Romantic Danube: Flying United from Chicago to Brussels
Romantic Danube: Brussels and continuing to Prague
Romantic Danube: Marriott Courtyard Prague
Romantic Danube: Exploring Prague
Romantic Danube: Boscolo, Autograph Collection
Romantic Danube: Prague to Erlangen
Romantic Danube: Viking Longships
Romantic Danube: Nuremberg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Weltenberg Abbey and the Danube Narrows
Romantic Danube: Regensburg, Germany
Romantic Danube: Passau, Germany
Romantic Danube: Wachau Valley and Göttweig Abbey
Romantic Danube: Vienna, Austria
Romantic Danube: Budapest, Hungary
On Thursday evening after returning from the concert in Vienna we were notified that we would be late arriving into Budapest the next morning. There are many locks and other types of traffic on the river and it all must be coordinated carefully so, as they say, "timing is everything". While we were disappointed we wouldn't be able to sail into the city (which I had read was a glorious thing), Viking announced that in the morning we'd be stopping out in the middle of nowhere to board motorcoaches which would take us on a scenic drive into the city. They indicated this situation had happened before and they were well-prepared to handle it.
We awoke Friday morning and this was the view from our cabin.
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| What a view! (or should that be "What? A view?") |
Now the Danube is not a particularly wide river, certainly nothing like the Mississippi and for most of our journey it didn't seem as wide as the Cumberland. So the fact that we couldn't see the shore from just over halfway across the river didn't bode well for our "scenic bus ride" and Viking agreed. We would get our sail into Budapest after all, it would just be a little later than planned.
At the end of a busy 10 days for C and me it was nice to have a leisurely morning to linger over breakfast and get caught up on emails, etc. As the day grew warmer the fog eventually began lifting, even though it was still a bit cool up on deck.
Some things I'd read indicated sailing into the city at night is simply wonderful and I am sure it is quite a sight. But our late-morning arrival was beautiful as well. Our captain sailed us through the most scenic sections before turning around to dock us practically under the Chain Bridge.
As we arrived the flat Pest side of the city was on our left and the Buda side was up on a hill on our right. These were initially two separate cities before being joined by multiple bridges. First we sailed under the Margaret Bridge which connects both Buda and Pest with Margaret Island. It was the second bridge in the area after the Chain Bridge. Margaret Island was once the site of a religious community and is named after St. Margaret but now it's mostly public park land.
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| The Margaret Bridge |
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| Hungary's Parliament Building |
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| Buda Castle from the river |
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| Cave Church |
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| Liberty Bridge |
Matthias Church
Once up on Castle Hill in Buda we were finally able to step out of the bus and walk for a bit. One of the two biggest attractions on Castle Hill is Matthias Church. It's a Catholic church named for King Matthias Corvinus who reigned in the mid-to-late 1400s. As we've seen with many European churches there have been many versions of the church building on the same premises and this one is no exception. This version was built in the late 14th century and named after the Virgin Mary. King Matthias was married here and he ordered the transformation of its original southern tower. In the 19th century the church underwent extensive renovations and was renamed for Matthias. He's not a saint, thus the building is just Matthias Church.
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| Matthias Church |
I liked the light-colored stone and loved the patterned tiles on the roof.
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| The impressive front doors were not the ones we used to enter and exit |
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| On a building nearby the church: Matthias Rex Anno MCCCCLXXXVI (That's 1486) |
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| Roof of Matthias Church |
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| Matthias on his horse |
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| A column in front of the church |
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| I even liked the pattern on the floor! |
Fisherman's Bastion
Though it's best viewed from below, the top of the Fisherman's Bastion is actually a lovely area behind the church and it makes a terrific place for views of Pest. There are actually a couple of bars and a restaurant built into the structure as well as a walkway running its length.
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| Fisherman's Bastion |
At this point we had some time to wander the area by ourselves. C and I found the hotel we'd be staying in later. It wasn't hard as it was right next to the church! But we kept wandering the narrow streets and happened upon the National Archives. We didn't know what building it was at the time but thought it was impressive-looking.
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| Hungarian National Archives |
Our free time was up so we got back on the bus which took us to the Bestla for our final dinner aboard. By the end of our meal it was completely dark outside and we made our way to the sun deck where we were treated to spectacular views of Buda. When a simple phone camera can take shots like this, you know it has to be a great view!
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| Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge |
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| Matthias Church and the Hilton |
Shoes on the Danube Bank
Just a few yards away from where we were docked was the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial. During World War II there were 3,500 people - 800 of them Jews - who were shot by the fascist Arrow Cross millitamen. The victims were told to remove their shoes and line up on the riverbank where they were shot so that their bodies would fall into the river and be carried away. From time to time people also leave real shoes alongside the permanent iron ones.
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| Shoes on the Danube Memorial |
Terror Háza
Our first stop was the Terror House museum. During WWII it was the headquarters for the Arrow Cross party and later was the home of the Hungarian Secret Police. The building was used for administrative purposes but the basement was also used for torture. I can't believe I didn't take a photo of the outside of the building and no photos were allowed inside. The tour is self-guided and allows you to start on the main level and wind your way up to the second and third levels before taking the elevator all the way to the basement. It is here that the cells still exist with chains and torture devices still in place. I don't know if it was just my mind playing tricks on me but you could almost feel the evil that surrounded that place and I was happy to get back upstairs.
Opera House
Further down Andrássy Avenue was a much happier place, the Magyar Állami Operaház, or Hungarian State Opera House. While we didn't go inside, it was lovely from the outside. The building was opened in 1884 and renovated in the 1980s, re-opening right on its 100th birthday.
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| Hungarian State Opera House |
At the end of the street is Heroes' Square with the Millennium Memorial as the focal point in the center of the plaza. Around its base are statues representing the Seven Chiefs of the Magyars, who were the tribes of Hungarians that founded the nation.
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| Heroes' Square |
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| Seven Chiefs of the Magyars |
Vajdahunyad Castle
Heroes' Square sits in front of the entrance to City Park and just inside the park off to one side is the Vajdahunyad Castle. Hungary had a Millennium Celebration in 1896 and this building was meant to showcase landmark buildings from across the country. Naturally there were many different architectural styles represented including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. It was never intended to be a permanent structure and was originally built of wood. However, it became quite popular and was rebuilt with stone and brick in the 1904-1908 time frame. These days it houses the largest agricultural museum in Europe.
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| Note the different styles of architecture between the towers in the two photos above. |
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| A Church inside the castle |
St. Stephen's Basilica
After lunching near the park and stopping for a gelato on our way back toward the river, we stopped at St. Stephen's Basilica. It’s named after the first king of Hungary who reigned in the early 11th century. It took 54 years to complete and opened in 1905. Construction was delayed in 1868 when the dome collapsed, which required everything to be demolished and rebuilt.
A short walk brought us back to the Bestla where we collected our luggage. We could have been quite adventurous and wheeled our bags across the Chain Bridge, ridden the funicular up to Castle Hill and then bounced the bags over the cobblestones to our hotel, which was right next to Matthias Church, but we opted to be boring and take a taxi.
Pest By Night
We dined at one of the many cafés on the hill and afterwards enjoyed walking around the area. It was so much nicer without all the tourists wandering around! (Oh wait, we were some of those tourists. Never mind.)
We walked along Fisherman's Bastion and found the views of the flat side of the city every bit as enjoyable as the views of Castle Hill had been the night before.
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| The Chain Bridge with St. Stephen's in the background |
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| Parliament Building from Castle Hill |
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| The Chain Bridge and the Liberty Bridge with Pest as a backdrop |
Buda Castle
When viewing Buda Castle from our boat the night before, it provided such a spectacle, being lit up the way it was. We discovered it was something special up close at night as well.
The next morning we walked over for the tour and arrived just in time for the changing of the guard.
We took some more photos but the castle doesn't seem nearly as dramatic during the day as it does at night.
The one thing that did photograph better in the daytime was the Matthias Fountain. It pictures the king with his group of hunters and hounds along with a killed deer. I read that this is the most photographed part of the castle and part of that has to be because photos are not allowed inside.
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| Matthias Fountain |
Sziklakórház Atombunker Múzeum
After lunch we pondered what to do for the afternoon and happened to see a sign advertising the Hospital in the Rock Atomic Bunker. Well that was certainly something different. We went back to the hotel and did a little research and discovered it was rather highly regarded and sounded like something we'd find interesting. Once again, photos were not allowed inside though that probably helped to keep the tour moving along.
Beneath Castle Hill are miles of caverns. Many are natural and others were dug by hand just before World War II to expand and connect the cavern network. The facility was originally intended to be a hospital for 60-70 patients at a time. However, during the 1944-45 siege of Budapest it held as many as 600 patients. Wax dummies are used to help illustrate the purposes of various rooms and while they were a little creepy at first, after awhile they really helped portray how tight quarters were during the hospital's busiest times. Not only were patient beds pushed together as tightly as possible in wards, sometimes hand-held litters were left in a wide spot in the hallway and that became the patient's "room".
In the mid-1950s the hospital was used again during the Hungarian Revolution. As in earlier times, the staff and their families had to live inside. Six children were born here. Annual nuclear training was held inside this facility until the mid-1980s.
A couple of folks from our big group took the official Viking extension so we met them for dinner on our final night. We knew a lot of restaurants didn't take credit cards so we specifically chose one tied to a small hotel so we could treat our friends as payback for a dinner in Prague. Unbelievably while the hotel took credit cards as payment for rooms, the restaurant did not. Fortunately we were able to piece together enough Euros and Forints to pay the bill. The good thing was that pretty much wiped out our stash of Forints so we didn't have a lot left over.
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| Hungarian Forints |
Next up: a review of our hotel which was next to Matthias Church
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