Budapest, Vienna and Prague September 2015

[TownsendPLocke]

I will be venturing back to eastern Europe for a friends Birthday in September. Exploring Budapest and Vienna for the first time and returning to Prague for the 3rd time.

I look forward to advice from those who have recently traveled to these cities,

The Czech Kroun is seriously down against the USD right now, making Prague an even better bargain than it was before.

[mvan1]

I will be venturing back to eastern Europe for a friends Birthday in September. Exploring Budapest and Vienna for the first time and returning to Prague for the 3rd time.

I look forward to advice from those who have recently traveled to these cities,

The Czech Kroun is seriously down against the USD right now, making Prague an even better bargain than it was before.

I have not been to Prague for several years, therefore my information about that place will not help you.

With respect to Budapest and Vienna, I can offer a few thoughts and suggestions.

I don’t know where you plan to stay in Budapest. However, if you plan to stay at a Hilton, there are two of them in Budapest.

One Hilton is in the city area while the older Hilton is located in the Royal Castle District. This particular Hilton is located directly next to Matthias Church. The church was built in the fourteenth century. I stayed at this Hilton last year during my visit to Vienna and Budapest.

Across the street from the Hilton (in the Royal Castle District) is a park that runs along the River Danube from the Buda side of Budapest.

It is in this park where you will be pleasantly surprised, as I was.

I was not aware that the park often contains handsome Hungarian male hustlers (and other nationalities).

My first morning at the hotel, I naively walked around the hotel just looking around for sight seeing purposes. While walking in the park, I saw a number of handsome young men just standing around. I was too unaware to connect the fact that the guys were hustling. I thought it a little strange that there were so many good-looking guys just standing around but it was only my second day in Budapest and I did not know what to expect. It was not until the second day that I “connected the dots” and realized what was taking place in the park and around the Hilton and Matthias Church.

I made it a point to walk through the park most of the times I entered or left the hotel. A few times I talked to some of the guys standing in the park, however, none of them spoke English. I do not speak any Hungarian. After a few more tries with different guys, I eventually met a guy who spoke German and I was able to communicate with him. He explained the situation with the hustlers in the park. I did not feel threatened in the park because the hustling occurred during the day as well as the night.

As I wrote, I do not know where you will be staying in Budapest. If you will be there any length of time, I heartily recommend that you visit the park across from the Hilton. You just might get lucky.

With respect to Vienna, I am not aware of any hustler or bar scene except for the Stadt Park near the Kursalon. However, I never engaged any of the hustlers in Vienna because they all seemed too rough and dirty.

While in Vienna, there are many restaurants that are memorable. My favorite is called Figlmueller. There are two locations fairly close to each other. This restaurant serves the largest and most tasty Vienna Schnitzel I have ever had. Here is a link to its website which is in English:

http://www.figlmueller.at/en/

Since this is your first trip to Vienna, you might know that Vienna was once called the City of Music. There are countless concert halls in Vienna. I mentioned the Kursalon above with respect to where some hustlers hang out. About one block from the hustlers’ area in the Stadt Park, is the Kursalon. There are many concerts given that might be of interest to you. Here is a link to the Kursalon site:

http://www.kursalonwien.at/en

Have a great trip.

[lookin]

Although it's been a decade since I've been there, one of my favorite places in Budapest was the Palatinus Bath on Margaret Island. It's an outdoor complex of pools and mineral baths with lots of eye candy. At the time I was there, the rooftop of the building with lockers and showers was full of gay sunbathers, and the building itself was loaded with Romanian hustlers. Easy to spend an afternoon, and convenient by streetcar.

Any of the ancient bathhouses are fun and, once again, hosted plenty of Romanian hustlers. Two I enjoyed especially were the Király and the Rudas.

If the park Mvan1 mentions is the one I'm thinking of, it's at the foot of the Margit Bridge on the Pest side. The bench facing the river was again well-stocked with Romanian hustlers. I asked someone why and it turns out, at the time, Budapest was as far west as Romanians could go without hard-to-get papers and the lads were looking to make some easy money. How easy it was I don't know, as the ones in the park apparently had a pimp who kept them hopping. As a general rule, I'd leave my jewels in the safe and carry the minimum of cash.

The Gellért Hotel on the Buda side was very nice and I stayed there my first night. Then my friend and I found a two-bedroom apartment for the remainder of our stay. The owner sent his cute assistant to collect us from the Gellért.

I generally prefer to live amongst the locals and avoid luxe accommodations but an initial night or two in a westernized hotel may give you a welcome comfort level for further exploration of an exciting city.

Enjoy!

PS: Didn't mean to imply that the baths in Budapest are in any way as open and businesslike as those in Rio. Any stolen moments in the baths themselves will be either in a corner or underwater. I've spent so many years skulking in the shadows, it didn't occur to me to mention it. And I sure wouldn't want any of my fellow-posters holidaying in a Hungarian hoosegow.