Advertisement
Published: December 23rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
J's paternal Grandmother is very proud to be Hungarian so we wanted to check out Budapest on this trip!
Arriving at the airport and getting to our hotel had a similar feeling to it as when we arrived in Prague last year
New Town & Old Town. We were told by the innkeeper that a private taxi company would be waiting for us with our name on a signboard when we came out of baggage claim. This much was true. The man ushered us outside to the curb and said in very poor English "wait here." He then disappeared back into the airport without further explanation. He left us right next to a sign which read "reserved taxi pick up area." Within a couple of minutes, a taxi pulled up displaying the name of the same taxi company. The driver emerged, said hello, and proceeded to put our bags in the trunk. We assumed it was a system not unlike others we've seen where one guy collects people from inside, and the driver is another guy altogether. So we gave the driver the address of the guesthouse and hopped in. When we arrived at our destination, the innkeeper came outside and seemed exasperated. She
had us sit down while she spoke to our driver and called the taxi company on the phone. Apparently, the taxi company had called her saying the driver "lost" us. They claimed the guy with the sign had told us to wait for him to return in 10 minutes and when he came back we were gone. Our driver and that guy were in no way working together! Mishaps like this had occurred before according to our hostess and so she basically told them they would not be getting her business again. It worked out fine for us, and we commented how often this type of thing seems to happen in eastern Europe. There is some measure of a society that is in proportion to the number of times people tell you "No Problem, No Problem". You tend to hear this a lot in the Caribbean and Eastern Europe!
On the drive from the airport, all of the sights of the city were lit up eliciting oohs and aahs from J and I as we drove by. Budapest is absolutely breathtaking with the Parliament buildings and St. Steven's Basilica on the Pest side of the Danube, and the National
Gallery, Matthias Church, "castle" and Fishermen's Bastion on the Buda side. There is a Metro in Budapest but we ended up walking almost everywhere. The sights on the Buda side are at the top of a huge hill, so there were a lot of stairs involved as well!
Thursday was a cold, blustery Seattle-like day. We didn't let that stop us and set our sights on the Parliament buildings. When we approached one of the gates to ask where the tours depart from, we got a stern "no" from the guards. A British guy standing nearby explained that due to the recent unrest in Budapest, the Parliament buildings had been closed to the public indefinitely. Too bad! So instead we walked the few blocks over to St. Stephen's Basilica. We paid the small fee to take the lift to the top where you can walk around the perimeter of the building outside for a magnificent view of the city. Later we walked across the famous Chain Bridge back to Buda and rode the funicular up to the Hungarian National Gallery. It was great to escape the cold and rain to take in some wonderful artwork! The museum was free,
so J was amenable to the $7.50 "photography fee" that allows you to take pictures of the artwork.
Friday was all blue skies, but with a lot of wind. We set out for Heroes' Square, so called because it is home to the Millennium Memorial with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. Just next to the square is the Palace of Art which hosts temporary exhibitions. Currently, the exhibit is art about the failed
1956 revolution. In talking to our hosts, we learned the leader of the '56 Revolution was actually a Socialist himself. His goal was not to turn Hungary into a democracy, but rather to kick the Soviets out of Hungary. The Austrians had done this successfully the year before. The Revolution lasted only about 10 days, at which time the Soviets returned with reinforcements and quashed the revolt.
We were hoping to take a tour of the Opera House, but tickets were 10 Euros each (quite overpriced vs. other attractions in Budapest) and no photos are allowed inside so we walked away with a heavy sigh. Once back in Buda,
we took the stairs up the hill from the Chain Bridge to Matthias Church. This church was originally founded in 1015 but was converted to a mosque during the Turkish occupation from 1541 to 1686.
Another popular thing to do in Budapest is to go to the baths. No, these baths are not like in Virgin Gorda! There are hot springs and "healing waters" in the area, so bathhouses have propagated. We did stop into one to check it out - unfortunately we didn't have our bathing suits with us because it looked fabulous! A large building with an interior courtyard houses the changing rooms and numerous spa rooms including hot pools, saunas, massage rooms, etc. Within the sunlit open-air courtyard there are 3 pools: a large main pool in the center for laps, a smaller pool to the left with a strong current in it, and another smaller pool to the right with steam coming off of it. *sigh* something for the next trip....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0313s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb