Hungary’s beautiful
capital, Budapest, literally blasts its tourists with an amazing list
of sites to see, things to do and memories to cherish.
The city itself is made
up of two halves separated by the blue Danube, Buda and Pest. These
were each two cities which joined to form one along during the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. No surprises, then, when the whole of the
city has a very 18-19th Century feel: between the
magnificent Széchenyi Fürdo Spa in Pest to the Castle district
of Buda, the picturesque is never far away.
However, cross just
outside of the city to the large county beyond and there is a third
cultural spot. Óbuda, Latin: Pannonia, is a not a long trip from
central Budapest, taking less time that it would to go from Egham to
London. From the centre, take the metro (tube) to Batthyány Tr,
where you will find the hev (train). This will drop you off at
Aquincum.
Boasting the largest
ancient Roman settlement to have been excavated, second only to Rome
herself, Aquincum is a large park of the remains of broken villas.
The disappointment in only seeing stone walls lacking the grandeur of
Herculaneum or Pompeii was quickly rectified by the little quirks the
archaeologists and caretakers of the park had taken care to put in
place to inspire the interest of the classicist, the tourist and the
children dragged along.
Myself, I was dragging
a ten-year-old around a bunch of stone walls, in the baking sun, and
whilst I was enjoying trying to translate the Latin on the side of
the sarcophagi and explaining things to him, he grew progressively
more and more irritable and, dare I say it, bored. There is nothing
worse than a bored and irritated kid to ruin the ruins. So I gave up
looking and deciphering what was left of the limestone tombs and
busts; I took him to the house of the painter.
This was a refurbished
house made of plaster in a style that was believed to be akin to the
houses of the era. I admit to being rather sceptical about the fact
that it had a triangular roof with no rain hole in the top. The tour
and explanation of a painter’s job for the town, however, seemed
accurate enough, so I let it drop.
Next to this was a
“Roman Games Hut”. Clearly not Roman architecture, inside were
several board games, believed to have been in use during the roman
era. Believe me, playing chess with regulation pieces which more no
distinguishing features made this one hell of a hard game. It was a
real shame that none of the explanations were in English and my
Hungarian was, and still is next to nonexistent.
The museum, situated
next to the Mythological Playground, offered a much-of-a-muchness in
terms of exhibits. Unfortunately, one oil lamp does not differ wildly
from another, nor do glass vases, clay jugs etc. The real interest
crept in when the downstairs interactive play area and puzzles were
unleashed. Games of dice and varying puzzles, ranging from
put-the-broken-pot-together and make-the-mosaic (which was very
difficult). The game that interested me was a board game which seemed
to coincide with something the Latin Language and Reading class had
talked about while discussing the Emperor Nero. On the board were
written four words, which escape me. There were five or six counters
and each had to be placed on a letter, the purpose of which escaped
the “let’s try and figure it out” process, due to lack of
explanation.
The two most
interesting features were the Chronoscope and the Mythological
Playground. The latter had really taken its role seriously and
adapted the myth to the game in a minimalistic, superficial yet
pretty accurate way. To be honest, that’s more than most films, and
children’s games demand less.
The Chronoscope was the
highlight of this visit: a periscope viewer of the ancient city. It
looked a bit like the tourist binoculars you find on the Eifel Tower
or the Lion of Waterloo. This, however, did not give you a close up
of the far off view. It recreated it. For 180°, the chronoscope
offered you an oil painter’s recreation of what Aquincum would have
looked like were it still standing today. There were even a few
people dotted around. Not bad for 300 HUF (approx £1) entrance fee!
Back to the hev, by
which point the kid had had enough and we returned to central Pest.
However, had this not been the case, there is the Roman Bath Museum,
a military bath that has lasted down the generations. When I return
to Budapest, which I feel is inevitable, this will be the first thing
for me to see!
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