The new bus arrived along with Helmut, our new bus driver. Loaded everything up and were on the road at 9:10 a.m. We made only one fast pit stop but were still late for our appointment with the Budapest city guide. It seems as if most of our bus journeys are taking longer than planned.
The local guide accompanied us for a two-hour tour of Buda, named after the brother of 5th century ruler Attila, and Pest, which means flat – and it is. Buda is larger, having 17 of the 23 city districts, while Pest has only 6. The entire city is approximately 520 square kilometers. Our guide said that all of the bridges across the Danube River were destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. Many of the bridges we saw are built in an earlier 19th century style so either were not destroyed or were rebuilt to earlier plans. A question to research. . . .
There are many lovely and impressive buildings, including the Royal Palace. The Palace has had many incarnations. There is reference to building a castle in 1255, but that might have been at a different place. About 1400 Sigismund of Luxembourg built a Gothic palace on the site. When the Turks captured Buda in 1541, the palace was used to stable horses. Eventually it fell into ruins until 1719 when a small palace was built on those ruins. That was expanded upon by Marie Theresa who, in 1749, built a vast palace of 203 rooms. That complex was destroyed in 1849 by Hungarian insurgents. In 1891 rebuilding began with construction completed in 1905. That is largely the Palace seen today.
The Parliament building was built in 1904 in neo-Gothic style. It is HUGE, its 698 rooms way beyond what is necessary for legislative needs. Indeed, it has two large wings, each for one of the two houses of government. Unfortunately, the government is now unicameral rendering one wing immediately obsolete. But from the outside, particularly the view from the Danube, it is quite beautiful and impressive.
The city is lovely with a number of parks and squares and tree-lined streets. Andrassy Avenue is 2½ kilometers long and has many lovely homes along it. In the 19th century the street was made of wood so the noise of the horses’ hooves wouldn’t disturb the residents as streets made of stone might do. Budapest appears to utilize the Danube to enhance the livability of the city. I don’t know whether the river was ever primarily used for industry, but it certainly isn’t now. The Danube is the second largest river in Europe and flows through ten countries.
We drove almost to the top of Gellert Hill and exited the bus so we could see the “most beautiful view” in Budapest – looking down at the river and the city from the high point of the Citadel. Helen and I positioned ourselves for the obligatory photograph.
A piece of trivia: Gellert hill was named after St. Gellert, a Benedictine monk who was born around 980. He taught the son of King St. Stephen, who subsequently made him a bishop. He was killed in 1046 during a pagan revolt by being sealed in a barrel and thrown off the hill which now bears his name.The Citadel is a Hapsburg fortress built in the 1850’s but never really used for military purposes. Since 1960 it has served as a leisure complex. At the top of Gellert Hill looking out over the city is Liberation Monument, a statue which the guide referred to as “lady liberty.” The monument commemorates liberation of Budapest by the Russian army. It is a woman on a pedestal which reaches 46 feet. After the fall of Communism, a figure of a Russian soldier at the base was moved elsewhere. Here’s one picture, taken upward from the base, and a second taken from a boat out on the river.
The tour finished and our hotel rooms now available, we went to the hotel to check in. There were a few glitches with which the beleaguered trip leader had to deal. Among the problems was Helen’s and my room which had a double bed instead of the requested twins. We were able to do a switch, and the other difficulties were resolved as well, but it all took time and energy.
Once we were established in our new room, Helen and I walked to Patriot or Heroes Square, just a few blocks from the hotel. She went to the adjacent art museum while I wandered around the square. It was built in 1896 as a millennium celebration of the founding of Hungary by seven chieftains who came to the area from Asia. Each chieftain is represented by an equestrian statue. Many improvements were made in Budapest during the Millennium Celebration as the city underwent major modernization.
There was a lot of activity on the square this late Saturday afternoon because of the T-Mobile-sponsored concert which was to take place later in the evening just two blocks away. Between the square and the concert stage vendors were setting up to be prepared for the crowds. The concert apparently was to celebrate something to do with the European Community. Not speaking or reading Hungarian made it difficult to figure out what was happening, but rock music being broadcast at ear-splitting level gave a hint.
From Patriot Square I walked into and through the adjacent park, Varosliget. Supposedly there is a zoo there, but I never found an entrance (although later saw its location on a map.) Did discover a fascinating art installation in the large pond next to the modern art building. There was a display of pictures showing that the pond had been drained for construction and placement of the pieces. I took a photo of the photograph.
While I’m not sure these items are “art,” they were fun to look at, which many people were doing. Because I was fascinated, I took a lot of pictures. In the background (of the outhouse "art") is Vajdahunyad Castle, not really a castle but a complex of buildings constructed in the 20th century in different architectural styles.
Since it was after 5 p.m. by the time I finished seeing all the outdoor art, I hurried back to the hotel to get ready to go to dinner. Six of our group of 64 had decided to do a dinner river cruise on the Danube. I strongly felt that if I were in a city on the Danube, I should spend some amount of time on the river.
While waiting the hour+ between check-in and the cruise, we walked to St. Stephen’s Basilica, window shopping and taking in various sights along the way, including a fun statue of a policeman which begged for a picture and a segway tour just starting from the square.
The construction of the Basilica began in 1851 and was completed in 1905. It is dedicated to St. Stephen (or Istvan), the first Hungarian Christian King. He was born in 975 and baptized at age 10. In 1000 he was crowned the Catholic King of Hungary and worked to spread Christianity. He died in 1038 and was canonized in1083 by Pope Gregory VII.
The dome of the basilica stands 315 feet high and dominates the city. The interior is quite ornate with a statue of St. Stephen in the middle of the altar, and the interior of the dome is impressive. After briefly seeing the church, it was time to return to the ship’s office to get on the cruise.
The food on the dinner cruise was fine and the scenery interesting, so it was a worthwhile effort. And a 3-piece “gypsy” orchestra played, a little hokey perhaps but good fun. From the boat we saw many of the interesting buildings we’d previously observed, just from a slightly different angle.
From the river it is easy to see how Gellert Hill dominates the view. On its south slope is a grotto church based on Lourdes, which was built in 1926. Sealed in the 1950s by the Communist authorities, it was reopened in 1989. This photo, taken at dusk, is not the greatest.
The cruise ended at 9 p.m.. We'd hoped to see the city lit up for night, but we were a little early. The lights on this bridge came on just as we got off the boat.
After returning to the hotel. I got a cup of coffee, finished my journal, and wrote a postcard. Then I completed the blog entry for the previous day’s activities and posted it. It was very frustrating since the post showed several paragraphs appearing in a different typeface. I would return to edit, change the typeface, and post only to find the typeface for a different paragraph had changed. It seemed to be random with no reason apparent to me. There was one paragraph for which I corrected the typeface at least five times. The entre blog finally appeared to be correct, and I got to bed about midnight. I DO wish I understood what was happening and why. . . .
P. S. A Fun Fact (as David Letterman would say): Information picked up during the guided tour. The population of Hungary is 70% Roman Catholic, 20% Protestant, and 10% other. It does boast the 2nd largest synagogue in the world (the largest being in New York City). The synagogue was built in 1854-9 and has 3 naves which can accommodate up to 3,000 worshippers.
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