Budapest-March 2011

We are on an adventure in Budapest with Ben and Ruth for a long weekend. After a really pleasant flight on Malev (Hungarian National Airline) and a rapid ride (nothing like being met by some stranger holding a sign with your name on it) through Pest to the Buda hills and the "castle district" where we are staying; we are off to see Budapest. The weather is cold and damp and will remain so throughout most of our stay in Budapest. Our hotel is located next door to the Church of Our Lady commonly known as Matthias Church. King Matthias Corvinus was married twice in the church and is considered by many if not all Hungarians to have been their greatest king.

Looking across the Danube to the Pest side of Budapest we see St. Istvan's(Stephen) Basilica, named after Hungary's first Christian king. We must catch a cab(we will come back to cabs later) to get to the Pest side where most of the historic attractions are located and in my opinion the best restaurants are also to be found. We especially enjoyed eating in the Opera House/Theater District of Pest.

By the way, a visit to the Opera House is a must; what a beautiful building inside and surprisingly some unique features outside including a couple of sphinx statues guarding the front and a very intricately designed covered carriage way for those attending the opera.

Also, a little bit of whimsy is present in front of the Opera House...does anyone beside us think of Lily Tomlin when looking at this picture..."one ringy-dingy"?

So here we are in Budapest on a Friday night looking for a great restaurant, which fortunately we stumble upon after leaving the Opera House. I ordered country chicken in wild mushrooms and dumplings and of course a beer; Soproni lager which was a thumbs up. I tried a second Hungarian beer called Dreher(thumbs down) and did not really care for the taste. I also ordered (as I would every night) a bowl of Hungarian goulash, which could have had a bit more spice (Paprika) in it, although the meat and vegetables tasted great. Madlyn had a salmon fillet over garlic potatoes and a very pleasant glass of red wine (yeah, I know red wine and fish!).We also treated ourselves to a piece of strudel, and it was wonderful!

You know how some people really leave their inhibitions at home when they travel, well, we had to talk Ben and Ruth off of the motor scooters before we could leave the restaurant...kids, go figure!

This has been a great evening to start our visit to Budapest. We walk back towards the "walking streets" area to catch a cab. There are more people out, even though it is quite chilly, actually cold tonight. Ben slips into a hotel to order a cab back to our hotel in Buda. We figure he would come back out,however, he does not and we go looking for him. He smiles and asks us what took us so long to come inside? The cab arrives and it is a quick and cheap ride(This would be the story of the trip.Cheap rides back to the hotel and expensive rides from the hotel...I paid the rides from the hotel!)

Ben and Ruth decide to call it a night and Madlyn and I head out for a walk around the castle district, which has been rejuvenated in most part, with small projects still under construction(this includes Matthias Church). The photo below is part of the wall of the Hilton in the Castle District; when constructed, Hilton incorporated part of the church wall into the facade of the hotel.

It is strange (to me any way) to have a hotel right next door to a historic structure such as the Matthias Church. Our room looks out onto the roof of the church, which has the most unique tiles I have ever seen covering the roof. I will be able to shoot some better shots of this distinct structure on Monday morning when the sun finally arrives in Budapest. We are off to bed, tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us in Budapest, topped off by a special dinner at a restaurant recommended by Ben's co-worker(who is Hungarian by birth) in Tirana.

Saturday morning and we are walking towards the bus stop for the "Hop On-Hop Off" bus which will take us into Pest and various historical areas to visit. The streets in the Castle District are already full of tourists; we grab a quick coffee and Pepsi Lite just as the bus arrives. You cannot miss this bright red double-decker bus as it comes to a halt in front of us; dump the Pepsi and on we go to the upper deck of the bus...never been on one of these, not a bad view from this level, although obscured by foggy windows!

Our first stop is the Citadel that commands the hills below and was constructed by the Austrians to control Buda; subsequently used during WWII and suffered significant damage, resulting in a renovation with tourists in mind.

A brief stop, just enough for a photograph and then back on the bus to the Pest side of the Danube River. Fortunately we will get off and do our "own" thing rather than take the complete tour at once; we have all day to use the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. We exit at Stop #14 and walk down Vaci Utca(Street) towards the historical Market Hall.

Vaci Utca is one of BudaPests' "walking streets"; it is a large street that has been turned into a beautiful shop(read really expensive) lined walkway. It is drizzling a bit as we wander down Vaci, which is alive with people and creatures of all ages, shapes and colors!
The "Great" Market Hall looms in front of us as we wait for the trolley(Budapest has a great transportation system of bus, subway and trolley) to pass before crossing the street and entering. This place is huge, three floors with the main floor packed with stalls selling produce, salamis, goose livers(and I mean a lot of goose livers!), bakeries and butcher shops. The produce looks wonderful,nice presentation by the vendors...gotta love radishes.

We are following the directions in the Rick Steve's guide book to buy Paprika at the Great Market Hall; and of course he is right, the Paprika is the same packaging at significantly lower costs and the vendor has read the Steve's Guide Book! Oh, the picture is where you turn; you don't buy your Paprika at this one.

Back on the bus and over to the Parliament Building for a tour of this majestic structure; not happening, underestimated the draw of the Parliament and had to give up our chance to gaggles of school aged children.

We walk over to the riverbank to see the Holocaust Memorial of the "shoes". We cannot get to the riverbank from our location, however, we locate the memorial and I cross through traffic to a small island wall and take a photograph of pairs of bronze shoes aligned at the edge of the bank of the Danube; in the grey drizzle of the cold rain, the harshness of the reality of the meaning of the empty shoes is quite evident.

There is a metal bridge located next to our bus stop that has a bronze statue of Imre Nagy (a national hero) posed on the bridge to watch the goings on in Parliament.

It is a must for a photograph of friends in Budapest; do be careful walking up the metal crossbeams(in the rain they are a bit slippery)that comprise the bridge.
And indeed it is a good vantage point to view the Parliament Building.

The bus arrives and we head back over the Danube to the Castle District and a short visit to the castle and surrounding grounds. It is late, so we skip the museum tour and spend time walking around the palace grounds. There are a number of statues on the grounds and a fountain to King Matthias that is really impressive(the fountain depicts a hunting scene and the myth of contact between King Matthias and a beautiful woman; yep, the story ends tragically).

Just before you enter the palace there is an area under excavation that was the medieval Jewish Quarter. Below the excavation is the Royal Wine House and Wine Cellar Museum; okay, I was up for this "museum", but no, it was closed and it was Saturday to boot!

We are having dinner tonight at the Margitkert Etterem on the recommendation of Ben's friend who was born in Hungary. A cab ride is in order so off we go at breakneck speed down the hill to Pest for dinner.

The restaurant is known for the Hungarian Gypsy Band that plays there and we are in for a treat. We enjoy a great bottle of Hungarian red wine (Cabernet Franc-Merlot blend) and Ben orders the most incredible Venison Ragout that I have ever tasted. Wow, next time it is Venison; my Chicken Paprikash is good, however, a little more spice is in order. The goulash is good, not great, however, the strudel tonight is fabulous!

The music was played right at the table and shared around the dining room; the violins were sweet, passionate and most importantly a great compliment to our meal. I won't cover the cab back to stave off further emotional trauma on my part; it was a great night...or so I thought!
It is 0500 hours Sunday morning and our tv is blinking red and black at us as the fire alarm screams in the hallway. Nothing like running out of your warm bed in your fairly warm hotel room to a very chilly and damp morning...so much for sleeping in today. We learn later that one of the guests at a wedding party pulled multiple fire alarms in the hotel; too much fun for all! No one hurt, however, a look around the restaurant at breakfast did not reveal many smiling faces.

Our first stop today will be the Grand Synagogue (Dohany Street Synagogue, built in 1859, and re-built in 1990 with support from Tony and Jamie Lee Curtis) of Budapest; the largest synagogue in Europe.

We are greeted by a very enthusiastic guide, who does her best to speak above the din of the crowd and the orchestra rehearsal (part of Budapests' Spring Music Festival) going on in front of the altar. There will be a guest violinist tonight and we are treated to his "getting acquainted" with his surroundings.

The Grand Synagogue is unlike any synagogue that I have ever visited; the guide shares with us that the Grand Synagogue was designed and constructed under the direction of a Catholic architect, hence the resemblance to a church, to even include side pulpits that are being used today, very professionally by camera crews!

We exit the Synagogue and walk past a grave yard with headstones, commemorating those that died behind the walls of the Budapest ghetto; there are thousands buried here and as we emerge from the walkway we face the "Tree of Life", a metal sculpture
of a weeping-willow shaped like an upsidedown Menorah. There are 4000 names of Holocaust victims engraved on the leaves. Just behind the memorial is the grave of Raoul Wallenberg and the gravestone is also etched with those "righteous Gentiles" who did so much to help save the Jews during the time of the Holocaust.

Back inside to tour the museum of the Grand Synagogue where exhibits trace many religious holidays of the Jewish faith and life. There is a new addition upstairs presenting the "metaphor of life" through the use of photographs of Jewish symbols. It is worth the walk up an additional set of stairs.

As we exit the grounds of the Dahony Street Synagogue, Madlyn spots a woman pushing a baby carriage calling after two young boys in costume. Madlyn asks if it is Purim and the woman answers yes and that they are hurrying to the reading of the Megillah and would we like to come? Madlyn says yes and off we go to the home of the Chief Rabbi of Hungary and her husband, who is also a rabbi of the Chabad/Lubavitch Branch of Hasidic Judaism. The Rabbi proceeds to read from Torah scrolls the story of Queen Esther; the commemoration of the deliverance of the Jews from the ancient Persians. The story is replete with noise makers(beating on table/foot stomping each time Haman's name is mentioned and by the way, it is mentioned many times)and a rabbi wearing a tie with clowns on it(another first for me!). A very special thirty minutes and such a perfect ending to our visit to the Grand Synagogue.

We have plans to see Pepe Romero, a Spanish classical guitarist (recommended by Bob Stewart), who is playing a recital/concert tonight in the Urania Theater,so an early dinner is in order. We are close to the Theater District so we "discover" another fine restaurant, where once again we sample the goulash.
The recital/concert is held in an intimate theater where you can almost touch the artist.We are seated balcony center first row and have an unobstructed view of the artist. Romero has great stage presence; a nice connection with the audience; all in all a delightful experience from a master classical guitarist. We make a stop at the Astoria Hotel for dessert and drinks, where we order the most decandent sponge cake and dark chocolate syrup you could image. What an end to a perfect day and night.

Monday morning and we are in a hurry to get inside Matthias Church before our plane leaves Budapest; and as luck would have it, it is a bright and sunny day to tease us into returning to this beautiful city.

Matthias church is Budapests' most beautiful church and arguably is only matched by the Moorish beauty of the Grand Synagogue. The church is smaller inside than I had imagined and I am surprised by the painting of the walls (not really frescoes) and the dominance of the color brown/sienna.

The gift shop sells the old tiles from the church roof; you can see from the pictures that the roof was/is covered in very "earthy" colors in vibrant patterns, unfortunately I passed on the tile.

The walls of the church are so white today and the tiles so alive; what a difference when the sun comes out! A local bird handler is present in a period costume and a ten year old Golden Eagle...not too many people petting that bird!

A last walk around the perimeter of Matthias Church before we grab a cab to the airport; the view is spectacular under a clear sky, Pest spreads out below; next time we will definitely stay on the Pest side of the Danube.