Europa Cafe where we ate Hungarian Food, YUM
Fisherman's Bastian
Mathias Church
Tour guide and
Fashion purses in Budapest
Various Buildings in Budapest
Budapest Zoo
Pollach Mihaly Square & Central Market
Hero's Square
Royal Buda Palace
House of Parliament
Museum of Fine Art & National Museum
Ice skating Rink & Lake
Szechenyi Thermal Baths
Vadjdahumyad Castle
Statue of St. Gellert
The Citadel overlooking Buda and Pest, Danube River
Budapest Synagogue
Houses on Andrassy Street
After spending most of the afternoon at the Seminar, we went back to the Hotel, we transferred all of the computers into the room and walked to the Plaza that was right along the Danube River. Fortunately it was just a few blocks away. A young man with a portable vending stand showing tours approached us and asked if we wanted to see Budapest. We had the choice of a 1 hour tour or a two hour tour. Of course we took the 2 hour tour and he was very gracious to walk us around the corner where the tour started. His name was Adam and we talked a lot about his life before becoming a tour guide. Very nice, of course we put our plug in for the church. We got the grand tour in an open air bus for 20.00 euros a piece. Not bad as we probably would have spent that in gas running all over the city, which is big by the way.
Before explaining our tour, I have to tell you about the history of Buda and Pest. It starts with the hunter gather peoples and goes through the Celts, the Romans, the Middle Ages to the present day. The first fortress was built around 12 AD on the Buda side of the Danube River which is today the Capital of Hungary.
I can hardly find the words for the sights that we saw, MARVELOUS, FABULOUS, and UNBELIEVABLE would be three of them. Hero's Square was my favorite place on the tour. It has statues of great Hungarian warriors, writers and composers. Even Michael Jackson made a music video here. Matthias Church in Trinity Square dates back to the Early Middle Ages. It is very important to the Hungarian people because of the coronations held here. Inside is a black Madonna from the 17th Century. Fisherman's Bastion which looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle is a beautiful building made of turrets and parapets. The huge Buda Palace was built in the 1300's by the Hungarian King Charles Robert, who came from the Italian Anjou Dynasty. It was built with different colored stones and is considered one of Europe's greatest castles. It was massive and seems to overwhelm you when you first see it.
Parliament is the largest building in Budapest, almost 3 football fields long. It is patterned after England's West Minister Abbey, but not quite as long. It is said to be the most beautiful parliament in Europe. St. Stephen's Basilica is shaped like a Greek cross. It holds many works of fine art from artists such as Mor Than, Szekely, Benczur and Ferenzy. It even has the mummified right hand of St. Stephen, the most esteemed relic of Hungary and is housed in a glass box. Museum of Fine Art houses one of Europe's top Foreign collections. You will find paintings of artists such a Rafaello, El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Durer, Leonardo and Manet. They also have the 2nd largest Spanish art collection outside of Spain. Thought my brother Bill would find this information interesting.
We saw the neatest ice skating rink near the zoo. It is also a lake during the summer with boats for rent. It is the home to speed skating championships. The Zoo has one of the best restaurants in Budapest, the Wampetics. It is said to have the most wonderful Hungarian Food. The zoo also houses the most beautiful building inside, the Elephant house. Of course we were not able to see the inside of these places as we were on a tour and it was too late in the evening to be able to get off and on the bus at our leisure. The Szecheyi are known for its thermal baths which are hot. They are so hot that they use it for heating before it is piped into the bath house to be used for bathing and swimming. It is one of the largest in Europe and was discovered in 1879. There are 3 outside pools and 20 inside ones. Along with that they have 3 saunas with a Chinese ice bath if you are brave enough to try it.
The Vajdahumyad Castle was originally built of cardboard for the 1896 World's Fair but rebuilt in stone later. I thought this looked really old. We saw the Statue of St. Gellert who was the priest to St. Stephens as well as a tutor to his son. During the Pagan rebellions in 1046, he was captured and hurled down Kelen Hill in a barrel. Up on the Hill is also the Citadel built in 1850. Here is a cluster of giant statues. There is a huge statue erected by the Russian government but was allowed to remain under the liberated Budapest. From this vantage point which is on the Buda side, we could see for miles. The City of Buda divided by the Danube from the city of Pest. Pest being flat for level land whereas Buda is hilly. The Budapest Synagogue has seating for 3,000 people. They have two floors, one for women and one for men. We went by the home of Franz Lizst, my favorite composer. I love classical music but I also like the Scorpians, because they are from Germany. We were able to see the houses on Andrassy Street, the prettiest avenue in Budapest. We passed by the Avenue of schools of which one produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other school in the world. Most of the successful men were Jews and lived here since the time of Christ and perhaps earlier. They were properous, creative, innovative and they contributed much to the culture and education of the populations. They were persecuted by the Christians, even expelled from the City and eventually able to return after a few hundred years. The first time they were forced to leave their expensive homes, furniture and land, taking only the clothes they wore and a wagon and horse to carry some food. This occurred in every nation in Europe and the Middle East that was ruled by Muslims. However, the Jews record in their histories that the Islamic nations treated them better than the Christian nations did. In my observations of history, every nation that drove out Jews suffered economically, culturally and spiritually. They entered a period of decline, wars and indebtedness. Uneducated masses followed the expulsions of Jews. In other words, they were a blessing to every nation that allowed them to live, work and worship as others did.
Sister Walters did the best she could with the photos as we were on a moving bus with people sitting all round us. We just wish we could have had more time to walk around this place. On our way back to our hotel we did shop around a bit and I bought a doll (shaped like an egg that is painted as a girl and inside are smaller and smaller eggs all painted. Mine has a total of 8 dolls. They are much in demand. All are hand painted with only the colors of Hungary, red, green and black. They have others that are from Russia but they use other colors. That is how you know the difference. Gene also bought some steins, is that a no no since we are LDS? I think not, they are tradition. After shopping, we ate at a Hungarian restaurant and had some traditional food. We loved it. A little on the spicy side, but good. Walked back to the hotel and spent the night because tomorrow we will drive to Vienna, Austria and see the sights there.
