More Than One Bargains For

Each of the twenty-three districts of Budapest has its own special character. To sum up the eighth district, Józsefváros, in a word would be to describe it as 'edgy'. It is home to the Uránia National Film Theatre, the Academy of Drama and Film, the Natural History Museum, the red light district, Erkel Theatre, Semmelweis Medical University, and a large population of Roma and Chinese residents.

interior of 'antique' shop on Pál utca in Budapest's District VIII in the area of Józsefváros

This all makes for a heady, cosmopolitan and social mix where 'ladies of the night', plying their trade, rub shoulders with students in search of inexpensive accommodation, and aesthetes seek cultural enlightenment.


And so it was, with a spirit of adventure, and together with our American friends, Linda and Barbara, we took a tram ride from our comfortably familiar sixth district, Terézváros, into the back streets of Józsefváros where our Aladdin's Cave of a shop is to be found.

interior view of the Pál utca shop showing a part of the exceedingly eclectic and varied stock

Tamás and his daughter, Melinda [their surname escapes us], are the proprietors of a gloriously eclectic használtcikk, second hand, store in Pál utca. Here, china leopards  sit alongside social realist bronzes, ancient Leica cameras peer out from glass cases, portraits, landscapes,  oils, watercolours, woodcuts, prints and photographs cover the walls and rosary beads hang temptingly with strings of freshwater pearls.

a china leopard snarls his way through a collection of porcelain, glass, silver plate and plastic

Even when adjusted to the dim and somewhat religious light of the shop's interior, the eye struggles to focus on the treasures to be found within. Layer upon layer of the ornamental, the useful, the decorative, the practical, the exotic and the commonplace vie for attention, each item redolent with memories and wearing the patina of age. And not a little dirt!

both the staircase and the staircase wall carry a further selection of the shop's ephemera

Our choices made, Melinda cheerfully announces that "today's prices are 20% less than marked". And, as a result, our bargain purchases become an absolute steal. Unceremoniously, our pictures are shrouded in black bin liners for the journey home and cash - no plastic here - is exchanged with smiles all round.

Melinda, at the receipt of custom, attends to the accounts , surrounded by yet more stock 

And in these final moments of the transaction, we strike up a conversation with a young man buying a cigarette lighter. He assures us, in perfect English, that he does not smoke. He explains that he is a Business student, that his father is a dentist, that the family house is in the countryside some 40km from Budapest, that his brother is training to be a doctor, that he lives in the eighth district but that, sadly, he does not play the piano.

to the right of the picture, Maté selects a vintage cigarette lighter to add to his collection

His name is Maté. We issue an invitation to luncheon!