Eight years ago we had five days in Budapest after a cruise, and enjoyed every moment. Now we’re back for a couple of days, and torn between repeating old things and taking on new adventures. We spend our first morning on the former and the afternoon on the latter.
Hungary has had more that it’s fair share of historical trauma, since 1000AD when Saint Stephen first established a Christian Kingdom, through the upheavals of unwelcome vistors: Mongols, Turks, Austrians, Hapsburgs, and finally Russians. Our quide today talks mostly about the latter, and of course the appaling consequeces of the 1956 uprising (one of many, as she resignedly points out) and more recently, since 1989 when the Iron Curtain fell, and how the transiation from Communism to Capitalism has affected the lives of Hungarians.
We start with a drive around Pest, in otherwords the Right Bank, which is the newer sector of the city. We don’t take photos because we will return, but it is good to remind ourselves of the various districts and sights we remember from 2017. Before long we are crossing the chain bridge, the first one to be built, and into the Buda side, which is much older. Of course now the two cities are one, but there remains a friendly rivalry between the two sides of the river Danube.
Our first, well only, stop is on Castle Hill, the site of the former palace, and many government buildings, and is undergoing considerable restoration. Indeed there are some newly replicated old buildings we didn’t see last time, the first two photos. We start by taking a look over the Buda hills in the distance, where a lot of the 1.8 million population of Busdapest live, before heading to Matthias Church, parts of which allgedly date back to Saint Stephen in C11, although it’s present incarnation started in C15.
This beautiful church has somehow survived all the troubles albeit repurposed as a Mosque at times, it’s firmly back to Roman Catholic now. Two kings have been crowned here and of Franz Joseph I you will hear more later.
After this we walk to Fisherman’s Bastian, a 100m+ long walkway perched on the side of Castle Hill, probably named after the fisherman’s market. It affords good views back across the Danube to parliament on the Pest side. We spend the rest of our free time wandering the area, and find the Hospital in the Rock, which is new to us, and part of the bomb shelter we didn’t know existed here in the tunnels under Castle Hill. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take the tour. I try out Houdini’s famous safe trick, as we walk past a museum celebrating his birth-city.
Our guide talks about the cost of living – average salary €1500 and a modest 70m2 apartment €1200 means pretty much the same problem as in cities elsewhere in the world. Fortunately for older people, owner occupation is quite high having been able to buy post communist units at good prices.
We return to the boat briefly before walking back into Pest, past Saint Stephen’s Church and along Andrassay Ut, the Main Street with the most fabulous shops and buildings, not unlike Champs-Élysées in grandure or prices!
Our destination today is one we couldn’t do in 2017 because it was being refurbished, the Hungarian State Opera House. This magnificent building is said to rival that in Vienna, but Franz Joseph I insisted that it should be built smaller so as not to upset his other kingdom. Allegedly, however, he said this one is more beautiful!
We enjoy an in-depth tour, including the King’s private rooms, and the Director’s and actually get to sit in the box next to the Royal box, where the guard would have sat. The tour ends with a short performance on the main staircase, a new experience with wonderful acoustics. Opposite is the former ballet school, now an hotel.
On our return we visit Saint Stephen’s interestingly the same architect as the Opera House, Miklós Ybl clearly knows how to build big. The church is of course magnificent, and we conclude by going to the viewing platform which is roughly at the height of the dome. The views over Budapest are amazing.
Dinner is early, we think it’s annoying but we have to work around it. During dinner the three Viking boats tied together at our jetty do a shuffle – the outermost boat sails into the Danube, we remain tied to another whilst we then sail out into the river, and the third sneaks back in, pushing us out more into the river, presumably we will be first to leave tomorrow evening.
We get a short walk after dinner, just up to parliament. We walk past the harrowing shoes memorial which tells the tale of 60,000 Jews who were sent to camps from Hungary, including 3500 who were shot on these steps and thrown into the Danube. We are back in time for a classical concert, a flautist and pianist, who give an excellent recital to a very small number of customers in the lounge.
