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Published: August 4th 2018
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The parliament building
The parliament building in Budapest is built in the style of a grand palace A weekend in Budapest
Budapest is a city we like very much. She is beautiful and charming. She has been around for a few centuries and over those years she has seen plenty of interesting historical events take place within her borders. All you have to do is stop and listen to her stories and you could find yourself warped back in time and experience these episodes play out in your imagination. And let's not forget that she has some fabulous architecture and some great spas.
Emma has two nieces, Jonna and Julia. When they turned 5 years and 10 years old we gave them a trip each. You can read about those trips if you click the following links:
Jonna 5 year,
Julia 5 year,
Jonna 10 year and
Julia 10 year. This year the oldest niece, Jonna, turned 15 and we needed a good travel destination to bring her to. We thought Budapest could be a good choice. We have been to Budapest before but it was a long time ago now. We really like Budapest so we knew that we too would enjoy a trip there.
Here comes a quick summary of some of the things we
The parliament building by night
At night the parliament building is lit up did and saw the days we were in the Hungarian capital:
Along the Danube The River Danube divides Budapest in two parts, Buda on one side and Pest on the other. Some of the most impressive sights in Budapest can be found along the river. The
parliament building and
Buda Castle are two examples. Both these buildings are majestic when seen from the opposite side of the river. At night they light up these buildings and several others creating an even more spectacular view when you walk along the Danube.
Across the Danube The
Chain Bridge and the
Liberty Bridge are two spectacular bridges spanning the Danube in central Budapest. Both bridges were destroyed during World War II but were after the war rebuilt to their former glory.
3D gallery The 3D gallery can perhaps be described as an art gallery where the idea is that you stand in front of or even inside the artworks and interact with them while having your photo taken. When a photo is taken from the correct angle the artworks look like they are in 3D. It is fun for kids, but even adults can actually
Buda Castle
Buda Castle as seen from across the Danube enjoy this, and you can take some funny photos there.
Cat Café They have a cat café, that is a café which is also a home for several cats, in Budapest. We are cat lovers and think a cat café should be compulsory in every major city.
Széchenyi Spa Budapest is a great place to visit if you like spas. We are actually thinking about returning to Budapest another year in wintertime and do a Budapest Spas All In. But during this visit we only visited one spa, Széchenyi Spa.
Hospital in the Rock There is more to see in Buda than Buda Castle. In fact all of Buda Hill is littered with interesting sites. Strangely enough, some of more interesting things you can see there are
inside Buda Hill. Buda Hill is perforated by countless of caves. These caves have been used as storage rooms, additional basements to buildings and to other purposes. One of the more interesting things they have used the caves for is as a hospital. The hospital was a war hospital, that is it was meant to be used only in times of
Two churches in Buda lit up at night
The church to the left is the 14th century Matthias Church on Buda Hill one of the most important churches in Budapest. The church to the right is a lesser known church close to the Danube crises. The hospital was used extensively during the Second World War and also for a while in 1956 when Soviet Union invaded Hungary. The hospital was maintained as a hospital as late as 2004 when it was permanently closed. Today the former hospital has been turned into a very interesting museum.
"There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face, a sadness all her own, from which no man can keep Candy safe" /Bruce Springsteen "Candy's Room" Budapest isn't all about beauty, art and cultural heritage, there is a dark side there as well. Most major cities in Central Europe have lived through dark times and in Hungary those days were as bad as they come.
During the Second World War Hungary was occupied by Nazi Germany. During the occupation the Nazis systematically rounded up Jews and sent them to concentration camps mainly in Poland. Swedish diplomats, led by Per Anger and Raoul Wallenberg, worked very hard to help Jews by setting up safehouses all over Budapest and by issuing Swedish passports. Thousands of people were saved by these efforts and outside the building where the Swedish embassy was located in the first half
The Chain Bridge
One of the bridges spanning across the Danube linking Buda with Pest of the 1940-ies there today is a plaque honouring these brave people's work.
When we walked by the former Swedish embassy we got invited to go in. It was good fun to walk around there and have a look.
Although Swedish diplomats managed to save a lot of people millions of others all over Europe were not as lucky. Near the parliament building there is a sculpture named Shoes on the Danube Bank. That sculpture is a memorial over thousands of Jews who were killed on the banks of the Danube and whose bodies afterwards were dumped into the river.
"And now for something completely different" / Monty Python We can't really end with sad stuff, can we? We have saved one little piece for the end to cheer you up a bit.
The Holy Crown of Hungary is one of the most important symbols in all of Hungary. It is for example featured on the coat of arms of Hungary. The crown is on the top decorated with a small cross. This cross is bent to one side after an accident possibly in the 17th century. They never repaired the cross, it
Liberty Bridge
One of the bridges spanning across the Danube linking Buda with Pest was left slightly leaning to the side, and that is how the crown is now depicted when it is drawn or copied. That can be seen on
Margaret Bridge, one of the bridges across the Danube. The bridge is decorated with concrete copies of the crown, each copy with a bent cross on the top.
It has been maybe 15 years since we visited Budapest last time. What was it that kept us away from Budapest for so many years? We don't know. All we know is that we hope it won't be 10+ years until we go back there again because we love Budapest.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
The lopsided cross
If I needed any more proof of how much I’ve fallen in love with Budapest, it was how much joy I got from reading this blog! We wondered about the wonky cross on Margaret Bridge, but never thought to look it up - thanks for enlightening us. And I see we missed you and Emma in Budapest by just over a month :)