Category: District XI

This statue in District XI of Budapest commemorates the life of Gábor Bethlen, a rather important figure in Hungarian history. He was the Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and also King-elect of Hungary (he never quite took control of the entire country) from 1620 to 1621 and he was also the Duke of Opole (one of my favourite cities) from 1622 until 1625. He is particularly known for leading Transylvania into its “golden age” and for his wise rule, economic reforms and for defending Protestantism in Hungary during the Thirty Years’ War. There are rather more decadent statues of him around the city, but this one is suitably under-stated and also has a coat hook for reasons unknown to me.

This is a typical street sign in Budapest, the XI. kerület being reference to it being in District XI, Szentimreváros is the neighbourhood and 7-1 are the house numbers on this section on the street. I have no idea why the street name is what it is, Google Gemini made a guess that it might be related to Miklós Mészöly (1921-2002) although it probably isn’t.

But, this isn’t the story that I found intriguing, it’s the one at this web-site about District XI, which tells a story about a pub that was once located near to this site. It talks about the character of the pub, which is now a Mexican restaurant, and the people who worked there. The intriguing elements to me is this:

“It is unimaginable today, but at that time, underage students from nearby high schools were also served in pubs, including Mészöly. The latter became such a regular spot for many of them that some classes later organised their graduation parties here. Although it has become a cult place over the decades, in its heyday, most people considered “Mészi” a classic disgrace, where beer is cheap and you don’t have to pay a lot for other drinks. Many people may also remember the skinheads, whose community was held together by xenophobia in addition to their immoderate enjoyment of beer. It happened in the late 80s that a colored man walked in front of them just as they were leaving Mészi. The gang, hungry for mischief, started chasing the young man, who ran much faster than them, and jumped on the tram that arrived at the stop. The bald men arrived late, but one of them tried to kick the door of the already moving vehicle. Fate punished him harshly: the tram cut off one of his legs.”

That’s certainly some story and the moral of the story is don’t attack people because they’re different. I wonder if losing his leg changed his attitude to life….

Located in District XI of Budapest, this is the statue of Géza Gárdonyi (1863-1922), a renowned Hungarian writer and playwright.

The sculpture was unveiled here on 13 May 1933 and was designed by János Horvay. In addition to the main man himself, there are bronze figures of a boy lying down and a mother reading to him, symbolising his historical novels and works for children. It was commissioned by the Országos Gárdonyi Géza Irodalmi Társaság (the National Géza Gárdonyi Literary Society) and funded through public subscription, the monument reflects just how deeply Gárdonyi’s work must have resonated with ordinary readers across the country. By 1933, his book written in 1899 Egri csillagok (“Eclipse of the Crescent Moon”) had already become a staple of Hungarian school curricula, so I guess that he was the Enid Blyton of his day….. Actually, I’m not sure that she wrote military fiction, but the Famous Five were often very brave.

Located in District XI of Budapest, these are Stumbling Blocks (Stolpersteine) commemorating the lives of three members of the Farago family who lived at Bartók Béla út 52. The family members were Andor and his two sons, István and György.

– Faragó István (Born 1906), who was killed by firing squad into the Danube in 1944.

– Faragó Andor (Born 1877), who was killed by firing squad into the Danube in 1944. He was a significant figure as the former editor-in-chief of the Hungarian mathematical and physical journal KöMaL, which he relaunched in 1925.

– Faragó György (Born 1907), who died in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

The exact dates of their murders aren’t known, but it was the Arrow Cross Party who executed the two who were shot at the edges of the River Danube so that their bodies fell in and got swept away. Their shoes were usually removed before the execution as they were easier to sell on. The Arrow Cross Party were in power from 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945 and they killed around 15,000 people directly in that time, accepting no opposition to their campaign of terror and hatred, and tens of thousands more were sent to their deaths in concentration camps.

There’s a little bit of a theme that might be visible to my two loyal blog readers about which places in a city I prioritise visiting….. This is the highly rated Tap Burger & Beer located in District XI of Budapest.

It wasn’t that busy when I entered on Sunday afternoon, but it was an inviting and welcoming atmosphere. With a shark.

There are plenty of craft beers to choose from and the list is also on Untappd.

It’s not a huge place, but there’s some more seating upstairs and some tables outside as well where you can enjoy your beer whilst people smoke over you (one day that situation will come to an end) and be bitten by wasps.

I couldn’t see a menu in English but I was planning to have a chicken burger so that proved easy enough to order. The food arrived promptly and was excellent, the chicken had a depth of flavouring to the coating and it was also tender. The fries were some of the best I’ve had, crispy on the exterior and nice and fluffy on the interior with something like a paprika coating on the outside. The bun was lightly toasted and it was all served as a generous portion.

The beer was the Fruit Works – Mango, Passion Fruit and Strawberry from Brew Your Mind, as I very much like fruit and obviously can’t get enough of it. It was lightly soured and refreshing, something that was very useful given the extreme heat outside. Or, at least, what I considered to be the extreme heat. The server didn’t ask if I wanted a small or large beer, just serving me the large, but I think he made the right choice for me there.

The service was friendly and engaging, the venue was clean and the atmosphere was comfortable, so I liked it here. As I mentioned, the on-line reviews for this bar are very high and I can see why they’ve built up something of a following. I’ll likely be back, the beer list was well thought out and curated, with the prices being reasonable (it was around £12 for the burger, fries, sauce and drink).

Located in District XI of Budapest, the Kelenföld Railway Station is in a sub-optimal state, but the future is positive as it’s being turned into one of the buildings of the Hungarian Technical and Transportation Museum. The station first opened in 1861 and it’s one of the busiest in Hungary.

The building is fenced off at the moment, although the railway station itself is still in operation.

Here’s what it looked like on Google Streetview in 2013, run down but open. The museum has some images of what the building will look like in a few years and it does look rather exciting from a museum perspective.

Located in District XI of Budapest, I’m not sure that I’ve seen a sculpture quite like this before and it commemorates the life of Gyula Grosics (1926-2014) who was the goalkeeper of the Hungarian national team in the 1950s. This team is apparently arguably one of the best to have ever played and Grosics was an integral part of that squad. He had the nickname of the ‘Black Panther’ as he wore black clothing when playing and he received 86 caps for the national team. The sculpture was installed here in 2018 and was designed by Kligl Sándor (1947-) who is an award winning Hungarian sculptor.

Here’s the information panel by the sculpture, which translated reads:

“PLAYERS SHOULD NOT EVEN ACCIDENTALLY BELIEVE
THAT THEY ARE HONOURING THE AUDIENCE
BUT RATHER THE OTHER WAY AROUND
THE PLAYER SHOULD FEEL HONOURED
THAT THEY CAN REPRESENT THE COLOURS OF A NATION
IN THE WIDE WORLD…” GYULA GROSICS

GYULA GROSICS
“BLACK PANTHER”
(1926 – 2014)

LEGENDARY GOALKEEPER OF THE GOLDEN TEAM
SPORTSMAN OF THE NATION, OLYMPIC CHAMPION
HONORARY CITIZEN OF OUR DISTRICT
ERECTED IN HIS MEMORY BY
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF ÚJBUDA
2018

ARTIST: SÁNDOR KLIGL”

In my attempts to visit as many places in District XI as possible, I decided to see what this rather on-trend Hungarian burger chain was like. It’s located at the Etele Plaza and I went there as it was so hot outside that I was craving air conditioning. The chain has been going since 2013 when they started with a food truck (they got their first restaurant in 2014) and there are around ten outlets in Budapest now and they’re growing throughout Hungary following their decision to start franchising.

This is the view from my table.

I was pleased to see that there was a kiosk to order from, which might sound very British, but they are a lot easier to use when trying to explore the menu at a fast food location. I went for the chicken burger, fries, onion rings and a Dr. Pepper. There’s an extra charge for sauces, but luckily I had several in my bag from the UK and so that saved a little money. The prices were towards the higher end of the scale for Hungary, but it is located in a posh shopping centre, although the cost of £9 didn’t feel unreasonable. As I ordered via a kiosk there was minimal engagement possible from team members, although the service seemed friendly.

The chicken burger was decent, although the roll doesn’t look very decadent (although they are made specially for the chain), with the chicken being tender and having a richness of flavour to it. The onion rings were pretty standard and the fries were firm on the exterior and fluffy on the inside, but otherwise unremarkable. The Dr. Pepper was excellent, but that’s always the case, although I don’t tend to drink fizzy drinks very much any more.

I thought that it was all pleasant enough and they seem to be attracting a generally younger crowd judging by the other customers. The on-line reviews are broadly positive and the quality seems high, so I imagine that they’ll be plenty more of these venues popping up around the country over the next few years. I should though, for the sake of completeness, try one of their beef burgers next time to see just how decadent and exciting they are.

I’ve been walking around District XI for two days and I’ve realised I’ve managed to visit all the craft beer bars already and left other matters, but there we go….. Anyway, this rather intriguing venue is located at Bikas Park, although I understand that they started off with a craft beer bar somewhere else in the city.

The craft beer options aren’t the easiest to see, but there are some tempting beers on there. They do food as well although it was too hot for me to be able to think about that, as I’m not very good with scorchingly high temperatures.

The interior of the bar and most people were sitting outside because they like being attacked by wasps and getting sun burnt. It was clean, functional and welcoming with something of an on-trend feel to it. They seemed to be selling a fair amount of coffees, so I think there’s something of a cafe bar style to the place.

I compromised and sat near to the outside to show a willing attitude towards sitting in the park.

The first beer I went for was the 3 Bean Stout from Lervig and I’ve had this before in the UK and rated it very highly. It’s a rich, powerful, punchy and robust beer with flavours of coffee and decadence. Lervig are from Stavanger which is a city that I’ve been to, but before I knew about craft beer, so I must consider another visit there to see the brewery itself.

The second beer I went for was the Rebel Berry from Horizont Brewing and this was suitably sour with plenty of raspberry to it, although it was a little thin.

The prices are towards the higher end of the scale, but still below what they’d cost in the UK, so I was content with the arrangement. The service was friendly and efficient, although I did think that the ordering process was a little unclear as to whether to order at the bar or wait for table service. There’s a decent range of keg options and also plenty of cans on display as well, with most beer styles being covered, so I’d happily go here again as it’s always positive to see such efforts being made with craft beer.

Located in District XI of Budapest, this is the statue of Cseh Tamás (1943-2009) although ChatGPT was quite confident that it was John Lennon and I can understand that. The bronze statue is located at Szent Gellért Square, in front of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics building, and was unveiled in September 2013. The bronze statue was designed by István Majoros and it was placed here because it was near to where Tamás used to live.

My knowledge of music can best be described as sub-optimal, but here he is….