Finding your bearings in Hungary

I'm really the wrong person to even try to answer these questions.
I know my way around by "smell" or instinet, don't use any sort of apps or even own a cell phone.
I know where my location to the river is at all times so never get too turned around.
Been in the city for 12 years so by now things have fallen into place in my head.
I do not read the subway maps or bus time tables, hardly use them as a form of transportation.
My husband used to be a cab driver in the late 1960's in Budapest so he pretty much knows his way around and if we are looking for a business or building we check on google maps before leaving home and make up our own map.
Can't always count on road signs here as sometimes they are hard to see , not located in an area that is easy to spot by car or perhaps a tree branch is covering up the sign.
Even with his past driving experience and having grown up in Budapest even he in the past had to ask a local where "Lenin Square" was, Older people knew what he was asking and younger people would look like  he was crazy." The names have change to protect the innocent" as the old" Drag Net "tv show would of said.
I have a "special" job it seems to tell people how to cross the st. every time I walk on the corners of Blaha Luza .
Tourists are always trying to cross the st. there by running across the road.
I feel it's my duty to let them know they should go underground to cross so as to not get hit by the cars or a bus.
Never fails I always see one person or a group with luggage trying to walk into traffic to cross there.
In time they will probably have to erect a huge ugly sign to let people know how to cross the road.
Just yesterday an Asian lady was looking all confused at that intersection, I had to let her know how to get to the other side of the road, she was glad I told her because she looked very confused and afraid, I would be too.
In 1986 my family and i were in Paris and tried crossing a major intersection by going through traffic, no one corrected us, we had no idea that there probably was a more logical and safer way to cross the road.
Of course that was Paris and we all know how helpful people in that city are...
I try to do my good deed for the day by informing people when I can how to stay safe.
A few times I have decided not to say anything but I would only do that if I got a weird vibe off the person. No need to put myself out there for nothing...
Saw a body in the road near that area a few years back, the poor guy ran into traffic on purpose but still, it still makes my skin crawl when I see people walking into traffic and hoping they stop.
Using apps is probably very helpful but they would not show how to cross the road by using the underground.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Can't always count on road signs.

Not just road signs.

From my experience, Hungary really is still a verbal culture. A "you have to know a guy" culture. A "you have to have local knowledge" culture. Still not enough thought given to properly documented much of anything, clearly and concisely. This is still in many ways an insular society, with little experience in transferring local knowledge to "outsiders".

I have countless examples.

One, interesting example: often in a local paper where we live would have advertisement notification of events, of one type or another, at the "Witch House" (from the owners of the "Wtich House"). No address. No contact info. You were just expected to "know" where the "Witch House" was. Do, note, I live in a tourist region, where there are plenty of outsiders from the region. In most other tourist areas it is "normal" to think that maybe outsiders (i.e. tourists)  may not just "know" where something is, and would appreciate some location published info -- or even something as simple as a contact phone number. But not here in cases like this, where it is not uncommon for no visitor friendly information to be automatically supplied.

Some years later, we, by accident, stumbled upon the "Witch House". It was a restaurant on a side road in town. A side road we rarely ventured. You just had to "know" what it was.

Priscilla wrote:

Are the gps navigational systems updated enough that they provide accurate information and directions?

It was worse. Getting better. But still needs improvement.

Google maps was completely wrong about local streets for years. Literally had roads running off into a nearby field. In other cases, was incomplete for through roads. Etc.

Just two weeks ago, had a delivery coming, and the delivery driver got lost in another village about 7 km away, as the GPS said that was where we were.

Technology still not perfect.

Funny to have a restaurant called, "The Witch House" I think I'd be afraid to eat from the menu!
Worms, hair of dog and frog hearts boiled gently in a wormwood sauce!
Yes, google maps isn't always great.
We used it and a old road map to find a village in Poland.
Suppose to be a 6 hour drive N of Budapest.
Turned into an 11 hour adventure!
The maps didn't show the roads that were all re routed due to construction plus when we got into Slovakia, forget the city, they were doing their own road work and had so many turn around's etc. that we got lost, totally lost in a forest area in nowhere land.
If not for us stopping to ask directions every time we noticed a semi-truck driver parked with Hungarian plates, we might of drove to Russia before we got on the correct highway.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Funny to have a restaurant called, "The Witch House" I think I'd be afraid to eat from the menu!.

The sign actually has an image of a witch riding on a broom.

Clearly not something one might find in Salem MA........

Ate there once, after we "found the place". Without further comment, I simply stress "once".

klsallee wrote:

Priscilla wrote:

Are the gps navigational systems updated enough that they provide accurate information and directions?

It was worse. Getting better. But still needs improvement.

Google maps was completely wrong about local streets for years. Literally had roads running off into a nearby field. In other cases, was incomplete for through roads. Etc.

Just two weeks ago, had a delivery coming, and the delivery driver got lost in another village about 7 km away, as the GPS said that was where we were.

Technology still not perfect.

Oh, tell me about it!

Our street* - let's say it's called Melon Utca used to be part of say, Kalman Utca.   Someone decided it should be Melon, not Kalman.

So Telekom thinks it's Kalman 53 but on the latest maps it's Melon 3 but the older Sat Navs still say it's Kalman 53.   And despite our house having Melon 3 on it very clearly in 1ft  high letters,  the street being labelled with a nice sign at the end,  people still go to Kalman 53.

Water company doesn't consistently know which street  we are in.  Gas and Electricity know.  The meter fixing people know where the house is but other parts of the water company don't.

To make it worse, some houses still have Kalman on them!   We took down the old sign and put it on our chicken house.  That's in case they get any letters.

*names changed to protect the innocent.