Our apartment is a half block from the Danube
River. Across the river is the Buda side and up on the hill is the palace.
It is a wonderful view.
This morning we had a 10:00 appointment to
tour the parliament building. It is on the Pest side of the river.
We made reservations a long time ago because tour tickets are very hard to find. We
took the #2 tram right to the building.My
wife had the email with the reservation.The
guard looked at both of our driver’s licenses, and sent my wife to the office
with both licenses.I had to stay
outside the roped area.
I had a “small world” experience while waiting
in line. People always ask each other where they were from. There
was a lady with her two grown daughters who said she was from Atlanta, Georgia.
I said I used to live in LaGrange, Georgia. She said she was raised there
and told me her maiden name. I was Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
in LaGrange from 1969 – 1978.I
knew her parents although they were not members of St. Mark’s. She had
gone off to college in 1966 so she had left LaGrange when I served there.
We knew a lot of people in common and had a great time talking about old times.
THE
HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING
Sitting on the edge of the Danube on the Pest side
of the cities is one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in Europe.The building designed by Imre Steindl was supposed to be finished in 1896
for the Millennial Celebrations, but wasn’t completed until 1902.The building measures 880 feet long and 404 feet wide at its center.The central dome is 315 feet high and its interior has 691 rooms and over
12.5 miles of corridors.The
design is a combination of a Renaissance dome, a neo-Gothic façade which stand
on baroque base.I have recently
acquired a model of this building and am anxious to start it.
The tour group was a small group of English
speaking folks. The inside is beautiful with a lot of gold leaf.The Grand Staircase starts at the front door and ends in the Dome Hall.
We got to see the Holy Crown which is inside the
dome, the changing of the guards and inside the parliament chamber.The tour lasted about 45 minutes. This should be a must on everyone’s
visit to Budapest, but get your tickets months in advance.
After our tour and saying good bye to our friends
from Georgia, we started to walk across the Chain Bridge (I have a model to
make). My wife, who doesn’t like bridges, changed her mind so we found a
bus to take us across. The Chain
Bridge, built in 1849, was the first bridge of connect Buda and Pest.Chain Bridge was blown up by the retreating Nazis in World War II, but
was quickly rebuild.
At the end of the bridge is a funicular that goes
up to the palace. The view of the
Pest side of the Danube, especially the aerial view of the Parliament is
spectacular as you ascend the 849 foot hill. It
was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky.
After exiting the funicular, you see the large
statue of an eagle.This is the
Turul, a mythical winged beast that is the symbol of the Arpad dynasty kings of
Hungary.We walked down into the
palace but it appeared to be no way out as the entrances were all guarded.Finally we found an exit.
THE
ROYAL PALACE OF BUDA
The palace dates back to the 13th
century and has a long history of destruction and restoration. In the 14th
century it was expanded and took on the Gothic style of the time.
In
the 15th century, it was remodeled again by King Matthias in the
Renaissance style.It suffered
damage when the Turks took Buda in 1541 but nothing compared to the destruction
by the pan-European Christian army which liberated Buda in 1686.A new building was built by King Charles III of Habsburg during the years
1714-1723 and was later expanded by his daughter, the empress Maria Theresa.A fire in 1810 and the War of Independence in 1848 caused considerable
damage.It was rebuilt only to be
gutted by the Red Army during World War II.It has been completely restored and serves not only as the residence of
the Prime Minister, but houses several museums.
We saw a lot of security everywhere as we left that
area. No one was being allowed in.
We walked to St. Matthias church. I had just
finished my MODEL several days before the trip and was anxious to see the huge
tower and all the little pinnacles. I took many photos of all the detail.
Before going into the church, we decided to eat.
My restaurant expert wife had read about this great restaurant called Icon in
the Hilton Hotel, next to the church. We had a wonderful lunch and an
unbelievable view looking down across the river. I had a veal schnitzel and
my wife had salmon.
Matthias Church stands high on the Buda side of the
river not far from the Royal Palace.It
is very visible from the Pest side of the Danube.It takes its name from King Matthias, who donated its two towers. The
official name is The Church of Our Lady.It
was built in the 13th century.The church suffered terrible damage during the 150 year Turkish
occupation. After the capture of
Buda, the church was used as the city’s main mosque.During that time, all of the ornate frescoes were whitewashed and its
furnishings were completely stripped.After
the overthrow of the Turks, attempts were made to reconstruct the building in
the baroque style, but they were unsuccessful.In 1723 a fire ruined the church and 25 years later it was struck by
lightning.At the end of the 19th
century the church began to regain its former splendor after a 23 year
restoration project. The
architect, Frigyes Schulek, added the diamond patterned rooftiles.
The interior wall and ceiling are covered in
colorful geometric patterns, amazing frescoes and stained glass windows.There are also gilded altars, a stone pulpit and many coats of arms.
The
second story featured some historic displays as well as wonderful vistas of the
interior of the church.There
was a bookstore that carried the model that I had made.I got into a conversation with a lady who was interested in my models and
gave her my card.I think she was
from Ohio. Click here to see the model of
Matthais Church.
FISHERMEN’S
BASTION
Behind Matthias Church , is a large, intriguing
structure know is the Fishermen’s Bastion.It was built in 1905 by Frigyes Schulek who had designed some of the
additions to Matthias Church. It is of a fairy tale design complete with
turrets, parapets, and flowing staircases.In part neo- Gothic and neo-Romanesque architecture, its seven round
towers are meant to represent the seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungry in
896.There are balconies along the
back side which provide breathtaking views of the Danube River and the Pest side
of the city.
The name came about becausea local fish market used to be located behind the church during medieval
times and it was the Fishermen’s Guild that defended this part of the Castle
grounds in the 18th century.In front of it is a large bronze equestrian statue of St. Stephen.
As I earlier wrote, when we arrived at the palace,
the security wouldn’t let anyone in the area of the funicular.We had bought round trip tickets. We had decided to buy a Hop on, Hop off
ticket but couldn’t find the bus stop. By the time we got back near the
funicular the security was gone so we went back down on the funicular.
We wanted to go to Gellert Hill.We asked several people which bus and got on the one most people
suggested.As we approach the area
at the bottom of the Gillert Hill, we decided to get off the bus and ask further
directions.We were opposite the
Gellert Hotel, so we went to the hotel and asked the concierge for directions.He a very kind man.He
suggested a taxi and took us out and negotiated a rate for us.The taxi took us to the top of the hill.
GELLERT
HILL
Gellert Hill rises 450 feet above the Danube.From below on the Pest waterfront, the statue of St. Gellert can be seen
high upon the hill.The statue
is built into the hill surrounded by a colonnade.The statue and the hill were named after Abbot Gellert, a Benedictine,
who was important during the Magyars’ conversion to Christianity under King
St. Stephen.Legend has it that
following the king’s death, Gellert was seized during a pagan rebellion in
1046 and thrown down the hill in a barrel full of nails.
There were a number of tourist buses on the
hilltop.We talked to several people
from the US who were on a tour.Again
it was a beautiful day and the views breathtaking (as well as the height).There is a citadel with a museum on the top. The
Citadel was built by the Habsburgs between 1850 and 1854 in order to better
control the city after their successful suppression of the Hungarian War of
Independence.Today it is open to
the public.Outside were numerous
stalls that sell the usual souvenirs and books, and several small cafes. Inside was
a small hotel and a museum. We decided not to go in as we were concerned on how
we were going to get back down.The
taxi driver told us that we might have a hard time finding transportation back
down. We got a flyer on the “Hop
on Hop Off “ bus and decided that
it was worth the price – at least we could get back down near our apartment.The ticket for this bus was for two days with a number of stops in the
city plus a river cruise.We took
the bus back down the hill and it stopped at the Pest side of the Elizabeth
Bridge near our apartment.
The Inner City ParishChurch
is located at the end of the Elizabeth Bridge near our apartment. It dates back
to the 12th century and is the oldest church in Pest.It is the site of St. Gellert’s grave.The church has undergone many changes of the years.It operated as a Gothic hall church in the 15th century, and a
mosque during the Turkish occupation of the 17th century.After a tremendous fire in 1723, it was rebuilt in the baroque style.When the Elizabeth Bridge was build after the war, they had to put
the church on wheels and moved it a little.The eastern half of the side of the church was old stone and the other
half was yellow stucco.They were
working on the front which had scaffolding on it.We went inside where we had to pay a few coins to take photos.It was a baroque interior.
We went back to our apartment for a short time to
rest. We went out again, stopped out at an outdoor café on the Vaci Utca
(Vaci Street around the corner from our apartment) for a drink, then to
McDonalds for a “gourmet dinner”. We had eaten a big lunch, and we
needed to get down the road for a 7:00 P.M. concert at the Palace of Art. It was
a 15 minute tram ride south along the River. My wife had wanted to see this
building as it was new and modern. We had read online about a free organ
recital. When we went in to the
ticket office, they said we had to have a ticket for a reserved seat. It was
free.We didn’t know we needed a
ticket even though it was free, and we were concerned that we wouldn’t get
into the concert.We really wanted
to see the Bela Bartoch hall, as well as hear the music.
THE PALACE OF ART
The concert hall was full and our ticket was for
the next to the last row in the 4th floor balcony.The space was huge and very modern.We
didn’t have a program and didn’t recognize the music.Even though we enjoyed the music very much, we decided to leave at the
intermission as we had had a long day and needed to get back home and get to bed.
It is hard to say which city we like best, but
Budapest is really beautiful as was the weather the past three days…rather hot
though. We found more signs on stores in English than we did in Prague or
Berlin. Budapest also suffered during WWII. Before we let home my
wife had finished a book called “The Invisible Bridge” by Julie Orringer.
It is about Budapest and Paris during the beginning of the war. I brought
it along and am about half through it. We both highly recommend it.
ere
working on the front which had scaffolding on it.
needed to get back home and get to bed.