Market Day

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Day 10 - Sat. Oct. 1 - Budapest



Today is market day … well, every day in Budapest is market day with the exception of Sunday. Since we have a fully functional kitchen we decided today that the preparation of a lighter dinner was in order. So off we went to the Great Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok), which was built in 1896.



This building has a cavernous interior and features three floors each dedicated to a distinct shopping experience. The ground floor has stalls, featuring produce, bakeries, and butchers. There is an abundance of products available to shoppers and the ones that attract your attention the most are the large hanging clusters of paprika peppers and the overstuffed goose livers. The second floor is given over to highly ornamented Hungarian made clothing and linens, souvenirs, and eateries. In the basement one can find the traditional fish market and a modern style supermarket.



We poked around primarily on the ground floor and purchased some cheese, grapes and bakery products for our dinner. We did explore part of the second floor but it was crowded, not only with people but also with products; it became a bit over-whelming.



Another excellent lunch was enjoyed outside at a café near the market on our return stroll to the apartment to store the items before we ventured out on our second cultural exercise for the day. We went to the Opera House for a guided tour, in English, of the building followed by a mini concert.



The building was finished in 1884 in neo-Renaissance style. While the exterior of the building is quite imposing and in some ways plain but the interior is spectacular in its use of marble, gold leaf, exquisite paintings, bas-reliefs. It simply takes your breath away. The legend is that the building could not be physically larger than the one in Vienna, but nothing was said about its interior being more spectacular. The tours in English only happen later in the afternoon and about sixty people purchased tickets for the 4:00 o’clock excursion. We assembled on the main staircase and the guides divided the group into two sections so that we could all hear the presentations. Those of us who had purchased camera passes were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted throughout the tour. At the conclusion of the tour we once again assembled on the main staircase and a female soloist rendered two short selections.



On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the famous Callas Café, across a narrow street from the Opera House, for coffee and hot chocolate. Back at the apartment we enjoyed our simple fare of cheese, croissants, grapes, wine, and strudels.

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