Budapest Days 3-4

Saturday, March 30

We had a nice lie in Saturday morning and after a delicious breakfast, we were ready to face the day ahead.

On the agenda was Gellert Hill including the famous bathes at the Gellert Hotel and the Cave Church. Then we would plan the rest of the day. 

The Gellert Hotel and the bathes are a sight to see. It is a huge campus with an outdoor wave pool, sun terraces, an outdoor hot pool with medicinal waters, indoor baths, saunas, restaurants and cafes. It was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt.

The bathes are ornately decorated in the Secession Style.

Flattened arch glass ceiling in the main hall lets in plenty of tranquil light

Facade of the Hotel Gellert

Just across the street from the Gellert Hotel is the Rock Church, our next stop for the day. The Rock Church was carved into the hillside and served as a church until the 1960s when the Communist government ordered the church sealed up. In the 1970s the church was reopened and now is contains beautuful wood carvings.

After our tour of the Rock Church we started up the paths that crisscross Gellert Hill to the Citadel to explore and catch the tourist bus across the river to the Varoslgiet Park in Pest.

 

After a long but informative ride on the tourist bus, we arrived at the Hero's Square with the impressive Millenium Monument, a huge plaza monument opened in 1896 with a dozen collenades of bronze statues of past kings, military hero's and the archangel Gabriel. Behind the monument is a large park, Varosliget Park with a lake, zoo, and the Ministry of Agriculture.  This complex is curious mixture of architechural styles representing all periods of Hungarian building history. We had a delicious lunch at Bagolyvar Etterem (the Owl Castle) which served traditional Hungarian dishes and has an accordian player playing gypsy music. Afterwards, the sun was out and we had a rare opportunity to take a stoll through the park, without an umbrella! 

Hero's Memorial

Ministry of Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture

Museum of Fine Arts

Bar Cycle

I have some nieces and nephews who I think would to love try this out!! It is a traveling bar that the customers pedal around town.

 Hungarian State Opera House

The Opera House was designed by the same architect who designed the Basilica and it is in very much the same style. It is also very similar to the opera house in Vienna. The King wanted the Budapest Opera house to be  even more grand than that! 
The opera house has many frescoes and statuesthat have a mythical motif. Very dramatic.
The outside is adorned with statues of famous composters, Bach, Lists, and Mozart among them.
This inside is decorated with red marble and gold leaf.

Beautiful frescoes and statues represent mytological motifs. Mosaic tiles cover the floor that resemble on ancient Greek mosaics. The three-storey high, horseshoe-shaped main auditorium can seat nearly 1,300 people.

The Royal Box

Our guide explained that the Royal box was only to be used by the king and whoever he brought with him. Even the queen, who often came to the opera could not use it  if the king was not with her. He was not a big fan of the opera so didn't come very often.

The Composers Gallery is a long corridor with bust and statues of the past sitting musical directors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the tour we admired the beauty of this amazing building and then took the tram back to the hotel. 

It was time to try out the baths.

 

Sorry folks, no photos in this section, but the baths were fabulous, a little crowded but there was plenty of room for everyone!!   There were three different bathes ( pools, really) One was 38 degree celcius, one was 33 and the last was a bigger pool, heated but still felt cool compared to the others. There was also a sauna and hot tub. After being out in the cold and rain there is nothing better than a good soak in the bathes!!

 We had dinner at Kehli Vendeglo, a local restaurant that has been serving food for literally hundreds of years.  There are gypsy musicians in traditional dress playing nightly and the our meal was traditional Hungarian cuisine and was the best meal we had in Budapest. 

Easter Sunday

 Our last day was Easter Sunday and was a low key day. Plans were to go to the Basilica for mass,take in some art at the Museum of Fine Art and have a nice lunch before we head to the airport for our flight home.
The Bascilica was packed but we got there early and found a seat. The Archbishop of Hungary officiated over the mass and the choir was accompanied by violins and trumpets. Despite the fact that the mass was in Hungarian, we enjoyed the pagentry of the experience.
After Mass we took a subway ride back to the Hero's Monument and went through the Museum of Fine Art.
We chose the hotel restaurant for our Easter lunch and were pleasantly surprised. The meal was tasty and filling.
I imagine that when the weather is mild and flowers are blooming, Budapest would be an even more enchanting. We loved this city!

Budapest Day 2

Friday, March 29
The hotel provided the most wonderful breakfast buffet. There was anything you would want. I enjoyed the healthy variety.
It was a rainy morning, but there things to see and do so we dressed for the weather and out we went. Our plan was to go to the Parliment for the tour in English at 10 am. We arrived early and joine a long queue. We watch as people who pre-booked came and entered, our line moving at a snails pace. After an hour we decided to go into the Museum of Ethnology directly across the street, no line! The museum was in a grand old building and housed in the Palace of Justice.The collection represents the rural folk culture in Hungary from prehistoric to the 20th century. 
For lunch we went to Cafe Kor which was recommended by a young lady sitting next to me on the airplane. We both had the fish specials, pike and cod. Fabulous. Friendly staff and delicious food made for a very memorable meal.
After lunch the rain had stopped so we took a stroll down the Vaci Utca and Andrassy Utca, stopping at an Easter Market in a square. 

 



 

The Andrassy Utca is often compared to the Champs d'Eysee. It is divided into three sections, the first two shops and theaters (the Opera Houseis here) and the third is residential. There are enormous, ornate homes to Budapest's wealthiest residents. The avenue ends at Hero's Square.
We took the Metro from the Opera back to the Deák Ferenc tér and had coffee and cake in the most famous cafe in Budapest. Don't ask me what we had but it sure was delicious. We spent a while there admiring the decadent patisserie, elegant chandeliers and velvet drapery.

 


The Budapest Spring Festival was in full swing. I booked tickets to hear a concert at the Palace of Arts, a new concert hall which was just outside the city center but still on a tram line. The concert, St Matthew's Passion, was just beautiful with some amazing soloist, but even I got a little restless, as it was 3 1/2 hours long!
Afterwards, we had to run for our ride home, I mistakenly thought transport stopped running at 11:30pm and we had a long way to go. Fortunately, we caught the last service out to our hotel.

Easter in Budapest: Day 1

 

Thursday, March 28, 2013- We took a short (2 hour) flight from London Luton Airport and arrived at our hotel on the Buda side of Budapest before lunch. Checked in and got our Budapest Card which gave us travel on all public transport. Spring has not taken hold in Europe yet, Budapest had three days of snow earlier in the week before we arrived and the ground was mostly snow covered. Cold on Thursday near freezing. The tram lines on the Buda side of the Danube run right along the river front and provide an excellent sightseeing platform. Public transport throughout the city was reliable and safe and very accessible.
Took the tram from the hotel to Carl Adam Ter intending to take the vunicular up to the Castle District to see the sites. The vunicular was closed because of snow, so we walked up the winding paths to the top of the hill. 

The Castle district is the center of the old hill town of Buda, an old walled castle 200 fit above the Danube. 

    
                                      


 

Home to the President of Hungary

 

The oldest buildings dates from the 13th century, though most were heavily damaged in WWII, they have been restored. The Old Town includes St Matyas Church.

St. Matyas Church

Inside St Matyas Church

Inside

Detail of St. Matyas Church Castle District

St Matyas Church

St Stephen was the first King of Hungary. This statue was erected in 1906.

Also in the Castle district is the Fisherman's Bastion. It was built in 1895 by Frigyes Schulek as a monument to the Guild of Fisherman.

Fisherman's Bastion in the Castle District

Each Neo-Romanesque column is unique.

There are many great old squares and cobbled streets. Enjoyed our first of many great Hungarian meals in a nice restaurant, 21 Magyar, in Old Town.

 

The Castle District provides spectacular views 
of Budapest's most famous landmarks.

The Chain Bridge was the first permanent crossing between Buda and Pest.

Parliment Building modeled after the London Parliment

View of St Stephen's Basilica

 Hopped on the tourist bus and took it down from the Castle District and then up to the Citadel on top of Gellert Hill, 460 feet above the Danube. Great views down the river and into Pest.  
 













We didn't spend a lot of time here, but was able to return a few days later. From there we caught the bus to ride across the Liberty Bridge in to the Parliament region in Pest.

This is the type of tram we rode all over town.

Meandered our way down to St Stephen's Basilica were Maundy Thursday services where being held. Beautifully ornate basilica in rose marble and gold leaf. Choir music was heavenly!

 



















St Stephen's Basilica is home to an interesting relic, read on.......

The mummified right fist of St Stephen.

Coffee in the square in front of the basilica, then back on the subway and the tram for the ride up the river to our hotel.  It had gotten dark so the town was aglow with lighted monuments bridges and buildings.

 

 Stopped in the local shop near the station and got some snacks and a nice bottle of Hungarian red wine for our dinner.
I'll leave you here, at the end of our first (exhausting) day! Coming up are Gellert Baths, Hero's Square, the Opera House and the most luxurious coffee shop you have ever seen!  So stay tuned, there is more great stuf to come.