No escaping the bleak legacy of Communist tradition in Hungary. It echoes on. You feel it in the metro and as you fly in over the concrete (Soviet era) tower blocks fringing Budapest.
But the architecture and ornament in much of the old part of the city more than compensate. Embroidery on the altars of St Stephen's Basilica.
There is a lot of embroidery in the shops (for tourists). But more interesting is the randomly encountered embroidery and work that's not for sale. For example, the crochet under the linen tablecloth in a magically neo Renaissance restaurant (very much later).
And more pattern, more redolent of contemporary Budapest, on a phone box spotted on the way home.
