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Sunday, October 9, 2011

Walking to Gellert Hill

It was a dreary gloomy day in Budapest. The front had gone through yesterday and temperatures were down about 20 degrees from the perfect walking-around weather I had been experiencing (sunny, mid 70s) to this (overcast, occasional spitting rain, mid 50s). Still, they're not going to bring the sights of Budapest to me. Time to get out and wander the neighborhood.

The above picture is the transportation hub Kálvin tér. North is the Hungarian National Museum. Northwest is Vaci utca and the heart of tourist Budapest. Southwest is the Great Market Hall, the Liberty Bridge and Gellert Hill. East? That would take me out of the tourist zone of Budapest. Beyond this place there be dragons.

First, northward:

This is the Hungarian National Museum, or, if you prefer, the straight-on view:

Just behind it is the attractive older building not identified in any of my tourist guidebooks, so I won't pretend to know it's name or it's purpose:

But right next door to that older building is this bit of mid-century ugliness:

One of many of the communist urban planners' crimes against architecture. Moving southwesterly from there, toward the Liberty Bridge and my destination of the afternoon, I spy the Great Market Hall, one of the architectural masterpieces of Budapest.

It closes early on Saturday, not re-open until Monday. I will check out the interior then and do some souvenir shopping inside. Outside, note the extensive use of colorful Zsolnay tiles. (I got that from one of my guidebooks.)

From the Great Market Hall, you can see the Liberty Bridge:

Walking past the Great Market Hall toward the bridge:

And to the bridge:

The mighty Duna, a.k.a., Danube:

Buda to the left, Pest to the right:

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