Arrived in Budapest and have a lovely hotel room overlooking the Danube River. It is lovely to sit and watch the boats go by. We are staying on the Pest side so decided to do those sites on the first day and the Buda sites day two. We worked out the metro system pretty quickly, got our day ticket and set off. First stop was straight up Andrassy Avenue to Heroes Square. This is a massive square that commemorated the past heroes and it is amazing. In the front of all the statues is the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. Continued towards the City Lake and across water was the gorgeous Vajdahunyad Castle. Interestingly in winter the lake is frozen and it becomes a giant ice skating rink. Spent quite a bit of time strolling around. Next stop was the state opera building and then the magnificent St Stephens Basilica and finally on the the most amazing parliament building you'll ever see. We walked out of the subway to be gob smacked by its sheer size and glorious architecture. Also checked out the Dohany Street synagogue which is the second largest in the world. The sites were amazing everywhere you looked. This is truly a lovely place with a great history in all its buildings. We also had a sneak peak at the big mineral baths that are really popular here. Budapest seems to have a focus on spas and treatments. Our hotel is a "spa and resort", where you can get all sorts of treatments; supervised by medical staff. It's a little weird having everyone walking around in the white bathrobes. Crazy moment when I got in the lift with a rather large man wearing only very small speedos and his robe...which did not do up properly around his well rounded girth. Note...I was fully clothed...and just stared at the floor. Also noted on the list of treatments that you can have a set of 12 gynaecological treatments...didn't want to find out what they meant. However, lots of squares, statues...really cool.
Day two had a lot to live up to and it did...in bucketfuls...though I do not think that anything will ever live up to the Parliament Buildings. Trained over to the Castle Area and began our quest for Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church. Along the way stopped at amazing lookouts that gave wonderful views over the Danube and into Pest. A lot of the architecture here is Baroque and there also examples of Roman Age stonework. We decided to enter the Castle Labyrinth. Apparently in the 11th to 12th century, people who lived here used the caves for water accumulation, building vents and wells. Their houses were also built in line with the cave-wells. More recent times the caves have been used as a refuge from fire or war. Let me tell you...at times they were freaky. There was no mention of needing a torch and after a few minutes in there we were glad BR had his phone torch. At times you could not see in from of you and there were offshoots of the main passage everywhere. It also paid a little homage to Dracula with coffins and spooky music in places and fog...again couldn't see. There was a rope to hang on to it you got stuck. The labyrinth itself was about 1.2 kms in length. Well worth the $15.00 each...and it was nice and cool. Back on top and we paid a few dollars to go into Matthias Church...wow and walk along Fishermans Bastion. Great views. Went the long way round to Gellert Hill and the Citadel to see the Budapest Statue of Liberty, walking past Sandor Palace. Again great views back over Pest. A funny moment: thought we had the public transport under control. Got on a tram, which we thought would take us to our bus stop for the ride to the top, but ......we were standing at the base of a 50m (or so) cliff. We look up at the Liberty Monument which is our destination. Our no 19 tram terminated well prior to its rendezvous point with bus 27 which was going to take us within a 750m walk to the monument. We were now faced with two options: option1 was a very steep 1 km walk. option 2 was to take the no 19 tram back past where we came then catch the red metro to the blue metro which take us to the green metro which would take us to no 27 bus from which we have a 750 m walk. We took option 2! The 750 m walk was not as steep.....it was very hot.
Took so many photos..we had to go shopping and pick up a USB so I could transfer photos. Lol..BR also bought a pair of shorts so he could swim...a nice read and yellow.
Decided to get some night shots of Parliament...in love with this building. Caught the bus to Chain Bridge and discovered that Tram 2 was like a scenic tram so we jumped on. Got a few night pics and then found the Budapest Jazz Club, near our bus stop. Went in, had a great dinner and heard some jazz.(went back there the next night as well).
Budapest (along with Krakow) are emerging as our fav spots so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment