May 2, 2025 • 9 mins
"Budapest has long been a punching bag for invading powers and battled over by a litany of imperial bullies. But the legacy is a city stacked with historic layer upon layer of intrigue and faded glory, some layers still decaying while others have been ambitiously restored. I was back in the Hungarian capital with Trafalgar, one of the headline stops on their splendidly curated 10-day Imperial Europe tour."
Read Mike's full article here.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Mike Hadley's our travel corresponding. He's here this morning, calder.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Mike, you're a Jack. I'm gazing at it Mount Hut
through my window at the moment, and you would think
mister Whippy has gone berserk because the whole spine of
the Southern Alps has got quite the snow coat. But
the well, are we the food of May for God's sake?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I was going to say very early for first,
you know, for heavy snow, but I'm not surprised after
this week. So I was sort of in your neck
of the woods on Thursday and you know, you know, yeah,
well no, I mean it was actually I was, I mean,
always delighted to be in Canterbury, but I was driving.
I was driving the stretch from State hiow one from
(00:52):
christ Church South and you know, when you're usually heading south,
you've kind of got nothing really on your left hand side,
but on the right hand side, like you say, you've
got the spine of the Southern Alps.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Of course, on Thursday, in the throes of the storm,
I couldn't see anything. Get there's nothing to see out
of the window, but it was, according to the car thermometer,
six degrees and the rain was falling very heavily. So
I was looking out that right hand driver's side and thinking,
you know what, Okay, maybe I can't see the Alps
right now, but something tells me they're getting to be
getting a fair bit of snow in this storm. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:26):
that's particular. Please hear there are some upsides given what's
been through over the last few days. Anyway, we are
turning our attentions slightly further a few this morning to
put a pest in Hungary and it is a very
very interesting place to be right now, not only for
historical reasons, but for modern political reasons. Is Victor Auburn's
(01:47):
influence noticeable.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
It's unmistakable. Yeah, it's been over a decade since I
was last and brought a pesta, and all Ben's nationalist
stripes are just ever present in the city. So the
thing I really noticed a couple of weeks ago the flags.
There's just these huge Hungarian flags at every turn, statues, monuments,
all sorts of splashy patriotism just pervading Buddha pest. The
(02:14):
money spent check on lighting up every landmark building in
bridge edging and crossing the Danube is astonishing. It's like
Disneyland after dark. And Budapest. He's Europe's longest serving prime minister.
He cleared Budapest of beggars. They are persona non grata.
But I think his most extravagant splash has been on
(02:37):
rebuilding the historic power base of Hungary, the Castle District,
which is on the hills of Buddha. All of that,
well a lot of it was destroyed in World War Two,
but it's now one of Europe's biggest historic reconstruction zones.
It is just epic.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
How much is he spending on the restorations then.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Is such a good question. No one really seems to know.
It's a closely guarded secret. The total price tag, well
you just just pick an up. But currently the building's
currently being worked on. They come with a cost of
three billion dollars, so I mean you can you can
double triple, quadruple that figure for the total price tag.
(03:19):
But it's just extraordinary. So this Castle District, it was
previously like the power base of the the Habsburgs when
Austria and Hungary got together. My guide I think my
guide summed it up best. As we sort of walked
along all of these buildings being stored and reconstructed. My
guide said, Auburn has an edifice complex though it was
(03:44):
such a great term. But yeah, under under the Habsburg monarchy, Jack,
many of these castle fountains actually frothed with wine. No
word as to whether that's been reinstated.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I guess we'll find out. My goodness, Yeah, that's amazing.
I mean, this is, you know, an extraordinary you know
that this part of the world has an extraordinary recent history,
and there are some pretty sobering World War II history
on the banks of the Danube.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yes, Hungary was a Nazi puppet before the Soviets called
the shots post war. But just down from the Hungary Parliament,
which is another beautiful building from the nineteenth century, the
schu Memorial Man alive sixty pairs of bronze shoes, and
they're all in different shapes and sizes, and they just
scattered along the edge of the river as if the
(04:35):
owners of these shoes have just stepped out of them.
It's in honor of the thousands of Hungarian Jews who
were forced to remove their shoes before being shot on
that site, and the reason being the shoes were actually
a really valuable commodity during the war, so as their
bodies floated away in the river, their shoes were being sold.
(04:56):
And the simplicity of the Schu memorial, it is profoundly moving.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, I remember seeing it there, and you know, I've
seen you know, a few kind of memorials and things
around in Europe. I reckon that stands out as one of,
if not the most kind of affecting memorials that I
can think of degree throughout that. Yeah, it really is,
you know, it really is affecting and moving. So yeah,
totally your suggestion there. Did you try Hungary's locally steroll pork.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, it sounds like a contradiction in tombs, doesn't it.
Locally stroll porky pig and very high in omega three
this one in Hungary. So yes, autra Felgutu went out
to a place called Sheeeesel Winery on the outskirts of
the city and the specialty dish is munga Litzer pig.
So this is a locally strolled pork from a heritage
(05:47):
breed of Hungarian pigs. And I've become the toast of
a lot of gourmet restaurants in Europe. But the most
unusual pigs they have really wally coolly here. They look
more like overgrown sheep than than pigs. And the mangolitzer
is a lot darker than regular pork. It looks and
(06:09):
tastes more like beef. It's cured and smoked and super
tasty and very good for you. Apparently it is.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That is not you know, it's not lacking, no, no.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
None at all, And just put a bit of paprika
on it and life is good.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
On How old is the one?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well? I loved this one. Reject. She's was started by
a German migrant family in the nineteenth century, and the
great grandson, Conrad Sheesel, he runs it today. But he
told me this great story about how during World War
Two his grandfather had his best friend who was Jewish,
and his whole family in giant oak barrels at that
(06:49):
winery to save their lives from the essays. And then
about twelve years later, after the Communists took power, the
winery was nationalized. But the Jewish friend's son had become
a lawyer and actually convinced Hungary's leader to return the
winery to the Shecheesel family. Isn't it the most amazing story? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, okay, So what else is or where else is
good for some sort of quintessential tastes and buta pests.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, you may recall the big central market in town,
so this is like grazing heaven, and it's still just
the go to for a taste of budapests. So there
are still hundreds of food stalls. Most of them are
actually selling peasant dishes as they call it. You know,
your goulesh soup and you langos, those fried flat breads,
(07:40):
which probably is actually Hungary's best known street food. I
reckon around the world. Paprika, the spicy anca to all
Hungarian cuisine. You'll find it everywhere. I do love those
paprika sauces, and I was very impressed to see, despite
the cost of living around the world, you can still
get bangers and a beer combo at this central market
(08:00):
for about three New Zealand dollars.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Oh yeah, that's good. The price is right nice. What
about the ruin bars a thing?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
They are a Budapeste signature, so basically they're making use
of derelict buildings and there are still a lot of them.
Just a few blocks back from the Danube, I went
to Taqueria, which was formerly the storage depot for Hungarian railways.
I tried a pinky Jack, which is a grape fruit
vodka shot, and then I had one of the highly
(08:28):
flammable plumper linkers, which weighed in a forty four percent alcohol.
Just the one did the trick.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yes, my goodness, was there any sweetness in that?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
No, no, really, yeah, very totally. It sounds like an
adventure though, thank you. And yeah, like I said, I'd
love to go there. You know, this moment in time,
I think it's more than a decade, it's but yeah,
I would absolutely love to go right now because it's
a very interesting place. Thanks so much, Mike. We'll make
sure all of Mike's tips for trekking through but Apestra
(09:01):
up on the News Talks. He'd be website for
Speaker 1 (09:03):
More from Saturday morning with Jack team in Life to
News Talks a b from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Mike Hadley's our travel corresponding. He's here this morning, calder.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Mike, you're a Jack. I'm gazing at it Mount Hut
through my window at the moment, and you would think
mister Whippy has gone berserk because the whole spine of
the Southern Alps has got quite the snow coat. But
the well, are we the food of May for God's sake?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, I was going to say very early for first,
you know, for heavy snow, but I'm not surprised after
this week. So I was sort of in your neck
of the woods on Thursday and you know, you know, yeah,
well no, I mean it was actually I was, I mean,
always delighted to be in Canterbury, but I was driving.
I was driving the stretch from State hiow one from
(00:52):
christ Church South and you know, when you're usually heading south,
you've kind of got nothing really on your left hand side,
but on the right hand side, like you say, you've
got the spine of the Southern Alps.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Of course, on Thursday, in the throes of the storm,
I couldn't see anything. Get there's nothing to see out
of the window, but it was, according to the car thermometer,
six degrees and the rain was falling very heavily. So
I was looking out that right hand driver's side and thinking,
you know what, Okay, maybe I can't see the Alps
right now, but something tells me they're getting to be
getting a fair bit of snow in this storm. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(01:26):
that's particular. Please hear there are some upsides given what's
been through over the last few days. Anyway, we are
turning our attentions slightly further a few this morning to
put a pest in Hungary and it is a very
very interesting place to be right now, not only for
historical reasons, but for modern political reasons. Is Victor Auburn's
(01:47):
influence noticeable.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
It's unmistakable. Yeah, it's been over a decade since I
was last and brought a pesta, and all Ben's nationalist
stripes are just ever present in the city. So the
thing I really noticed a couple of weeks ago the flags.
There's just these huge Hungarian flags at every turn, statues, monuments,
all sorts of splashy patriotism just pervading Buddha pest. The
(02:14):
money spent check on lighting up every landmark building in
bridge edging and crossing the Danube is astonishing. It's like
Disneyland after dark. And Budapest. He's Europe's longest serving prime minister.
He cleared Budapest of beggars. They are persona non grata.
But I think his most extravagant splash has been on
(02:37):
rebuilding the historic power base of Hungary, the Castle District,
which is on the hills of Buddha. All of that,
well a lot of it was destroyed in World War Two,
but it's now one of Europe's biggest historic reconstruction zones.
It is just epic.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
How much is he spending on the restorations then.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Is such a good question. No one really seems to know.
It's a closely guarded secret. The total price tag, well
you just just pick an up. But currently the building's
currently being worked on. They come with a cost of
three billion dollars, so I mean you can you can
double triple, quadruple that figure for the total price tag.
(03:19):
But it's just extraordinary. So this Castle District, it was
previously like the power base of the the Habsburgs when
Austria and Hungary got together. My guide I think my
guide summed it up best. As we sort of walked
along all of these buildings being stored and reconstructed. My
guide said, Auburn has an edifice complex though it was
(03:44):
such a great term. But yeah, under under the Habsburg monarchy, Jack,
many of these castle fountains actually frothed with wine. No
word as to whether that's been reinstated.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I guess we'll find out. My goodness, Yeah, that's amazing.
I mean, this is, you know, an extraordinary you know
that this part of the world has an extraordinary recent history,
and there are some pretty sobering World War II history
on the banks of the Danube.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yes, Hungary was a Nazi puppet before the Soviets called
the shots post war. But just down from the Hungary Parliament,
which is another beautiful building from the nineteenth century, the
schu Memorial Man alive sixty pairs of bronze shoes, and
they're all in different shapes and sizes, and they just
scattered along the edge of the river as if the
(04:35):
owners of these shoes have just stepped out of them.
It's in honor of the thousands of Hungarian Jews who
were forced to remove their shoes before being shot on
that site, and the reason being the shoes were actually
a really valuable commodity during the war, so as their
bodies floated away in the river, their shoes were being sold.
(04:56):
And the simplicity of the Schu memorial, it is profoundly moving.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, I remember seeing it there, and you know, I've
seen you know, a few kind of memorials and things
around in Europe. I reckon that stands out as one of,
if not the most kind of affecting memorials that I
can think of degree throughout that. Yeah, it really is,
you know, it really is affecting and moving. So yeah,
totally your suggestion there. Did you try Hungary's locally steroll pork.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, it sounds like a contradiction in tombs, doesn't it.
Locally stroll porky pig and very high in omega three
this one in Hungary. So yes, autra Felgutu went out
to a place called Sheeeesel Winery on the outskirts of
the city and the specialty dish is munga Litzer pig.
So this is a locally strolled pork from a heritage
(05:47):
breed of Hungarian pigs. And I've become the toast of
a lot of gourmet restaurants in Europe. But the most
unusual pigs they have really wally coolly here. They look
more like overgrown sheep than than pigs. And the mangolitzer
is a lot darker than regular pork. It looks and
(06:09):
tastes more like beef. It's cured and smoked and super
tasty and very good for you. Apparently it is.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
That is not you know, it's not lacking, no, no.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
None at all, And just put a bit of paprika
on it and life is good.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
On How old is the one?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well? I loved this one. Reject. She's was started by
a German migrant family in the nineteenth century, and the
great grandson, Conrad Sheesel, he runs it today. But he
told me this great story about how during World War
Two his grandfather had his best friend who was Jewish,
and his whole family in giant oak barrels at that
(06:49):
winery to save their lives from the essays. And then
about twelve years later, after the Communists took power, the
winery was nationalized. But the Jewish friend's son had become
a lawyer and actually convinced Hungary's leader to return the
winery to the Shecheesel family. Isn't it the most amazing story? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, okay, So what else is or where else is
good for some sort of quintessential tastes and buta pests.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, you may recall the big central market in town,
so this is like grazing heaven, and it's still just
the go to for a taste of budapests. So there
are still hundreds of food stalls. Most of them are
actually selling peasant dishes as they call it. You know,
your goulesh soup and you langos, those fried flat breads,
(07:40):
which probably is actually Hungary's best known street food. I
reckon around the world. Paprika, the spicy anca to all
Hungarian cuisine. You'll find it everywhere. I do love those
paprika sauces, and I was very impressed to see, despite
the cost of living around the world, you can still
get bangers and a beer combo at this central market
(08:00):
for about three New Zealand dollars.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Oh yeah, that's good. The price is right nice. What
about the ruin bars a thing?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
They are a Budapeste signature, so basically they're making use
of derelict buildings and there are still a lot of them.
Just a few blocks back from the Danube, I went
to Taqueria, which was formerly the storage depot for Hungarian railways.
I tried a pinky Jack, which is a grape fruit
vodka shot, and then I had one of the highly
(08:28):
flammable plumper linkers, which weighed in a forty four percent alcohol.
Just the one did the trick.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yes, my goodness, was there any sweetness in that?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
No, no, really, yeah, very totally. It sounds like an
adventure though, thank you. And yeah, like I said, I'd
love to go there. You know, this moment in time,
I think it's more than a decade, it's but yeah,
I would absolutely love to go right now because it's
a very interesting place. Thanks so much, Mike. We'll make
sure all of Mike's tips for trekking through but Apestra
(09:01):
up on the News Talks. He'd be website for
Speaker 1 (09:03):
More from Saturday morning with Jack team in Life to
News Talks a b from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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