Budapest

From the mountains of Slovakia we travelled in a little bus (van) across the border to Hungary and on to Budapest.  The Danube flows north to south through the middle of Budapest, which is still referred to by its old names - Buda for the hilly west side of the Danube, and Pest for the east.  We are staying on here for a few days after our tour ends, so should get a good look at this city.

Hungary is actually called "Magyarország" by its inhabitants.  You come across references to Magyar things, meaning "Hungarian" to us.

Jo explained that the ancestors of Hungarians came from central Asia, resulting in a distinct culture and language unlike other Europeans.  As a result Hungarian is very hard to learn.  The early Hungarians brought a change to Europe with their spicy dishes, with flavours such as paprika still associated with Hungarian dishes.

The landscape as we crossed Slovakia on our way south.

We stopped at this dubious "authentic" truck stop for a cuppa.

The remains of the Slovakia / Hungary border post.

Our arrival in Budapest followed the usual pattern.  We checked in and then Jo marched us off for our "orientation tour" around some of the highlights of the centre city.

Hungary was founded about 900 AD, and has had a turbulent history.  By the 1900s it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which was broken up at the end of WW I when much of the territory was divided up amongst the surrounding countries.  By WW II Hungary had regained some of this, but was then occupied by the Germans, followed by the Russians, and after the war it became a communist republic.  Communism collapsed in 1989, and the country joined the EU in 2001.  Today it has elected quite right-wing leaders who seem keen to strengthen ties with Russia, which is causing tensions within the EU.

Mosaic in the square in front of Saint Stephen's.

These (bronze) shoes are a monument to the many Jews killed right here.

There's quite a bit of heroic sculpture about.  This is Andrassy, outside parliament.

Their beautiful parliament was influenced by Westminster.

About this point we started using the trams and buses, to cut down the walking distances.  The weather is quite hot, so I probably should have traded my jeans for shorts.

View back across the Danube to parliament.

The funicular up the Buda hill.

We walked up, because there was a long funicular queue.

Time for another selfie, this one up by Buda Castle.

Another statue.  It was quite crowded up on the hill.

They like lions too.  Lots of lions.

Trying out the trams, which were easy.  We bought a 3 day pass.

A limo, and one of those stretched river cruise boats.

We looked with interest at the huge long river cruise boats, because for a while our plan for this trip had been to travel on one of those from Amsterdam to here, Budapest.  For a number of reasons we switched to our current plan instead.

A shabby building in our street.  There are quite a few about.

On Saturday we walked to the big St Stephen's Basilica and bought tickets to climb up to the dome and visit the church interior.  We learned that the dome as seen from the outside is much larger than the one seen looking up inside the church.  There is a huge empty space between them.  The church is 96 metres high, limited to be no higher than the parliament.

Inside the space under the outer dome.

Inside Saint Stephen's.

Saint Stephen was the first king of Hungary, and died in 1038.  His mummified forearm is in the church, in a protective reliquary.  The inside of the church is unusually finely decorated, and almost entirely polished stone.  Many churches have softer stone interiors. 

This contains the arm of St Stephen.

We moved on to Liberty Square, a nice park surrounded by imposing embassies, the USA one enclosed by security fencing.

The Holocaust memorial in Liberty Square.

The Holocaust memorial, with a dramatic black eagle.

Ronald Reagan, for his role in ending communism here.

More heroic figures.

All sorts of vehicles are for hire alongside the Danube.

Up on the Buda hill is the Fishermen's Bastion, a pretty turreted terrace looking out across the Danube.  I think its name comes from the fish market which once operated here.  It is apparently famous with the Instagram crowd, which unfortunately means you must push through a crowd of "influencers" posing for the perfect shot.  We took our photos then got a seat in one of the cafes built into the terrace, where we could eat a pizza and slowly consume a cold drink while we enjoyed a relatively cool break.

The Fishermen's Bastion

Sue at the Fishermen's Bastion

 

A slow cool drink to recharge ourselves.

Beautiful tiled roof of the Matthias Church.

We moved on down the other side of Buda Hill to the "Hospital in the Rock", an historic underground hospital and bomb shelter, and later a nuclear shelter.  We got a guided tour through the refreshingly cool underground complex, which is now a museum complete with wax figures performing surgery on victims.  Unfortunately no photography is allowed, so here is the ticket office:

Ticket machines!  Unfortunately no photography is allowed within the hospital.

Found a very relaxing, leafy place for a cup of tea.

On Sunday we rode a tram out to the middle of the Margaret Bridge, where it stops on Margaret Island.  It was hot and sunny again.  The long thin island is basically a large park - Budapest's "Central Park" - and runs from the Margaret Bridge up the river to the next bridge.  We spent a couple of hours wandering the length of the island.

Cooling off by the fountain on Margaret Island.

A closer view of the dancing fountain.

Water lilies in the Japanese garden.

The gardens are pleasant, and there are facilities on the island like cafes, an outdoor cinema, a small animals zoo, and some sort of performance venue.  There's also a large hotel at the northern end.  A lot of joggers and cyclists use the paths.

We eventually made it there, to find that the trams don't stop on that bridge, so we walked across to the E bank and caught one there.  We rode it out to a stop east of the centre so we could go and look at the famous Szechenyi thermal baths.

Catching the tram.

The Szechenyi thermal baths

It would have been nice to experience the hot baths, and iconic Budapest experience, but it would have been expensive, and we were already very hot!  You cannot rent a towel, etc., so we would have to buy one (and togs and jandals) at tourist prices.  The cafe there was not accessible, so we moved on.

We stumbled upon the Grundel cafe, which was extremely posh and rather expensive, but beautiful.  There was a great string and piano quartet playing live, and the food was the best.  At one point I said to Sue "That violin must be amplified - it sounds so loud!", before I realised the violinist had wandered over and was standing right behind me.  He asked where we were from and promised to play something for us.

Our Cafe Grundel spread.

Later that day (our last day) we joined a guided tour of the parliament, which gave us a glimpse of the splendid architecture and interiors.

The lobby of the parliament buildings.

One of the chambers.

The numbered cigar holders outside the chamber, for members to rest their cigars.

The entire building is symmetrical, with two identical chambers and every room matched by its twin.  Actually Hungary changed to a single-house parliament, like New Zealand, so only one chamber is used now.

A last look at the Danube.  The water level is currently very low.

The Budapest Opera House was near our hotel.

A dilapidated building in our street.

A lot of buildings were damaged and neglected during the darker times of Hungary's recent history, and now there is an ongoing effort to renovate and repair them.  It is still easy to find examples which are waiting their turn to be restored.

And another.

Liszt's special composer's desk, with slide-out keyboard.

We visited the little museum in Liszt's house, which provides a lot of information about his life and works, and has on display many of the instruments he owned and played.

The "House of Terror"

The House of Terror (above) has a modern addition which casts a shadow projecting the word "TERROR" across face of the building.  You can make it out in the photo above.  The House of Terror is a museum which contains exhibits related to the fascist and communist regimes in 20th-century Hungary and is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured, or killed in the building (- Wikipedia).

We finished our Intrepid tour of central Europe with a group dinner out, finished with a complimentary shot of "palinka", before saying goodbye to everyone.  Sadly Sue now has a cold, so stayed at home to avoid spreading it.  The young 'uns moved on to try one of the "ruined bars" nearby, which are popular, crowded clubs originally set up in neglected buildings. We saw most of the group at breakfast again in the morning, before everyone went their separate ways.  Some were continuing on other Intrepid tours, to Romania or to Croatia, which carried from from here.

We flew out onto our next destination - France.