Budapest, Hungary - Part I

My apologies for not getting a post done this past week while we were in Budapest. The internet connection at the hotel was inconsistent when I wrote the first post from there and it took over an hour. After the first day, access was no longer free. What was odd was the rates were 1500 Forint for one hour, 4000 Forint for two hours, and 40000 Forint for 24 hours. Did you notice anything in this? 1500 for 1, 4000 for 2??? (By the way, it is $6.00, US, for every 1000 forint, more or less.) Since Carl had his e-mail access on his blackberry, and we were pretty much on the go the whole time, we did not pay for internet access.

Okay... on to Budapest....

We stayed at the Hilton Hotel in the Castle District in Buda. It is a 5 star hotel, and definitely earned that rating. Hess A. ter 1-3, Budapest, Hungary H-1014 (Google maps)

The Castle District is suppose to be one of the most romantic pedestrian sections in Budapest. It is a medieval little town with atmospheric streets, picturesque houses, gas lamps and beautiful monuments. The main street of the district - Tárnok Street - ranges from Dísz Square to Matthias Church. The Hilton is located next to this church. While we were there is was under reconstruction. The streets are winding and narrow, and the houses along them date back to the Middle Ages.



There are a lot of little shops along the streets. (Pooh liked to shop by the way.)



In a side wing of the hotel you can view the ruins of a medieval Dominican cloister. This picture was taken from inside the hotel looking down. The right hand side is the new part of the hotel, and the left hand side is part of the 13th-15th century St Nicholas Church which was part of the Dominican Monastery. This is part of the hotel as well and the hotel's wine cellar is the original wine cellar of the church.



I had mentioned earlier that Budapest was actually two cities. In reality, Budapest had been three cities, Buda, Pest and Óbuda. Buda is on the right side of the Danube River, Pest and Obuda on the left. Buda is the high ground over looking the Danube. The capital city of Hungary, Budapest, was created out of the unification of these separate historic towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873. Although it is now one city, it is still referred to by their separate names by the locals.

When Hungary was invaded and devastated by the Mongols (1241-1242), King Béla ordered new castles and fortresses to be built all around the country. The first was in Buda, and from then on became known as Castle Hill. This is a view of Castle Hill from below (and one from the Danube River while we were on the dinner cruise). Matthias Church can be seen with the scaffolding on the steeple, with Castle walls surrounding the hill. Our hotel is the newer looking building on the right, with the Fisherman's Bastion in front of it. That is what can be seen from our hotel window as well.




The Fishermen's Bastion (designed by Frigyes Schluek) is made up of seven round towers - each one symbolising the seven Magyar tribes that made up the region, and created the country a thousand years earlier. It was built in a Romanesque style. (Below are three pictures I "borrowed" from someone else to show it from different angles.) According to tradition, the area directly behind the church housed a local fish market during medieval times - hence the name of the Bastion. During the 18th century, the Guild of Fisherman are also said to have traditionally defended this part of the castle wall.



These are pictures we took when we went exploring around the Fishermen's Bastion, and the surrounding castle walls.



Looking down the Danube River, is Margaret Island. It is a beautiful park now, but had been a royal hunting ground. It was named for the pious daughter of Ling Bela IV. She joined the Dominican nuns in their convent in 1252 and remained a nun until her death.



The statue is of Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490). He became King in 1458 (he was 15). was King of Hungary and Croatia ruling between 1458 and 1490. He was also crowned King of Bohemia in 1469 and ruled Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia; from 1486, Matthias was Duke of Austria. Oh - and Pooh was with us too. :-) King Matthais was one of Hungary's greatest rulers. Under his rule, Hungary reached its greatest territorial expansion. The name Corvinus comes from the Latin word corvus, meaning raven, which was a part of his family coat of arms. We saw statues and pictures of Ravens everywhere. He was educated in Italian and spoke Hungarian, Latin, Czech, Slovak, German, Croatian, and other Slavic languages. He was born in what is now present day Cluj-Napoca in Romania.



Behind this statue is a beautiful church. Officially named the Church of Our Lady, this symbol of Buda's Castle District is popularly known as Matthias Church after Matthias Corvinus who contributed the towers and who was twice married here.

The structure that originally stood here dates to the mid-13th century. However, like other old churches in Budapest, Matthias Church has an interesting history of destruction and reconstruction, and was constantly being refashioned in the architectural style that was popular at the time of reconstruction.

The last two Hungarian kings (Habsburgs) were crowned in this church: Franz Joseph in 1867 (Liszt wrote and performed his Coronation Mass for the occasion) and Charles IV in 1916.

The church interior is decorated with works by two outstanding 19th-century Hungarian painters, Károly Lotz and Bertalan Székely.

We tried to get some decent pictures inside, but it was crowded and dark.




Further down the way from the hotel is the Royal Palace. The first picture is another "borrowed" one to show the entire area of Royal Palace (also known as the Buda Castle). It was originally built in the 13th century, but was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the past centuries.



This is a statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the equestrian Prince.


The Matthais Fountain is located in a courtyard at the Royal Palace. It was built in 1904. The story behind the fountain comes from a 19th century ballad by Hungarian poet Mihaly Vorosmarty. It represents King Matthias Corvinus on a hunting expedition with a peasant girl, Ilonka, who meets him and falls in love with him. A tradition says that anyone who wishes to return to Budapest should throw some coins into the fountain.



The changing of the guard at the castle is very similar to most other castle guard changes you can see throughout Europe. As the guards are doing their formations, another guard is on the balcony playing.



From the Royal Palace you can see the Chain Bridge. This is the most famous Budapest landmark. The bridge was opened in 1849 and was the first permanent bridge in the Hungarian capital. It is suppose to be a very romantic place in Hungary. On each end are two lions. (More pictures of this to follow.)



We walked further down and came across these uncovered walls. No one we spoke to could tell us what they were. A set of stairs led to an underground wine cellar.



We continued walking to the other part of the Royal Palace. (Seen above in the second picture.) We did not go down and into the courtyard however. You were not allowed in it, just allowed to walk around the courtyard.



Well, my intent when I started this post (12 hours ago) was to create one long post all about our week in Budapest. After doing this one off and on all day, I believe now I will break it into multiple posts. I still have the Pest pictures, and the Danube cruise pictures, and so many Pooh pictures, one post is not enough. Unfortunately, that made this post only the boring pieces and not all the fun pictures we took.

We took Pooh everywhere we went, with the exception of the formal dinner party we had to attend. He went all around Buda, Pest, the Danube.... and everyone we were with fell in love with him and the reason he was there. The people we were with were from all over the world - Turkey, UK, Australia, Egypt, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Korea, China, Germany, Hungary (of course!) .... and more.

We flew in late last night and are trying to readjust to the time difference. Carl actually left again this afternoon on another business trip until Thursday. I, on the other hand, took tomorrow off as well. :-)

Tomorrow I will post again with more pictures. My last post about Hungary will be a special message for Karissa (but that is all I will say about it). That may not be until Wednesday night though.

To close this post, here are a few pictures from the flight home.

Budapest Airport:


Getting ready for takeoff:


After landing in Munich and changing planes... we were ready to head for home. This is us leaving Munich:



Almost home! Well, technically we had another 90 minutes of driving once we landed. Thank goodness we had a car and driver waiting for us.


I will post more tomorrow. Good night.