walking down on other people's memory lane

another thing i wanted to try out before leaving budapest was the children's railway among the rolling hills of buda. i can't quite remember where the original idea came from, but i know i wrote about the rise of popularity of children's railway in the magazine, and thought it was something quite unique and worth trying out. and boy, was i right!


on that sunday i went on this little outing of mine, there were some vintage bkv services pulled out from their depot, and placed back into service for one day only. as i have quite an admiration for public transport vehicles, especially old and rusty ones (because aren't they completely mesmerizing and just like time travel?), i jumped at the opportunity and made sure that i would catch that old wooden-covered tram running between moszkva tér and hűvösvölgy. from there i had planned to change to the cogwheel train and then coming back down from the hill by taking children's railway. but as i wasn't the only one eager to see and try out the vintage tram, it was packed long minutes prior to its departure.

so, instead of riding the tram and being crammed together with god only knows how many other people, i only snatched some photos of it, then  hopped on bus 21 which took me to normafa. it's only a 20 minute ride from the heart of the city, but a complete refreshment from all the honking, howling, smog, dirt and noise of the city. it was about 2 years ago when i was there the last time, it was snowy winter back then, but the place is a piece of beauty on late summer and early autumn days as well. it's a great spot to walk around, enjoy nature, see the city from a completely new perspective, and - probably above all - get some fresh, clean air. (if you are up for a long walk, the jános-hegyi kilátó makes a great destination and quite and intense exercise for your legs.)

after some walking around at normafa, i hopped back on the bus, then got off at csillebérc, where i had planned to get on the children's railway. as i got off, it occurred to me if it wasn't the place where the pioneers camp used to be decades ago? well, to my surprise, i was standing right there, in front of the the head gates of the former úttörőtábor. i was utterly curious about its current state. for some reason i thought it was rather perished, and in a generally bad condition, due to the lack of use in the preceding decades. i also had some vague memories about being there, in the csillebérc children's camp once, back when i was a 2nd or 3rd grade student in elementary school in the early '90s. i don't remember much, expect walking around on a warm and sunny day in a woody area, and the place being packed with all sorts of children from all over the country. upon my entering the main gate of the camp, i learnt that it was still open, but turned into a leisure center.

 i was free to walk in and take a look around. as i was walking down the main road, approaching the center square with all the flag poles - now all empty, except for one hungarian flag in the middle, i had this weird, but warm and comforting, nostalgic feeling overtaking me. it felt like the textbook definition of taking a walk down memory lane, even though i did not have too many memories of csillebérc camp, let alone being a pioneer. i was born in 1987, so i never really experienced what it was like to live in socialism, being a little cog in the once utopian system. yet, i have an ever so growing curiosity about socialism, not quite the political and economical side of it, but rather the social part, the everyday lives of the people. it felt like csillebérc and the pioneer camp had a notable and important part in the education and conveying of the socialist ideas.

despite the lack of personal memories of the previous system, visiting the camp was quite a mesmerizing experience. to my great surprise, the place hardly changed in the previous decades, and, to my even greater surprise  it is still in a great condition. although the overall atmosphere is defined by the feeling of abandonment and feels completely empty and out of use, as i mentioned before it operates as a leisure center. there are restaurants and catering facilities, a pool, a private kindergarten, not to mention a department of a business school. nevertheless, the largest part of the camp - the numerous little cabins where all the children were accommodated, the bungalows, the buildings of water facilities, the kitchens, and other storage spaces are all unused and empty. i peeked into the little cabins through the windows, the rooms are as good as new with their bunk beds - with pillows and duvet on them - and cupboards. i really didn't know why i had thought it would be completely vacated and demolished. never mind, the grater was my surprise and amusement. it was as if time stopped there decades ago.

anyhow, on that sunday afternoon that i discovered the camp i only had about half an hour to walk around in the area, as i meant to catch a certain vintage children's train which runs rarely. this wasn't nearly enough to explore the whole of the rather large area. upon my leaving, i knew that there was so much more that i could not see, so much more to discover and take photos of... i just could not get rid of the idea of going back, of returning to the very place of this mesmerizing time travel before i left budapest for good. lucky me, some lessons of mine were canceled a day before my leaving the city, and i could return to the scene.

 the second time i took a much  longer walk. i had all the time i needed, there was no need to rush. i systematically walked around in all parts of the camp, discovering all things i had not been able to the sunday before. i took a good look at the full-figure sculpture of the pioneer boy, explored the open-air theater area with its concrete seats and gleaming white screening wall, sneaked into a water facilities building and checked out the cute and neat showers/sinks. at the further part of the camp i found the football pitch, still in use as some kids were having their practice while eager parents could hardly take their eyes off their dearest-and-nearests.

i walked by the rather small pool filled with gleaming turquoise water and a handful of people working hard to achieve just the right shade of tan. i also found the office of the hungarian pioneer association  - who would have thought they still existed, in fact, were up and running? yet, my favorite bit was the two enormous, abandoned and worn-down snooker balls, stashed behind a still operating buffet. i presume they used to be rather chic and stylish hanging armchairs in some sort of an entertaining/common room. i became quite obsessed with these two snooker balls/armchairs, and tried to find some information on them on the internet - how did they look originally? when and where were they used? what was the room like?  - but, alas, i did not find anything. (if you know anything, do tell!)

well, that's about it, folks, the walk down on the csillebérc memory lane. it's a walk that's  - without a doubt - worth taking, especially on warm and sunny autumn afternoons with crispy and colorful leaves under feet and cloudless blue sky above head.

you can find my photos of csillebérc here.