

Top floor.

And we’re there.

Come In To The Liesel/Pierre.

Now a walk around the neighborhood.

Parizsi Utca

Egyetemi Templom

Szervita ter 9

Szerb Utca

Vaci Utca

Veres Palne Utca

Eizsebet ter

Karpatia at Ferenciek tere 3-5

Deák Ferenc tér

Piarista Koz

Petofi Sandor Utca

Chocolate Shop

Fat Mo’s Speakeasy

The Central Market is one of Budapest’s great institutions. It’s cavernous and bustling and filled with food, clothes, gifts, wine, a great lunch and all things Hungarian.

The Central Market

The Wendi Files – Spanish Edition

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Everyone seems to enjoy peeking in on what Wendi’s up to and I guess that includes me, seeing I’m her resident stalker and personal paparazzi. So here’s the Spanish Edition, not quite as quirky as Holland and certainly not as inebriated as Ireland, but wacky nonetheless.

Benicassim Train Station

Right this way to Morella Castle.

Madrid.

At the Mercado Gin & Bar in Benicassim.

Nice tomatoes.

At the Puerta Sol in Madrid.

Santillana del Mar

With the Giants in Morella.

The Alhambra

Got to have those salt & vinegar chips.

Moving fast in Cordoba

Hey, down here.

At the winery in El Ceigo

Posing at the Monastery.

There’s wine on the way in Valencia.

Making new friends at the Parade.

Waiting for me at IVAM.

Her favorite house in Monstrol.

Bargain hunting at the Market.

Hard at work at the Rondo in Valencia.

Dress shop window.

See the blisters

Lunch at the Alhambra.

Our Spanish adventure is done. We’re off to Budapest tomorrow. See you there.

Morella Castle

Valencia

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Plaza del Ayuntamiento

Valencia is a great city. It’s very old, founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC, Valencia has grown into Spain’s third largest city with a metropolitan area population of around 2.3 million.

Although it doesn’t feel like a huge place. The historic center has a very small city vibe with wide boulevards linked together by small streets and pedestrian passageways filled with traditional cafes, tabernas and specialty shops. A lot of the sidewalks in the city center are marble and, boy howdy, they feel good under foot.

City Hall and Plaza del Ayuntamiento

City Hall

Plaza de la Riena and the Miguelete, the Cathedral Bell Tower.

Santa Catalina

Street Band

Even the underside of the balconies are tiled.

At the end of the 15th century the Silk Exchange (Llotja de la Seda) or La Lonja was erected as the city became a commercial emporium that attracted merchants from all over Europe.

La Lonja

La Lonja’s vaulted ceiling.

La Lonja’s guilded ceiling.

La Lonja’s gothic windows.

La Lonja

La Lonja’s courtyard

Estacion del Norte is the city’s main train station. Fast, easy and filled with some great tile work.

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Plaza Redonda is a lovely circular market traditionally used to sell lace, fabric and millinery goods.

Plaza Redonda

Plaza Redonda

Plaza Redonda

Just a few loose ends.

This translates to “particular pitch”?

Filiberto Leon’s Watches

Main Post Office Mail Slots

And finally, this is Manolo Montoliu standing proudly outside the Plaza de Toros, Valencia’s Bullring.

Manolo Montoliu

Manolo was a bullfighter and flagman who was killed on May 1, 1992 by the bull Cabatisto in the bullring of the Royal Cavalry of Seville. You know what they say about messing with the bull… See for yourself.

Bullfighting is still very popular in Spain and people line up here to purchase tickets for upcoming spectacles.

Graffiti – Valencian Style

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We Only Fight For The Future

Graffiti is pretty much everywhere here. The highways and railway lines are completely covered with “tagging”. That’s when someone paints their name or “handstyle” everywhere they can find an open space. This type of graffiti clings to underpasses, bridges, abandon buildings, old silos and crumbling walls. Anywhere the author can work unmolested for a sufficient length of time.

Tom

El Puig

Sent Blacky

There seems to be some loose rules around these things. For example, writing over someone else’s tag is a sign of disrespect and could ignite a whole “tagging war” or too closely copying someone else’s style would be considered déclassé. I tend to think of this style as vandalism and the province of unemployed youth. Although, they are certainly ambitious in their scope, application and placement. We have seen some that was 80’ off the ground on the side of a 10 story building. To me, this cartoonish three dimensional block type all seems to be a variation on the same theme.

Sagunt

I’m intrigued by the more illustrative style, primarily for it’s cleverness and artistic acumen. Although, I suppose that depends on whether or not it’s your building they’re painting on.

Benny

Little Red Riding Hood

Swing

Winky

I See You

Clown Cones

No Bullfighting

Eyeball

Vertigo

Open Door Here

I have no idea!

Tossa de Mar

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My good friend and spiritual advisor Big Dog Beller has been telling me for years to go to the Costa Brava and stay in Tossa de Mar. We finally made it and he was right, of all the coastal resort towns we have seen, it is the most charming. A little remote, not too crowded, nice shopping district, some quaint family run restaurants, two small beaches and a terrific walled old town. The place has kind of an old South Beach feel, but with history. We even stayed at the Hotel Florida.

The road winds northeast up the coast for about 30 km, hugging the shore and offering fabulous views of coves and inlets with the clearest water you have ever seen.

Tossa de Mar’s additional claim to fame is as the location of the 1951 hit movie “Pandora & the Flying Dutchman” starring Ava Gardner and James Mason. There are pictures all over town of Ava cavorting with the locals while Frank Sinatra, her husband at the time, maintains a somewhat jealous vigil on the activities. They have even erected a statue of her on the ramparts overlooking the town.

Fun For Foodies

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When traveling you are forever comparing everything to home. What do people here do differently then we do? We love food markets. They are a quick overview of what locals eat and what they call everyday things we are very familar with. Also, how other people combine things we would never think to put together. For example, I’ve discovered you can drop a fried egg on just about anything from a hamburger to a pork chop to a plate of spaghetti.

One of the things we have discovered that the Spanish do really well is the urban mercado. We have been to four so far, two in Madrid and two in Valencia, and they have all been exceptional. Mercados are very busy places where people congregate to socialize and purchase every kind of vegetable, fruit, meat, fish, spice, nut, cheese or wine imaginable. And a thousand other things you never even thought of. Most have small counters where we can purchase coffee or a drink as well as tapas and small samples of just about anything.

The Mecardo de Miguel in Madrid is a little spendy but a great place for lunch.

Mecardo de Miguel in Madrid

The Mercado San Anton, also in Madrid, is in the middle of the trendy gay district and is a huge social gathering spot with terrific tapas and wine vendors.

Mercado San Anton in Madrid

The Mercado Colon in Valencia is the swankiest of the markets we went to. Recently renovated, it is mostly flower vendors and small stalls run by fancy restaurants.

Mercado Colon in Valencia

Flowers at the Mercado Colon in Valencia

By far the most exceptional Mercado we visited was the Mercado Central in Valencia. It is huge and filled with everything you never imagined you wanted.