47. Budapest as Paris

When I rotate the map of Budapest 90 degrees anticlockwise, I am astounded by the similarity of its topography to that of Paris. The similarity goes much further from the fact that a major river flows through the both cities, further from the nickname ''Paris of the East'' that has often been attributed to Budapest (and, in my opinion, much more rightly so than to the other pretendents to that title, such as Bucharest and Riga).

The center of gravity in the inner arrondissements of Paris has always been the Louvre, to which in today's Budapest corresponds the Parliament Building. Lipótváros, the area around the parliament, is Budapest's first arrondissement, even though there it is part of District V. There are many tourists and officials around in both, but in Lipótváros the tourists are much more concentrated to certain areas whereas in the 1st of Paris it is almost impossible to find a quiet corner.

The central part of Belváros and the Jewish district together form the Marais of Budapest. The former corresponds to the 4th arrondissement of Paris; Váci utca is an equivalent of one of the main arteries of the Marais, such as rue des Francs-Bourgeois. Again, the side streets here are more quiet than those in the southern part of the Marais. The area around the Great Synagogue is similar to the 3rd arrondissement because, at least in daytime, it is more relaxed than its neighbour. It is clearly much more bobo than the northern part of the Marais. Nonetheless, the both are among my favourites.

In both Budapest and Paris, the oldest neighbourhoods are on the other side of the river. It is difficult to place the Latin Quarter on the map of Buda, but things are easier with the 6th arrondissement, to which corresponds, with its connections of power and money, the Castle Hill. Matthias Church could then be the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The Víziváros and, to a higher degree, Rózsadomb neighborhoods up north form the Faubourg Saint-Germain of Budapest. Gellert Hill in the south could be Jardin des Plantes.

In Budapest, the bend of the Danube is not as dramatic as that of the Seine in Paris, which is why the comparison of the two cities becomes more complicated in the more outlying districts. Andrássy út, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées of Budapest, ends at the monumental Heroes' Square, which corresponds to the Place Charles de Gaulle, but unlike the Bois de Boulogne of Paris, the City Park begins right after it. The rest of the 16th arrondissement would be located north and north-west of the Nyugati train station. The Újlipótváros neighbourhood is interesting in terms of its early Modernist (Bauhaus) architecture more or less like the 16th in Paris, where a lot of art nouveau and early 20th-century architecture is concentrated. But in Budapest, the 8th arrondissement is much smaller; here the 16th arrondissement is right next to the first.

The Pest side is more dense in terms of the variety of neighbourhoods than the Rive Droite of Paris. That is why, here, at Oktogon, the grands boulevards (Erzsébet körút and Teréz körút) cross the Champs-Élysées. It is in these areas that the fin-de-siècle café culture much cherished by authors such Krúdy and Proust fleurished.

The southern part of Belváros, especially the fashionable cafés and restaurants around the Egyetem Square, could form the 12th arrondissement. The area behind the Hungarian National Museum is not really a boboland as the 11th in Paris, but I have spent a lot of time in the both, alone, walking, at night.

In the east, Rákóczi út becomes less and less Hungarian like in Paris Boulevard de Magenta becomes quickly less and less French in the north. Keleti train station is Gare du Nord. The area between the City Park and the Geological Museum is certainly not the equivalent of Montmartre in Budapest. There is no Montmartre in Budapest.

If the soul of Paris could be found in Belleville or Ménilmontant, in Budapest, too, it resides in the poorer outskirts of the historical city, in Józsefváros and Ferencváros.

The areas behind the first Buda hills are the 14th and the 15th arrondissements, but only because I don't know anything about them just like I don't know much about what is behind Montparnasse in Paris.