Parliament in Budapest

The Hungarian Parliament, Pest side, a dusk.

Gellert Hill and the Gellert Baths

The bridge has been crossed and on the Buda side of the Duna is Gellert Hill:

That's the Cave Church, a church built in a cave in Gellert Hill. And in top right corner you can see the notorious Liberation Monument, honoring the "liberation" of Hungary by the Soviet Red Army in WWII. This is the facade of the cave church:

The climb to the entrance of the Cave Church is a breeze. Just a short way up the hillside and there is a monument to Szent István, the founder of Hungary. You may know Szent István as "St. Stephen," the one whose feast we remember Good King Wencelas looking out upon. Everything relates back to everything else around these parts.

The Liberty Bridge from a slightly higher elevation:

This is going to be a steep climb up the side of Gellert Hill, so you will see pictures of the Liberty Bridge from higher and higher elevations, assuming I make it to the top of Gellert Hill. (See. I'm creating dramatic tension as to whether I actually complete the long, steep, many-stepped climb to the top of Gellert Hill, a challenging climb that has been previously completed only by world class athletes, tourists, small children, and elderly Asian ladies.) So, before embarking on this tortuous climb, I pause for a photo:

Actually, I paused to tour the Cave Church. No flash photography inside. And there's not enough light for decent non-flash pictures, it being a cave and all. I tried -- I failed -- at taking pictures inside.

It is a very interesting structure. It's a cave! It's a church! It's a Cave Church! It was sealed shut with a concrete barricade during the communist era, but it re-opened in 1991 after the emancipation. It is small. The main chapel could probably hold only a couple of dozen for mass. The icons are beautiful and in multiple media. This cross marks the spot of the Cave Church on Gellert Hill:

It's across a street from the thermal bath entrance of the Gellert Hotel:

Climb some more and then look down onto the plaza in front of the Gellert Hotel:

Climb some more and look down, once again, on the Libert Bridge:

Climb some more and look down on Pest, across the Blue Danube:

Climb some more and pose for my modeling portfolio:

I am weary. I am tired to the core (but looking rather radiant in that picture, dontcha think?). Yet I find the strength to climb some more. Then, I spy, through the trees:

The Liberation Monument at the top of Gellert Hill! Just two more sets of stairs to climb and I'm at the summit:

I made it to the top. For the record, I do want to point out that, as I climbed, I did pass several of the elderly Asian women who were making the climb at the same time I was. Go me! Anyway, the monument is flanked by two other statues:

I think they are generally more interesting than the main statue:


The views of the Pest and the Mighty Duna from up there are quite nice:


I was tired after the climb. Time to head for the Gellert for a soak!

I can't show you pictures of thermal spa portion of the Gellert, only the lobby. There are plenty of pictures of the gender-segregated bathing areas of the Gellert, with their aquamarine tiles and half-cylindrical glass ceiling. The waters are warm, except for the cold pool you jump into after a spritz in the scalding-hot steamroom. The Gellert offers a number of your typical spa treatments, plus one that it is not part of the spa menu at any resort with which I am familiar:

Dentistry! Hungary is known throughout the EU for its cheap, decent-quality dentistry. Here, at the Gellert, it's a spa treatment right there with the massage, facials, and bikini waxing. Let's finish with a few exterior shots of the hotel entrance to the Gellert:

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:

Good-bye Győr, Hello Budapest

I spent the night in Győr at the Hotel Famulus. Just about everyone else staying there was with the English youth judo and karate team. The European championships for youth judo and karate were being held over the weekend in Győr. But I will be missing those because Budapest is calling me.

I got on the train beyond for Budapest-Keleti. It was an express (four stops on the one and a half-hour ride). A quick roll of the luggage bags into the Budapest Metro, then onto a tram, and I was soon at the Hotel Palazzo Zichy, which I'm guessing is named for this gentleman, whose statue is in the small square next to the hotel:

The hotel is at the corner of Maria and Krudy Gyula, catty-corner from a small Catholic Church:

The exterior is sort of that contemporary sleek non-descript look. But the interiors and the rooms are quite nice, albeit European small:

The bathroom even has a drinking fountain for your pets:

Apparently Europeans love to travel with their cats and dogs.

Győr for the night

I'm in Győr for the night because, for the second year in a row, I absolutely could not find the rental car return at all under any circumstances. I was supposed to return the rental car to the Budapest Airport rental car office. Except that Fox Auto-Rent, otherwise a great company, does not have any signs as to where to return rental cars. There are signs at the international terminal for rental car return, but they will lead you to a sign tht has "Rental Car Return" X-ed out with a big red "X". I saw the pick up locations for Hertz and Budget, but not Fox.

Last year, I spent three hours driving around Zagreb, Croatia, looking for the Hertz in-town car rental location. I even stopped and asked for directions several times. I drove around so much that I had to go back to the outskirts of town to refill the gas tank. After I was opelessly late and would have to pay for another day anyhow, I decided to just drive back to Győr, where I knew the car rental was located. I checked in so they would no the car wasn't stolen. I decided to head to Sopron, on the Austrian border, to see if I could find the Pan European Picnic Memorial. I got delayed because the front finally came through and it started raining around the Budapest beltway all the way to Győr. The rain let up by the time I got to Sopron, but so did the daylight. I was probably about another 15 minutes from the Memorial, presuming that I could have found it first try. So I headed back to Győr for the night so I can turn in the Mercedes first thing in the morning and head to Budapest by train.

The picture above is of a traffic circle / roundabout / rotary (depending on which part of the country you're from) near Sopron, which is about the farthest I made it. It's got a globe in the middle! Hungary makes extensive use of the traffic circle and they are curprisingly easy to navigate because they are the best-marked stretch of road anywhere in Hungary. Road exits aren't marked until you are right on them, and I've been confused a number of times about which exit to take when. But the circles are exceptionally well-marked and I never made a wrong turn in one.

Eger Castle

The last item on my Eger agenda was a visit to Eger Castle, perched over top the city (and my Hotel Senator-Ház).

Eger Castle plays an important role in the Hungarian national psyche. As I said before, it was the site of an important battle in which Christianity defeated Islam (woo hoo!), I mean, the Magyars defeated the Ottomans, in 1552, temporarily stopping the Ottoman advance in Europe.

As seen above. It is for that reason that the castle grounds are lousy with Hungarian schoolchildren.

Here's a group of about 6514 (give or take a few) who came into the castle courtyard making an unholy racket. Quiet down, you kids. And stay off the castle lawn.

I walked up to the castle.

For some reason they keep putting these up steep hills, instead of down in nice pleasant valleys. What's up with that? (I know. I know. I'm just being crotchety.)

Excellent views of the city from up here.

Say, isn't that the rum spice-colored Minorite Church down there?

That's the view looking south, while this is the view looking west, into the city:

That's a higher view facing westward, where you can see just a smidge of Dobó Square. And in this one, you can see the Minaret.

It doesn't look quite as crooked, but I'm definitely glad that opted not to climb the 97 stairs to the top. I don't know if you can from this picture, but the viewpoint is a very thin looking metal balcony around the top of the Minaret. It is open and it doesn't look all that strong to hold my 250 pounds of [insert noun]. Discretion. Valor. I know minarets are where the calls to prayer are made from and if I tried to climb that, I certainly would have been calling out some prayers. And speaking of me ...

Here I am. And isn't that the rum spice-colored MInorite Church over my left shoulder?