I found some old photos of my flat in Budapest, on Kútvölgyi út in District 12, where I stayed while studying for a teaching qualification. The street name means something like “Well Valley” and is also the name of the neighbourhood.The language school found the place for me, and it’s regularly been used for teachers ever since. A friend of mine lived in the same flat years later. The photos are from 2007 and are potato resolution, so I’ve laid them out in pairs.
I didn’t have a wardrobe in my room, but it didn’t matter as there were so many shelves. There was a second bedroom with a wardrobe, but it was much smaller and dingier. I originally had a housemate for the first two weeks, but she found her own place in the city centre, and they didn’t move anyone else in thankfully. I didn’t switch rooms though as I felt I had the better one.
I still have both that pencil case and pink passport wallet. The records were already in the house. Hungarian landlords are a curious species who view their flats as personal junk storage. The Beatles records were the Iron Curtain era versions (Hungary was much more open than the other Warsaw Pact countries), and are missing Back in the USSR. There was also plenty of Jethro Tull. The birthday cake record is a Hungarian musical along the lines of Hair. What the landlord didn’t provide was a record player. I looked around for a cheap one at flea markets, but didn’t find anything cheap enough for me to be happy to leave behind when I went back home.
I had the luxury of two tables. (There was also one in the kitchen). I still have that rainbow towel, I got it from a very expensive interiors store in Sorrento a couple of years before, and it’s still going strong as my travel towel.
The wicker sun lounger thing made a surprisingly comfortable sofa.
There were some shady electrics going on. There was also no wifi (because it was Hungary in 2007) but you could get painfully slow dialup through the phone line.
The bed was also pretty comfortable, which I was grateful for when I came down with pneumonia. The doctor sent me home to rest, and on the way back I bought multiple packs of discount Jaffa cakes. Unfortunately they turned out to be peach flavour and disgusting, I was just too feverish to read the label properly.
This is how the place looked when I moved in. Clean but messy. I rearranged the furniture, and put some of the junk the landlord had left there on the shelves to cheer them up a bit. My only contribution to the furnishings was the stripy piece of fabric I hung on the wall. It came from the bargain bin at IKEA, when I went to get some kitchen bits.
Here is the made in East Germany commie era washing machine. You had to clamp the lid on. It was best to go out when it was on as it was so loud. Modern washing machines were available and normal in Hungary at the time, the landlord was just cheap and wanted to re-use his old one.
Here’s the view from the balcony, which extended all along the longest side of the room.
The interior hallways of the building were nice too. The plants belonged to a chatty old man downstairs, who always seemed to be out doing something to the garden.
Here’s how it looked from outside.
Kerület 12 is up in the Buda hills. It’s a very nice area, but entirely residential, so the city didn’t pay much attention to the condition of the roads.
Here is how it looks now, all the pavements have been fixed up.
Here’s the local shop. The cashier was very keen to teach me Hungarian. Some groceries. I don’t know what the wine is for, I’m horribly allergic. I must have got it as a gift for someone. Maybe for the housewarming party I went to.
The shop has had a real makeover! Google Maps tells me the Delix convenience store was there until 2023, looking exactly the same. The cafe also sells groceries, but it’s oat milk and imported British tea. The Prima supermarket at the bottom of the hill is still there, but although it looks very close on the map, it’s a steep climb back up.
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