On your marks, get set go….the whistle stop race through European capitals has started. Four days here a short stop but just enough time to get a wee sense of the city and experience the highlights.
Oh my goodness 11 hours on that darn train from Sibiu (Romania) to Budapest. So hot and sticky. Lance figured the train was going about 25kms an hour – it was only 550kms – yikes sooooo painfully slow and soooooo hot. We made it though – what doesn’t kill ya makes ya stronger isn’t that what they say? We got to our hostel pretty late. Happy tho it was very central, comfortable and lovely and clean – perfect. Woke up early as we always do and both were starving we hadn’t eaten on the train, and had had no dinner as we were so tired. So the first google search in this beautiful new city was, best bacon and eggs in Budapest. And google came up trumps quite possibility the best brekkie we’ve ever had. I even took a photo.
The great thing about all the towns we have visited in Bulgaria, Romania and now Hungary is they each have a wonderful free walking tours – We seek them out on our first day and really enjoy the information we learn. It sets us up with an orientation of the city and shows us the highlights which we can return to later to see in more detail – Also we always get potted history and context which we love. At the end of the tour you pay what you feel it was worth in the form of a tip. So day one was the walking tour and it didn’t disappoint.
Hilly Buda sits on the westbank of the Danube and flat Pest sits on the eastbank. Although they’ve been populated for centuries, Pest and Buda developed so separately that the first bridge spanning the Danube, the Chain Bridge, (pic above) wasn’t built until 1849. Budapest was the result of an 1873 merger between the two cities. Oh and btw our guide told us pronunciation is pesh NOT pest she was very insistent that we go forth and tell the world this information so consider yourself informed. 🙂
St Stephens Basillica Im a sucker for the inside of a beautiful church. Lance however is done with churches. From now on I am on my own!! This one was gorgeous.
After a crazy day on our feet we decided to check out one of the many hotspring/ thermal baths that Budapest is famous for. The idea of bath houses was introduced by the ottoman s during their occupation of this area in medieval times. We chose Gelert, and a stroll across the green bridge. It was a very relaxing time and great fun in the outdoor pools as there was a wave pool. also fantastic to cool off as it was 37 degrees.
Inside are the hot springs and thermal baths – very relaxing with special healing properties. We sure felt renewed in the lovely warm mineral waters. Beautiful tile work and lovely colours.
We had no idea that this was St. Stephens day. Hungary’s biggest holiday. Food tents popped up along the Danube. Masses of folk partying. We have never seen so much alcohol on the streets before. Everyone was drinking bottles of booze. The atmosphere was very jovial and happy, no bad behaviour just everyone having a good time. Food was incredible… well if you like meat, bread and cheese.
In the evening the fireworks were a much anticipated event people and their bottles of booze started finding their viewing spots about 3 hours before the event. Lance and I squeezed in at the last minute. Boy those fireworks were good. Best ones we’ve ever seen. and very fitting as today is our boys birthday happy 20th birthday Aaron from Hungary your fireworks were spectacular. we missed you horribly.
Lovely view looking from from Buda to Pest – linked by the Chain Bridge where the fireworks were set.
I want to put hundreds of paragraph spaces in between this section and the one above.
There is a very dark side to Hungary. Even before the Nazis The Hungarian Government was systematically eradicating Jewish rights and freedoms. The Holocaust Memorial Centre is housed in a converted synagogue in the old Jewish quarter of Budapest. 500,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered during World War ll. Most sent to Auschwitz and gassed on arrival.
The Arrow Cross a reign of terror in Budapest. Nearly 80,000 Jews were killed in Budapest itself, shot on the banks of the Danube and then thrown into the river. Thousands of others were forced on death marches to the Austrian border. In December, during the Soviet siege of the city, 70,000 Jews were forced into a ghetto. Thousands died of cold, disease, and starvation.
No words. Just horror that people can do this to people.