Our flight arrived at lunchtime, and a short bus and train journey brought us to Budapest Rooms, a family-run B&B tucked down a quiet back street behind the Hungarian National Museum on the Pest side of Budapest. We were welcomed by Atilla who showed us our lovely big room with a high ceiling and overlooking the street.
We walked through Karolyi Garden …
… then on to Central Kavehaz, one of Budapest’s oldest coffee shops, which first opened in 1877 and attracted various writers and composers in its heyday.
I had to try the Dobos torta with layers of sponge and chocolate cream and caramel on top, while Chris had a flodni-fantazia flavoured with almond and filled with apple and both were delicious. The whole experience was very sophisticated … the grand interior, our smartly dressed waiter and the beautiful cakes. We couldn’t help worrying about an angel we saw as we were leaving … so many questions … where was she from … where was she going … was she a fallen angel … was she trapped or in safe keeping?
Approaching the Danube, we saw a figure of a woman high on the opposite bank holding a palm branch and discovered this is the Liberation Monument commemorating Soviet soldiers who died liberating Budapest from the Nazis.
We caught Tram number 2 …
… which took us along the riverbank to Kossuth Square …
… with the huge Parliament building, looking a little like an elaborate wedding cake, which we photographed from every angle. The architect, Imre Steindl started with Neo-Gothic and mixed in medieval and national features as well as his own style. His design was chosen in a competition and inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of Hungary in 1896.
One of the runner-up designs was built opposite and is the Museum of Ethnography.
There are lots of statues in the square as well as soldiers marching round a flagpole looking very important.
… and an amazing view across the Danube to Buda.
Returning along the Danube Promenade we passed the Holocaust Memorial, lots of shoes on the edge marking the spot where hundreds of Jewish adults and children were gunned down by the Hungarian Facists in 1945. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and it represents their shoes left behind on the bank.
We then turned our attention to the view across the river in Buda where the most prominent feature is The Var or Varhegy which means Castle Hill. This 1500m long plateau, surrounded by walls and bastions, contains the Huge Royal Palace to the left and Matyas Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion on the right.
The Lanchid or Chain Bridge, designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark and opened in 1849, was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary and considered a modern wonder. It was such an icon of Budapest that after WW2 it was rebuilt exactly the same.
Interestingly, it is a larger scale version of his earlier bridge which crosses the Thames at Marlow.
There is a good view of the bridge from outside the very swanky Gresham Palace, an Art Nouveau gem which has been beautifully restored and reopened as a luxury hotel. It was built by Gresham Life Assurance as company offices and residence for senior staff and opened in 1907.
Miksa Róth was commissioned to make the stained glass and ceramics came from the Pécs Zsolnay porcelain factory and no expense was spared.
The sculpture over the door is of the 16th-century English financier Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the Royal Exchange in London, looking like a jaunty captain.
We considered a cocktail in the lounge but it was a little early … and a little expensive! Outside, we saw a convoy of tour Trabants …
We continued on and our next stop was at the Vigado Concert Hall, opened in 1859 and recently restored and looking very smart. It is in the Romantic Style with a striking facade decorated with muses and the interior has a lovely painted ceiling.
Sitting on the railing by the tramline is the Little Princess, looking more like an imp in her tinker bell hat. She was created by László Marton in 1990.
Watching football was certainly not on my list of must-have experiences in Budapest, but Liverpool were playing in the final of the Europa Cup on our first evening and Attilla recommended Champs Sports Bar so we booked a table. Something that definitely was on our list was to visit a ruin bar so we thought we’d go for a beer first. They are uniquely a Budapest trend, so take a derelict building, fill it with wacky this and that, build a bar, invite a band serve some drinks and hopefully it will take off! Simplakert seems to have got the mix right as it was busy early evening and certainly quirky!
Returning to Champs, Chris was excited that Liverpool had reached a second final this year and hoping they would win this time! Alas, while the boys did play well, not quite well enough to win, but an OK game.
Another Liverpool bet that failed to deliver the dream! Chris’s next deluded dream is England winning the Euros, no bet placed yet, will report in next blog from France (couldn’t get tickets, shame that!) Fortunately the atmosphere was good and the food fine, although I had trouble finishing my Wiener schnitzel.
Off Travelling Together 