Budapest - Castle Hill

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We slept in a bit and took it easy in the morning. We have three full days in Budapest and we’re all looking forward to exploring this city at a more relaxed pace, so we enjoyed lounging about the spacious suite for a while before venturing out. Bright sunlight helped us see the city in a “new light” as we headed out, quite hungry and in search of breakfast. After some discussion we stopped at a café just a few hundred feet from our hotel. It was clearly overpriced but we were too hungry to push on in search of better value. For our Hungarian forints, we got some excellent coffee and pastries and a table in beautifully appointed room with a high and elaborately detailed gilt ceiling and fine wooden paneling. After our breakfast we continued on down Andrassy Ut, looking in store windows and occasionally exploring a side street. We passed the spectacular Opera House and then found St. Istvan’s Basilica. We came upon it from the back and walked around to the large plaza in front, admiring the intricate detail. Following the plaza away from the church we reached the Danube and the “Chain Bridge” which was (at least for today) an exclusively pedestrian bridge. The bridge itself is a wonderful bit of architecture and offers great views of both sides of the river (we are staying in Pest which is relatively flat and crossed the bridge to castle hill in Buda). Throngs of tourists were now quite apparent. We waited on a plaza to buy tickets to the funicular which climbs to the top of castle hill and got to watch some traditional dancers on stage in period costume. The funicular ride was short but saved us many steps. Breakfast had not been very filling and it was now lunchtime so we decided to eat before taking in the sites of the hill. We ate at a small tourist restaurant under the ornamental gates to the Royal Palace. John’s Hungarian Chicken was excellent and everyone enjoyed a hearty and much needed lunch. We wandered over to the entrance to the palace (now the Hungarian National Gallery) but opted not to drag the kids to an art museum (yet). We headed back across the plaza and were planning to explore the courtyards on the other side of the building, but there was some sort of temporary closure so we instead headed into “Old town”, wandering slowly towards the stunning “Matyas” church which crowns the hill. Like St Istvan’s, this church stands out as magnificently detailed and sparklingly clean in a city where many buildings could use a good power-washing. We walked along the top of the “Fishermen’s Bastion” a quirky series of walkways and staircases that looks like the perfect place for a wedding – and indeed, on this fine Saturday afternoon, their appeared to be more than one bride with the same thought. Wandering back through Old Town we entered the Castle Hill labyrinth (billed as “One of the seven underground wonders of the world!”). The caves below the hill are natural in origin, but long used and modified by humans. Their current arrangement (designed to show some history of the caves and make the tour more interesting for us tourists) is a bit kitschy, but we were all impressed by the extent of the tunnels and passageways. We particularly enjoyed the “Labyrinth of Courage” portion which was almost completely dark, forcing one to navigate by keeping hold of a guide rope. The conclusion of the tour was a section entitled “The End of History” which was extensively furnished with everyday items labeled as if they were found by archeologists from some distant future time. We exited and headed back to complete our tour of the palace courtyards, admiring the elaborate fountains and archways (including the famous Lion’s gate). We headed down the hill on foot and slowly walked back to our hotel for a pre-dinner rest. For dinner, we figured out how to buy subway tickets (easy to select tickets, harder to pay for them) and headed a few stops back towards the Opera House. The main subway line that runs just below Andrassay Ut is over 100 years old, very charming, very efficient and very crowded. (Unlike in Vienna, we frequently had our tiny and insubstantial subway passes carefully inspected by workers to make sure we were still within the validated time limits.) A few blocks from the Opera stop, the restaurant (pre-selected by internet search) turned out to be a lively buffet. We sampled a variety of Hungarian items including cold fruit soup, goulash and (Andrew’s favorite) venison. Sonia made an attempt at saying “thank you” in Hungarian, earning a warm smile and laugh from our waiter. On the return to our hotel we emerged from the subway to encounter throngs of people headed unidirectionally along the avenue towards the Danube. Upon inquiry, we were told they were returning from a free Ke$ha concert held in Varsliget Park, just a few stops from our hotel. It would have been so cool to have attended a Ke$ha concert in Budapest! How could we have been so poorly informed?

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Photos

John & Lauren by St. Istvan
The wide plaza in front of St. Istvan's Basilica is lined with cafes and provides enough space to appreciate the grandeur of the Basilica.

John, with Buda in the backgorund
This was taken from the Chain Bridge over the Danube with the hills of Buda visible in the background.

John and Lauren on the Chain Bridge
Overlooking the Danube with Parliament in the background.

Lauren atop Castle Hill
This is near where we stopped for lunch at the top of the funicular railway with sweeping views back towards the Danube and Pest beyond.

John with Pest in Background
The chain bridge, the Gresham palace (now the Four Seasons hotel) and the domes of St. Istvan's are visible in the background.

Father-son Chat
A breif break during our tour to discuss how the day is unfolding. Although the chat caught in this photograph is one of the tougher kinds, we always have many great chats along the way.

Magyar Telecom
Traditional phone booth photo - phone boothes here are almost as cool as those in London.

Sonia and Andrew by the Matthias Church
The Matthias Church (Matyas-Templom) is the most striking sight on the hill from a distance and is even more stunning up close.

Goofing around in the goofy Labyrinth
This "wine fountain" was one of the many odd features of our labyrinth tour. The wine was intended to be a symbol of wealth, but smelled strongly of vinegar. The kids chose to interpret it as a blood fountain and struck vampire poses.

John and Andrew by the Matyas Fountain
This beautiful fountain adorns the courtyard of the royal palace. Moments after this was taken, we watched an Italian boy lean a bit too far and take an unplanned plunge!

Funicular Railway
John poses on a bridge across the Funicular tracks during our walk down.

An Ice Cream Rose
Lauren was disappointed with the ice cream offering on Castle Hill and waited until we returned to Pest to get this two-flavor cone with "petals" of ice cream pressed around a central scoop.