Pest, Hungary

Thursday 30th June

We woke up early and hit the path before the heat of the day. We wanted to walk to the Houses of Parliament which we had seen from Buda Castle Hill, also Hero Square, the Jewish  Shoe memorial and the Opera House, all before the temp hit 30.

We walked across the Szechanyl Chain Bridge (1849), the first permanent connection between Buda and Pest. There are 8 bridges along this part of the Danube and all were bombed by German forces and made unusable in the war.

When Buda and Pest united to form the capital of Hungary in 1873 they decided they needed an appropriate House of Parliament. The building is incredible, both from the river view but also from all the other sides, it's almost too much to take in. It is the largest building in Hungary, used more than 40 million bricks and half a million precious jewels and is lit up like a Christmas tree at night.


 Walking about in the short time we have been here you can see why Budapest is often referred to as Paris of the East.

We also walked to Hero Square which again features the seven chieftains of the Magyar's and also has the tomb of the unknown soldier.

We found the Opera House and again the lavish decor and design almost feels over the top, but great to see.

Saint Stephens Basilica is incredible. There are not many tourists here compared to other European cities, if this was in Spain or France the queues would be miles long, we just wandered in.

The  right hand of Saint Stephen relic is in a separate chapel, incredible.

After all this walking we felt we needed a refreshment stop. We found a tea shop that was amazing.  I can't find the little note they gave me with the history but it was grand, ( I think 1825) over the top and we had the best hazelnut coffee torte with refreshing English breakfast tea.

The streets and avenues are full of beautiful lace ironwork, sculptures and art, it's quite a city, Liszt monuments and  streets with his name...very cosmopolitan but still a bit rough around the edges

Just behind the Houses of Parliament there was an  incredibly moving art installation within a museum that had  restored film footage of Budapest during WW2, shocking, sad, moving, sobering. 

We  then walked to the banks of the Danube where there is an art installation of cast iron shoes on the edge of the Danube where Jewish people were lined up and shot  so the river would take the bodies away, the poor victims of this atrocity were made to remove their shoes first as they were valuable and could be used in the war effort.

Too sad and very moving.

Time for a retreat from the heat and something to eat.  Sculptures for the day St Stephen and a man at the edge of the Danube contemplating his fate.

Buda, Hungary

Wednesday 29 June

We left Croatia after a fantastic time exploring the coasts and inland areas. We will have so many memories of Croatia, the most beautiful butterflies, gorgeous coastlines and swimming spots, crazy drivers, workmen drinking beer at 9.00am(!) and then proceeding to wire up something...., little three wheeler delivery trucks, smokers smoking inside restaurants where it is air  conditioned so if you want non smokey air you have to sit outside (there are a lot of smokers in Croatia), workmen wearing bib type dungarees everywhere even though it's 30 degrees, lovely young peop!e so helpful, lots of tall and strong looking guys and gals, lovely little mariners, great roadng systems and all the lovely people that helped us along the way, fantastic p!ace with the most fantastic language and street/place names to wrap your tongue  around but time to move on.

We were headed for Budapest and when we looked at 10.5hrs vs 5hrs driving we chose to go the toll roads for the first time. We have loved the little backroads through the villages but .....time to experience the motorway toll system.

Great trip to Budapest, easy border crossing and 130k speed limit on the motorways. We thought Croatian's drove fast but man oh man Hungarians were flying past us and it looked 130k was the minium they would go.

We found our hotel in Buda and hit the path to the castle ....wow, incredible views over to Pest and all the gorgeous historic buildings. 

At the top of castle hill is the Romanesque Fisherman's Bastion with 7 turrets (seven Magyar tribes came here in 896) that look down to the Danube and over to Pest. The sculptures within the portico are stunning.

 The statue of St Stephen, Hungary's first King is impressive with detailed marble panels on each face of the plinth telling a story.  

The Church of Mathias is equally stunning,  built in 1015 and later destroyed but rebuilt in the 15th century. There was so much to 'ooh and aah' over and more sculpture than you can shake a stick at, quite an experience and all the better for  the castle area being totally pedestrianised so you could wander about quite peacefully.

Having been awed by the sights we found a suitable spot for a quiet drinks and a bite to eat, appropriate blend of Austro-Hungarian deco. The food was divine, a fair price and a great way to end the day. (Hungarian Goulash soup, wild mushroom soup with basil oil, local chicken breast with cheese and nut sauce and marinated plum and vension stew, delicious  flavours and great white Hungarian wine )

A lovely stroll back down the hill to our apartment and rest, happy Hungary tired👍.

Fantastic iron shop signs and as for the sculpture......hold on to your hats folks...

This sculpture of a regal couple was outside the castle walls, all a!one and in the quiet dappled shade, intriguing.