On Monday, we decided to do a quick tour of the Castle Hill in the Buda neighborhood in the morning. Our hosts had a plane to Istanbul later in the afternoon and needed us to leave by 3 pm. Just down the street from them is km 0. It's the point that all roads to Budapest are measured. It sits at the base of a cable car that, for a couple of dollars, takes you to the top of Castle Hill.
Once you get up there, you find a palace complex that has been turned into a National Art Museum. As is normal in European cities, the museum was closed as it was Monday. Yet, there were guides offering to give us a tour of it. The castle is almost 600 years old but the site has been the home to the Magyar kings since the 13th century. After World War II, the bombing left the castle in ruins. The current building is a 20th century construction based on medieval findings of the castle grounds found under the rubble.
This fountain commemorates the hunting achievements of the royal family members.
There is a street just outside of the palace that is lined with small kiosks and stalls that sell lots of tourist items. The best thing there is a small stand that sells fresh cooked pastries dipped in cinnamon/sugar, vanilla, or chocolate.
The view of the city from Castle Hill is spectacular.
Another famous landmark on the hill is the Matthias Church. The best part of the church is the tiled roof that is common in Hungarian architecture. The first building was built in the early 11th century and was changed to the current more gothic design 300 years later. It's named for King Matthias who ordered most of the large scale changes. It has seen the coronations of several Hungarian kings throughout the centuries.
The inside of the church is great because it doesn't follow the typical pattern of decoration. The walls are all painted with elaborate designs and bright colors. It's a real joy to just sit and look around at all of the things going on in the church.
Just outside of the church is the Fisherman's Bastion. It looks more like a ferry tale castle than anything else with its pointed tops and fat castle towers. It, too, was nearly destroyed in World War II and has been restored. The seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled Hungary in 896.
The Parliament building is probably the hallmark of Budapest. It sits right on the Danube River and is remarkable. The neo gothic style reflects the inspiration it draws from, the Parliament building on the Thames in London. The Hungarians asked for their Parliament to look similar to England's with one difference, they wanted theirs to be bigger. It's decorated with statues and images of famous rulers and leaders of the Hungarian past.
Here's the Geleti Train Station. We had to make a quick stop here to drop off our bags. Our hosts gave us the friendly boot around 3 pm but we weren't about to carry around our lead weight bags until our 11:30 train. Thankfully, bag storage at most Eastern European bus/train stations is quite cheap.
Finally, the afternoon of our last day, the skies cleared and we had nice weather again. Of course it would happen the day we were leaving. Oh well. We enjoyed the break from the summer heat. The guidebook we had been using recommended we take a stroll up the famous Andrássy út. It starts at Elizabeth Park and goes all the way to the City Park with the public baths we visited the previous day. The buildings along the walk were majestic and imposing. The streets have tree lined sidewalks for pedestrians to enjoy the views. One of the first major landmarks we found on the street was the House of Terror. We didn't go in because it sounded like the Hungarian version of a concentration camp. Lots of people were tortured and killed there. Many of their photos line the walls on the street. It's intense to see.
Here's a fun statue we found a few blocks down from the Opera House. Death is holding a human head over a decapitated body.
Our final stop of the day was at Saint Stephen's Basilica. Stephen was the first King of Hungary. It was hard to visit because they were having mass but the right hand of said Stephen(over 1,000 years old) is said to be housed there. It's size is the same as that of Parliament, a subtle insinuation that worldly and spiritual matters have equal importance in Budapest. It was completed in the early 20th century.
After running all over the city, we had a quick sandwich at a small shop. We followed that up with a beer and a fruit soup that is famous in Budapest. It's a lot of cream and fresh chopped fruit all together in a bowl. It merits mentioning for two reasons, you must try it if you visit the city and the other was an incident we saw go down at the restaurant. For it, we love the Germans even more. The waiter took the bill to the table behind us. They handed him a credit card to pay with. He responded that he could only accept cash because the machine was down. The patron responded he had no cash and was told by the same guy that cards were accepted. The waiter then explained that the machine paper was out and he couldn't run it. The patron responded he didn't care, go get a roll of paper. He sat and waited and finally paid with his credit card. We applauded him. It's alway great when someone tries to get out of doing their job but, in the end, are forced to do it anyways.
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