An underground complex hides underneath Buda Castle. This complex served as a military hospital during the Second World War. At that time the Buda Castle, seat of the Hungarian government, was a bomb shelter, the safest place in the city of Budapest. The mayor, Károly Szendy, commissioned the construction of 10 kilometers of secret passages with a military hospital inside, known as The Hospital in the Rock. This is a must-see place if you want to get to know the history of Hungary and its capital.

Károly Szendy’s bunker can be visited for 4.000 florins (about 14 Euros) and is an unusual tourist attraction. Inside the rock, there are many interconnected caves forming a complex maze. The hospital is intact; you can visit the common rooms for wounded soldiers, the operating theaters and even the X-ray rooms, which curiously worked with an independent electricity system. This construction served as a shelter for many wounded soldiers after the air raids of the Americans in 1944. In there, military and also the civilian population were attended.

The hospital in the rock had capacity for 300 patients, but in many cases up to 700 patients had to be attended at once. Today you can still visit this hospital, which houses a large exhibition with dozens of wax sculptures that resemble war heroes: those doctors and nurses who risked their lives to save the lives of many victims of the war during a black episode in the Hungarian history. It was the refuge of entire families that sought a desperate hope to keep living. Down there, I can assure you, you’ll feel something strange. You’ll perceive the smell of war and somehow witnesses of what happened in these underground passages of Budapest.

The museum opened in 2006 and the best way to get there is by catching the cogwheel train that you’ll find just across the Danube after the Chain Bridge towards Buddha. It is situated in Adam Clark Square and the journey that makes this funicular (Sikló) takes no more than two minutes total. It is the fastest way to get there. However, there are other transport alternatives such as catching the bus from Várfok street, you’ll easily recognize the bus, because it is blue and has a castle painted on it. You can also take the elevator that goes from Palota Street to the Royal Palace; it works from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm, from there you can walk up the steps to the Szarvas square towards the Buda Castle. There are few steps, but you’ll stop many times to take pictures, because of the stunning views of the Danube and Pest that you can see from there. Keep in mind that wondering around the streets of Budapest you can also wind up at the Fishermen�s Bastion, a fortress that deserves an independent post.

DianaRPretel

Find accommodation in Budapest and visit this World War II hospital-bunker. You’ll feel something strange down there.

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The effects of electronic music are probably different than those of other musical genres. Although the rhythm is repetitive, songs random and a constant mix of rhythm, voice and interpretation electronic music reaches the senses deeper than any other musical genre. Furthermore, the constant drug use at festivals, raves and underground parties leads to a more intense experience that opens our imagination, desire and body at parties come close to rituals in certain moments, one could call them technological. The inicial interest in electronic muisic derived from the experimentation with several effects and devices that generated frequencies for over 50 years. Eletronic music entered our daily life as an established music genre with many different forms and possibilities to dance and listen to with technology that continues to advance and new possibilities to create effects through computers.

Maybe it was the psychodelic master Timothy Leary who with his talks about LSD and its effect on the body who it itself represents an electronic machinery claimed that drug use will broaden the limits of our minds and with these new bodies through which we carry electronic impulses we reach new levels of imagination and reality which meant a possible evolution through the stimulants of LSD.

Leary caused such inspiration in the German community creator of thel Krautrock, amongst whom the electro’s fathers, Kraftwerk, it would be essential for us to understand that experience of mental and sensory expansion had to be done with effects and electronic devices: synthesizers.

Kraftwerk’s career till today needn’t be mentioned now, but it is to understand that resolution of the electronic effect in the sound has been changing with the different tools and devices that are used today, both for electronic music generation as in its reproduction. This way, electronic music festivals are pilgrimage events, of a subculture that without even realizing, is already a great part of the system. So much that there is already very few it can be offered and which it could re-assimilate as a chance or aspect towards the mainstream side. The festival corporation is present all around as we know, and it is not but from this corporation that one can better understand the music today and conglomeration it causes, as well as its reactions. Our links with PCs are today so close that thinking of moving away from electronic music and its possibilities is crazy. We are closer and closer of a future which, as Blade Runner said, implies an electronic Hill and artificial life, perhaps music is our insertion path in a future which is already happening, against our wills, and from our senses.

To live electronic music, come to Budapest and be part of this festival that is the best event of the year. For further info, visit this page: http://www.bonuszfesztival.hu/2011/

Alexa Ray

Find apartments in Budapest and be a part of this event, which brings you the best of today�s electronic music. Highly recommended.

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Translated by: Maria
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There is a before and after Cicciolina, both in pornography and in Italian politics. But first we should ask what strange twist of fate causes women born in Hungary to be some of the most beautiful on the planet. It�s no joke. Hungarian women have a very particular grace and beauty that has made them perhaps the most desirable women in the world. Some of the most attractive porn actresses working today come from this country.

But to tell this story, we must go back in time. The history of pornography in Hungary dates from the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Until then, both production and distribution of pornography was illegal in communist Hungary. However the laws were changed with the arrival of “democracy” and these more permissive laws soon allowed this country to come to the forefront of the industry. Foreign directors were quick to take advantage of Hungary’s permissive laws, its low production costs and its large numbers of attractive actresses. 

However, the history of La Cicciolina dates from long before the Wall fell, and although her story is mainly connected to Italian culture and government, it is worth noting that she is from Budapest. In the 60�s she worked as a model in Hungary, and it wasn’t until the early 70�s that she began to develop her career in Italy. In the 80�s she starred in her first hardcore film and her fame grew even more. After this, she entered politics and, in 1987, was elected to the Italian parliament with more than twenty thousand votes. Her prime aims were to combat the nuclear threat and world hunger.

Among the most memorable moments of her time in parliament was the occasion she offered to have sex with Saddam Hussein in exchange for him releasing prisoners during the Gulf War. After failing to be elected again in 1991, she became one of the founders of the Partito dell�Amore, along with the porn actress, Moana Pozzi. Her further attempts to take an active part in politics failed, as did her offer to Osama bin Laden to have sex with him in exchange for an end to violence in the Middle East.

Although the successes of Cicciolina’s political career may have been negligible, her presence in the Italian parliament undoubtedly had an impact on European society. The fact that she found enough support to be able to crossover from the “underground” world of porn to the international political arena opened many people’s eyes to the true market size of pornography and its deep integration in contemporary culture. In pornography’s revelatory power of display, in its rawness, and in its blatant use of sexual intercourse as a means of production and capital, it explodes all society’s ideals, whether moral, political or religious about what sex means in our culture. La Cicciolina represented the impulse of downtrodden women everywhere to take control for themselves and wield some of the power in an industry, religion and world ruled by men.

Alexa Ray

There can be nothing better than renting apartments in Budapest and exploring this city, which, as well as being beautiful, is also the home of some of the best porn stars working today.

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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Often called the « Pearl of the Danube », Budapest has been Hungary’s capital since 1867. The city was created in 896 and has become over the years an important hub in Central Europe.

Since 1896 Budapest has its own underground network. It’s the second underground to have been built in Europe (the first was London’s). The project took place at the time of the Millennium events that were designed to celebrate the creation of the city. The Budapest underground was then named « Millenium » (Millenniumi Földalatti Vasút – M1).

It is one of the various public transportations offered by the city: tramways, funiculars and suburban trains. The network is 33 km long and has a total of 42 stations, 3 of which are above ground. Deák Ferenc tér is the only station to offer a connection: all lines cross there, in the very heart of the city.

In 1893, the Electric Tramway Society of Budapest (in Hungarian, Budapesti Városi Villamosvasút, abrégé BVVV) and the Hippo mobile Transport Society of Budapest (in hungarian Budai Közúti Vaspálya Társasághoz, abrégé BKVT) studied the possible installation of a tramway on the famous Andrássy Avenue, but the project failed. Mór Balázs (director of the BVVV) suggested building an underground tramway based on the idea of Siemens & Halske. On May 2nd 1896, the first 3.68 km of railway track were inaugurated. Soon enough this line was given the nickname ‘railroad underground’ because it was only 3 metres under the surface!

The official name is Földalatti (in hungarian föld means ground, and alatt means under) based on London’s network called the London Underground. The first part of the modern underground was opened to the public in 1970; 250,000 passengers would use it every day.

Nowadays, the Budapest underground is made up of 3 lines and a 4th one should open in 2010. M1 is the oldest line. It is associated with the colour yellow and offers the users a journey through history in the heart of the city. The other lines are newer and though they are more convenient (elevators…) they lack the old-fashion charm of M1. Most trains are now modern constructions but back in the days, they were made of wood. The stations copied Russian style with their marble-like stone walls.

Come and see for yourself one of the oldest underground train systems of Europe! Discover a century of History riding on the Hungarian metro. Rent the best apartments in Budapest and have a wonderful time between History and modernity.