Hungary v England, Puskas Arena, Budapest

2 Sep 2021

FIFA WC Qualifying Group I

Hungary v England

Puskas Arena

Budapest, Hungary

England have played Hungary 23 times and have a decent record: winning 16, drawing 2 and losing 5 but this doesn't really tell the whole story. England have played Hungary 12 times in Budapest, 8 times at the Nepstadion, 3 at the Millenaris Sporttelep and one at the new Puskas Arena. England suffered their heaviest defeat at the hands of the Magyars at the Nepstadion in 1954 when a Puskas inspired Hungary demolished Walter Winterbottom's England 7:1. In the return fixture a few months later, the marvellous Magyars destroyed England 6:3 at Wembley becoming the first team from outside the British Isles to win at Wembley.

There were no tickets made available for England fans and to make matters even trickier the Hungarian authorities had introduced a Hungarian immunity card which they said you had to produce to gain entry into the ground. This factor put me off parting with the cash that would have secured me the tickets. To add insult to injury Charlie Mellor (Derby) got in and so did Paul Tozer's West Ham crew. It was a total humiliation, so we watched it from the pub 😎

Photo courtesy of Paul Tozer😂

The light show outside the Puskas Arena

Hungary 0 Hungary 4

Attendance 58260

Day 1.     Our digs in a penthouse apartment on Bajnok utca not far from the Vorosmarty utca metro station. The host was an Italian chap, married to a Hungarian national who  manages a string of apartments for a living. The good life!

View from the terrace

Exploring the terrace on the first morning

Our metro station at Vorosmarty Utca

Mask discipline is weak on the Budapest Metro!

We alight at the Magaret Bridge and explore Margaret Island, an island on the Danube. One of the gardens has a moving tribute to the Hungarian victims of COVID, everybody is remembered by a stone. 

Hungarian Visla

The famous chain bridge is unfortunately undergoing some repairs

The day before we arrived the funicular to the castle was closed to the public, oh well up we go😞 

The Virgin Mary statue overlooking the Danube

The 'Mathias Fountain' depicting a hunting party led by Matthias Corvinus, the King of Hungary.

Paprkia is everywhere in Budapest

Matyas Church is the coronation church of the Hungarian kings

Matyas Church

Fisherman's Bastion has got the most incredible views of Pest

Room with a striking view over the Danube to Pest

First beers in Buda

Egeszsegere (Cheers)

I am very fortunate to do a photo shoot for a live model on one of the turrets at the Fisherman's Bastion 😉

Hungarian Houses of Parliament on the Danube

Selfie in Buda

Horsey statue of St Stephen at Fisherman's Bastion

The Fisherman's Bastion in all of it's glory

Stairs to the Fisherman's Bastion

The Liberty Bridge (19th C) links Gellert Spa to the Food market 

The famous Gellert Hotel which is home to the finest of all of the great spas in Budapest

There are may pools but this outdoor one was first on the list

Views of the outdoor and indoor complex which houses all of the warm spa pools

55 and feeling good😎💪

21 again..hot, hot, hot😍

The most famous indoor spa pool in Budapest. Hats are required!

Sunset at Deak Ferenc metro station, central Pest

A reminder that Budapest was a host at the delayed Euro 20 Champs

Day 2.    The remainder of the bottle of Palinka that we polished off last night. Today is match day.

As is the ritual, we paid a visit to the Puskas Arena in search of tickets. The security was very tight and here were no touts in sight.

More stadium shots

We managed to blag our way passed the first cordon (with the volunteers for tonight's match) but that is as far as we got

Oh well, back on the metro

Next stop the best bar in Budapest - Szimpla Kert (Simple garden). The most famous of the ruin bars that frequent the Jewish quarter

Street Food Karavan Budapest

Having a beer with the ultras at the Ziccer - TrollFoci (football troll) Sport Club

"Every week he is a warrior"

The ultra's toilet scene in Budapest

Back to the more sedate Szimpla Kert

A Beer Garden with a diffrence

No words 😂

Trabi in the bar

Settling down for the match which is being played 2 Km away. So frustrating!

Day 3    We take the metro to central Budapest and check out the area around the Parliament

First up is St Stephen's Basilica with its 96m dome. It also houses the mummified forearm of St Stephen. 

No visit to the Basilica would be complete without climbing the stairs to the top of the dome

Stepping out onto to the gantry for the first time is breathtaking. The 9 Tonne bell of the North Tower was paid for by German catholics who were so ashamed that the Nazis had looted the original before they retreated from Budapest

The Hungarian Parliament 

Model shoot 😍

Puskas Arena

The Pope Francis is visiting Budapest next week and so there is a lot of preparation going on all over the city.  'Listen Hozott' means 'Welcome' in Hungarian

The Fat Policeman - rubbing his tummy will bring good luck!

Interactive fountain in Liberty Square

Soviet Heroes memorial, Liberty Square

The Hungarian Parliament

Statue of Ferenc Rakoczi 2 who was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs 1703-1711

The Hungarian flag in front of the Museum of Ethnography

MP for Budapest the Right Honourable Sir Stephen Hesketh

'Shoes on the Danube Bank' is a memorial erected on April 16 2005 to honour the Jews/Romani who were massacred by Fascist Hungarian militia belonging to the Arrow Cross Party during WW2. 

They were ordered to take off their shoes and were shot at the edge of the water

The Great Market Hall is the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest. On the first floor is food and on the second are cafes, coffee shops and souvenirs 

One of the meat shops

The interior

Fakanal Etterem in the Great Market Hall is a great place to experience traditional Hungarian cuisine. All self service but the food is great 

Come to Hungary and try their chips😂

Hungarian Sausage, Sauerkraut, Paprika and Beer; the food of Champions!

The legend that is Puskas

All the club team shirts of Budapest are on sale here

....and the scarves

The top team in Budapest is currently Ferencvarosi

After my splurge on football memorabilia we head down Vaci utca, the main shopping street

Hard Rock Cafe, Budapest

Long Island Teas in the sun

The Elizabeth Bridge was hailed as the longest suspension bridge in the world when completed in 1903, but was destroyed during the war (WW2) and didn't reopen until 1963.

Party boats docked on the Pest side of the Danube

Looking back towards the embankment on the Pest side

The Gellert Monument - According to legend, the cities patron saint was pushed off the cliff for attempting to convert the citizens of Budapest to christianity.

A short walk from our apartment is the Ristorante Millenium da Pippo 

Pizza-Juventus (a schoolboy error - no mozzarella)

Day 4    Szechenyi Baths

Opened in 1913, here you can find Budapest's deepest and hottest baths. The saunas are red hot too

Chess - Budapest style

Great views from the sun lounger

Mrs H looking rather radiant

Heroes Square - this is the closest we could get to the monument due to Pope Francis' papal visit next week. Gutted really, because I wanted to see the front of the statue which has the chieftains of the seven tribes of the Magyars, who settled in the Carpathian basin

"6:3"-A mural commemorating Hungary's famous 6:3 win over the English at Wembley in November 1953

Located in the Jewish Quarter on  Rumbach Sebestyen street. It is 50m wide and 30m high and features Honved's goalkeeper and captain Gyula Grosics contesting a high ball, to the right you can see the Mighty Magyars scoring past England's No1 Gill Merrick

I was desperate to go on the Big Wheel but the Mrs pulled rank because it was too expensive 😒

Day 5     Train from Budapest Nyugati to Cracow

This is the engine that was assigned to taking us on an epic 400 km journey to Krakow, what could possibly go wrong!

5 minutes before the wheels start rolling

The journey will take us through Vac (Hungary), Szob (Hungary), Sturovo (Slovakia), Bratislava (Slovakia), Bohumin (Czech Rep) to Krakow (Poland)....or so we thought! 

The first mini crisis was when the overhead electric wiring failed and the track had to be repaired, this was just before Bratislava. The good news was that the train stopped right next to a holiday resort with a pub and lakes.

Beers from the pub😍! This was great news because we (Sue) had forgotten to bring our refreshments. The unscheduled stop turned out to be about 3.5 hours

To round off a 'character building' epic journey the train did not go on to Krakow as expected, so the conductor kicked us out at Katowice. To make matters worst, at Katowice central we hopped on a train going in the wrong direction which took us to a suburb of Katowice called Brynow. Eventually we arrived into Krakow at 2100 (5 hours later than expected).😁