Awesome labrynth!

If you go to Budapest (which you should!), you totally have to go to the labyrinths underneath Buda castle. They were originally natural caves, and were extended to be the basement of the castle. If you go late in the day, which we did coincidentally, they turn off all the lights, and leave the place partially lit by lanterns. They also give you a lantern, which is necessary because there are parts of the labyrinth that are not lit and are pitch black! It started out very creepy! They set up the whole place to give a chilling mood. Weird noises emanate from blocked off portions of the maze, and there are strange statues throughout. One of the first chambers has some pre-historic cave paintings.


























It was fun to experiment with time-lapse photography here. Using a flash just destroys the natural flame light.
















Some parts of the cave are obviously modified to be part of the tourist attraction, but are very cool nonetheless. In this chamber is a red wine fountain. There is actual red wine flowing through and vines growing all over. The place is very chilling. At this point, we were a bit lost in the cave and wish we had laid down a string leading back, like we did in the cave in Iraklia.
















The final segment of the labyrinth is unapologetically new and fake. It was a bit hard to see in the pitch black, but there were what looked like uncovered fossils, with dates and descriptions. As you progress, you start to realize that there are fossils of things like coca-cola bottles. It is as if a future race of people is uncovering the remains of our civilization. It seems a bit contrived, but was actually pretty cool and thought provoking. Then the final room has a sort of spiritual poem giving meaning to your trek through the labyrinth. It reminded me a bit of the text in the game Braid.

Outside, the rain was pouring down, and we ran to the nearest metro stop and headed back to the hostel. It was good to be underground while the weather up top wasn't so good.