Advertisement
Terike & I
We're on the Hungarian side of the Danube overlooking Slovakia Beautiful beautiful Budapest...Gosh this city is amazing. At night it looks like a fairytale land and takes my breath away with it's majestic buildings bathed in golden lights. Do I sound sentimental? Of course! This is Hungary...the other half of my heritage...that now all fits in to place in my head and in my heart.
Ibi and I have been in Budapest since Saturday night and we have spent 2 days walking. And walking. All around the city - well both cities - Buda and Pest. We have admired all of the buildings, a few times over, as I keep dragging Ibs back to see them again and again! Her little legs have been holding up well as I have traipsed her all over both sides of the Danube in search of the monuments, gardens, buildings, history and of course cakes & pastries (the main reason she has followed ungrumblingly I think!)
I can't stop admiring (or photographing) the "Parliament" with it's beautiful deep red dome that made me think of Paprika when I first saw it - how fitting that the country's leaders should be working inside a paprika coloured building! I also love the "Fisherman's Bastion" with
Terike's Place
This is where Mum and I slept in a little "granny flat" at Terike's house its funny name and fairytale like turrets and the stunning "Matthais Church" (unfortunately covered in scaffolding - welcome to Europe). Oh and of course the very important and impressive "St Stephen's Basillica" where we climbed 320 steps (yep, Ibi too) to find 360 degree views of the city and where discovered St Stephen's right hand encassed in glass (not so impressive, though interesting if not a little odd...). I will have to try and get some photos up here so you can see what I'm talking about.
We're staying in Buda (the wealthier side), at the foot of the "The Palace", although we have probably spent equal amounts in each city. We saw a Mozart Opera last night at the National State Opera Theatre and surprised ourselves by falling asleep and then uncontrollably laughing about it all the way home.
This afternoon after so much walking we discovered Hungary's most famous and one of it's oldest traditional cake shops, "Gerbeaud", so of course we popped in and I took forever to choose what I wanted to indulge in. I chose a special chocolate and apricot cake and Mum had one of my Nanna's old Hungarian specialities "Dobos Cake";
vanilla sponge with chocolate cream. Sensational.
Before Budapest my first taste of Hungary was on the bus journey from Vienna, Austria where I spent 3 hours talking to a Hungarian student and a Melbourne gentleman with Hungarian heritage. Mum met me in town and we took the exhausting trek out to Esztergom where my grandpa's lovely niece, Terike, lives and where we stayed until Saturday. It was great to spend time with my pa and the family here. The little town is lovely nestled on the banks of the Danube. Terike taught us how to cook some traditional Hungarian recipes that we have not had since my beloved Nanna passed away 10 years ago so it was amazing to enjoy and learn how to cook these special dishes that hold such sentiment to me and to Ibi too. Incidentally....the reason I have called Mum Ibi for so many years is because her Hungarian name is "Ibolya" (which is Violete in English) and her brothers used to call her "Ibi" as a child. My Nanna's name was "Piroska" (pronounced "pi-rorsh-ka" which translates to "Ruby" which I think is lovely.
Tomorrow we head to Prague, by train, which will take
about 6.5 hours, and we'll spend a couple of days exploring (I have been there but Mum hasn't) before our 9 day tour starts on Friday. I am already looking forward to next week when we will return to Budapest as part of our tour. This will be one city that I will always hold close for so many reasons (did I mention how good the cakes are!?). Oh, and we've already started our Paprika collection - the bright, rich, red colour of it here is so different to the reddish-brown we get at home. x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0498s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sara
non-member comment
Buda Baby....
SHAZZZZ.... You write so detailed and beautifully about how lovely a time your having....Im glad it has all fallen into place for you! Enjoy yourself, every minute of it... I look forward to hearing all about it... xx