We began with the Museum of Applied Art, as much for the building as the exhibit, with its Zsolnay tiled roof and facade designed by Odon Lechner.
We were surprised when we entered as we felt we were in a Moghul palace, a style apparently chosen as at one time it was thought that the Magyars came from India.
The exhibits showcase the best of design both donated and bought to inspire Budapest artists and craftsmen. My favourite was a lovely iridescent floor vase.
While we were there, we listened to classical music played by students practising for a show of design and fashion that evening. I also chose a souvenir, a wonderfully tactile purple Birdy by Judit Karsay, one Hungary’s wave of new designers.
We took the metro under the Danube to Buda and from Batthyany ter, had a great view of Parliament.
We walked through the Vizivaros area and stopped for lunch at Nagyi Palacsintazoja or Granny’s Pancakes – one mushroom and one curd cheese with dill followed by an apple and walnut one for dessert!
On to Király Baths, one of the oldest remaining Turkish bath-houses in Budapest built in 1570 for the Buda garrison during the 150 years of Ottoman rule. The crumbling green C18 facade didn’t bode well, but we could see the green domes hiding behind the trees.
Inside all was sparkling white tiles and spotless and incredibly efficient as we paid, changed in a cabin and descended to the baths. This older part of the building was like entering a different world, subdued lighting and stone walls, with the octagonal pool below lit by star shaped apertures in the dome.
So we soaked in the middle pool, had a spell in the hotter pool, a steam and I plunged into the cold pool before relaxing again in the main pool watching the light come through the roof. A 30 minute massage certainly eased out leg muscles after all our walking and we left feeling quite relaxed.
That evening we took the tram to the area that had the old Jewish Quarter at it’s centre. We thought we’d check out another ruin bar called Instant, but also although similar to Szimplakert, it was far less attractive and early evening was almost empty, so we moved on … There were also several restaurants I thought we could try, but the only one we really liked was Mazeltov and it was completely booked, so we’ve reserved a table for Sunday. So with best laid plans and aching feet we dined at Bob’s Pizza, where Chris had pizza and I had the famous Chicken Paprikash, a stew made with paprika and sour cream and we shared a bottle of Egri Bikaver or Bull’s Blood, a famous local red wine which went down very nicely.
We had bought a day ticket for the metro so thought we’d make full use of it and stopped by the river on the way home to get some photos of Budapest at night.
Off Travelling Together 