A Goth Tourist in Budapest: The Labyrinth of Buda Castle

Three nights ago I returned from Budapest and I am on the move this whole week too, so I do not have a chance to actually really go through all photos and write about all goth-y things I did or see on my trip. But I definitely do want to tell about one attraction in Budapest for goths: The Labyrinths of Buda Castle.

There was a mention of them on my tourist information book but online a webpage of Budavári Labirintus claimed the labyrinths are closed for good. On the tourist info of Budapest one can see that there is another organizer (and perhaps owner too?) of the entrance to the labyrinth.  I am not sure but to me it seems this Budavári Labirintus was as an organisation more interested of history. The one that now has the Labyrinth tour had made it for a wider customer base.

They had organized some slightly creepy compositions of mannequins in the costumes of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera (a masked ball). With the dummies there were also props from the Cinderella Ballet Show, if I remember correctly. One was not allowed to take photos, so I have no aid for my poor memory. Parts of Verdi's opera were playing in different parts of the labyrinth.

There was also the rather cheesy horror show too: Vlad the Impaler, who lived on the 15th century, was held captive in Buda for a while and since Vlad is said to be one of those things Bram Stoker took inspiration of while writing his novel Dracula, these things were happily remixed in the information boards for tourists. With them there of coarse were tacky props of tomb crosses and the grave of Dracula and other stuff.

There was also a part where one could walk a little way in the dark and the only guidance was to hold a rope. They had put up signs that were daring and warning of creepy and foul things on the way and at some point there were some dummies in soldiers clothing and some child size dummies, like from some horror film. It was fun but since the labyrinth was really damp the rope one had to follow in the dark was wet, afterwards the had one had used to follow the rope smelled quite awful and dirty.

All in all the labyrinths were themselves interesting and the carnival like sideshows of Verdi's opera and Dracula were funny. At least the opera music sounded awesome in the tunnels! I do like those tacky sides of goth subculture but not excessively. Kitch is fun but I do prefer melancholy. I feel like there had been the possibility to make the Buda Labyrinths creepy with the actual history. I can not compare how the labyrinths were before and I can not know if I had liked them better but still I do recommend all goths visiting Budapest to take an hour and see the slightly cheesy Buda Castle Labyrinth too.

This little white rabbit pointed the way to the big flea market in the city's park Városliget and in the next week post I am going to show all the cool things I bought on my trip!