Kitted out in a dusty red jump suit and hard hat, I’m trudging through the mud on a small path under Mátyás Hill towards the entrance to what looks like a bunker.
“Don’t wander off on your own when you’re down there,” our guide tells us, “there are other groups coming and going, but it’s best we stick together. We’ll be underground for three hours, but if you’re feeling claustrophobic, let me know once we’re inside. It’s easier to turn back in the outer chamber than it is once we’re down there.”
Relaxing near the entrance.
Everyone awkwardly smiles at each other as the guide rattles on a list of health and safety declarations that must be disclosed before he can unlock the graffiti covered metal hall as we enter the chamber.
“The caves in the Pálvölgyi cave system are 29.1 kilometers long, the longest in the country. The caves are natural but this bit here,” he looks up and shines the flash light on the low roof, “this is man-made so it’s easier to access the caves. Anyone feeling claustrophobic?”
The tall members of our party are hunched down to avoid hitting the low-lying roof, but no one raises any concern. The guide nods and walks over to a long ladder that disappears down a black hole.
The descent
Going down.
As the braver members of our team descend the vertical entrance to the caves, I feel my stomach do a somersault as I watch them climb down. I’m already sweating under the hat and the shred of air escaping in from the main door offers the only comfort. But the adrenaline is kicking in, and when it’s my turn to go down I’m raring to go.
“Don’t look down,” out guide yells out, “I’ll let you know when you’re near the bottom, just go down rung by rung slowly.
The iron bars on the ladder are dusty, and looking ahead into the darkness I have no concept of where I am. I can hear the voices above and below, but it feels like an eternity as I go down the 10m ladder to the chamber below.
“Two more steps and you’re there,” I hear the voice above me shout.
I feel solid ground under my feet, only then I look up to feel the dust fall into my eye as the next person starts coming down. The chamber we’re in is small, a tight space that can barely hold our party, but it feels solid at least.
Crawling to the theater
Definitely a great experience.
Sliding through tunnelled shoots, crawling through crevices and crouching under low ceilings are all part of the rush. While you discover muscles you’ve never used before in your abdomen and sport a pair of bruised kneecaps, in addition to being an excellent work out, the feeling of exploring a part of the city many don’t even know about is a thrill in itself. Each chamber has its own story to tell.
The one that welcomes our descent is named the “chapel,” since it was once used as an underground place of worship, and in the heart of the cave complex the theater is the largest cavern on our journey. The rock folds back before a rocky outcrop like curtains, conjuring up the feeling of being on a stage. It’s not only the clever trick of the rocks and shadows, but the acoustics also carry the sound.
“Turn your lights off,” our guide instructs. We’re reluctant to plunge ourselves into darkness but one by one our headlamps go off. For moments there is a pure sense of vacuum. The blackness is pure and untainted, with no crack of light even after my eyes grow to know the dark. Even the sound of the outside has disappeared. Only the occasional echo down the tunnel from other groups or our own breath breaks the silence.
Our guide tells us to sing, and after an awkward rendition of the Australian national anthem from the Aussies in our party, who forget the words a couple of verses in, our guide sings a traditional Hungarian folk song. He walks about the stage — the only clue being the way his voice echoes off the wall. There is no light and his movements are stealthy, but his voice bounces off from different points of the chamber. In the darkness, I begin to sense with sound.
When the lights come back on, it’s down the next tunnel to continue our quest round the caves.
In a tight spot
Stuck between a rock and another rock.
We hit the lowest spot under the caves. Our guide tells us that we are under the villas in Budapest’s II District. Urban life in Budapest continues as normal above, but in the caves deep underground the outside world is forgotten. This subterranean world in Buda, from the caves here in Mátyás Hill over to Castle and Gellért Hill, owes its debt to the thermal waters coursing beneath the city, which over time had carved this complex network of over 200 caves.
The Pálvölgy caves are thought to be over 120 kilometers long, and some of the caves are only accessible to professional cavers and geologists, but the ones we visit today are used to train spelunkers, take children on educational trips and cater to adventurous tourists like ourselves.
At the deepest point of our journey, we have to climb up a rockface of boulders, and our guide sets us challenges involving tiny holes we have to squeeze through, forcing our bodies to move in ways we had no idea we could handle. At some points, sliding through cracks the size of one’s head proved to be challenging.
But almost two and a half hours underground, the true obstacle comes with dehydration, exhaustion and getting out.
The way out is through
Even though we return back to familiar tunnels, exhaustion kicks in. My mind is interested in the fault line pointed out to me above, or the fossil stuck in the cave wall, or the crystals glittering under the flash light, but crawling through yet another hole, I feel tempted to let the others leave me as I get comfy in the darkness. But no matter how exhausted, how tight the air becomes down in the cave, we have no choice but to press on, and I discover an inner strength that I didn’t know my body was capable of.
But soon enough, a breeze welcomes me as the entrance of the cave gets closer. I breathe in the air and it offers me hope, in addition to my guide’s unending enthusiasm and motivation to get me to continue. I’m fantasising about a beer, how that beer will be the most beautiful thing to pass my lips.
Then the ladder comes into sight. I use the remaining part of my strength to propel myself up. The feeling of the fresh air against my face as I stumble out of the front door above revives me, and a feeling of relief and pride that I actually did it washes over.
- Contributed by Jennifer Walker
Underneath Budapest – Caving in the City from Budapest Things to Do