2016/05 Europe cruise - Budapest |
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Friday May 20th
We were still running late as we approached Budapest, a bonus for us as we could sit on deck in the sun and see some of Hungary’s countryside. The riverbank was mainly wild, possibly because the area was all flood plain.
Our entry to Budapest was spectacular, with the Parliament building in Pest to our left, palaces and churches on the hills of Buda to our right, and very long lacy bridges linking the two banks. Even the apartment blocks were decorated: see the figures of the fencers. 
Most of Buda is covered with towers and columns and cupolas, a thousand years of civilization and architecture, so it was a surprise to see the naked rock of Gellert Hill. The area below the hill is famed for its numerous hot springs and spas. The one in the picture is the Rudas Thermal Path.
The very prominent lady with the palm leaf was erected on Gellert Hill by the Russians to celebrate their “liberation” of Hungary.
The locals liked her but not the message so they rewrote it after the Russians had gone and she is now the Liberty Monument, celebrating all those who lost their lives in the struggle for Hungarian independence.
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Budapest - Danube |
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The boat passed under the Liberty Bridge and made a U-turn, giving us this view. Buda’s Gellert Hill and the Liberty Monument were now on our left. Beyond the Liberty Bridge we could just see the white towers of the Elisabeth Bridge. We moored in Pest, between the two bridges, tucked away behind waterfront bars and cafes. Our boat was now pointed upstream, ready to carry a new boat load of passengers across Europe to Amsterdam.
We began the day with a bus tour, starting with Pest. Buda is hilly while Pest is flat and subject to flood. Pest was destroyed in the 1830s by a flood caused by an ice dam, so most of the buildings are relatively modern.
Because we were late our visit to Heroes Square was limited to a quick zoom around in the bus, not that the heroes would have been known to us anyway. I shot this picture of one of the arches from the bus, giving an idea of the scale of the architecture. Without any knowledge of Hungarian history I doubt that it would have meant much anyway. We’d have been struggling to read the monuments as Hungarian is completely different from other European languages except maybe Finnish. I only know one word in each of those languages, the names of the countries on their postage stamps.
Hungary has had a rough time as a country, partly because much of it is flat and easy to invade. From the time the Huns invaded and established the country it’s been conquered by Mongols, Turks, Austria, Germany, and Russia and probably some more. It’s noticeable that the tour guides never refer to the Germans, only to the Nazis, as if they came in from another planet. Presumably this makes the German tourists feel more comfortable. Our guide was less polite about the Austrians. Austria dragged Hungary into World War I, but Hungary really suffered after that war when its neighbours punished it by 
taking away 70% of its territory.
After each war its currency went through a period of hyperinflation. In the 1920s the korona was replaced by the pengo, worth over 10000 korona. Then in the late 40s, the new Hungarian forint was set at 400 octillion (that’s 29 zeroes) pengoes. Today the mighty forint is worth about a half cent. We stuck to our euros, accepted everywhere.
Our bus crossed the river and went up the hill to the Mathias church, site of the coronation of some of those Habsburgs. Yes, we were 
visiting another church, but this one looked quite different with its white towers and vivid porcelain roof tiles. This picture was taken from the boat and shows the church and the surrounding Fishermen’s Bastion, a dramatic view at a distance but impossible to appreciate when you are in the middle of the structure amongst the crowds.
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Budapest - Heroes & Bastion |
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Inside, the painting and decoration look more oriental than Catholic, perhaps because the Turks had converted it to a mosque when they were in charge.
Outside on the terrace were the towers of the Fishermen’s Bastion. Although the name comes from the middle ages, when fishermen 
were responsible for defending this patch, the towers are relatively modern with a definitely Disney appearance. They gave us a great view over Pest and the Danube.
After lunch most people headed off for a bus trip to the bazaar but it was too nice an afternoon to spend indoors. We’d seen Margaret Island on our way into Budapest and it looked like we could walk there and back in an afternoon. We set off along the waterfront on the Pest bank towards the grand-looking Chain Bridge. Along the way was the Shoes on the Danube memorial. In WW2, Hungarian Jews were told to remove their shoes there and then they were shot and carried away by the river.
The island is close to the Margaret Bridge and is accessed via an additional span which makes a T-junction with main bridge. People were pouring off of trams at the junction and walking down to the island; clearly it was the place to be on a Friday afternoon. It’s a gigantic park, with a variety of recreation: athletics stadium, water park, casino, novelty bikes like this three-wheeler, and a musical fountain.
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Budapest fountain (20.56) |
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The fountain has hundreds of jets with the ability to shoot globes of water and spirals in all directions, all sync’d to music. It was also a great place for people-watching, particularly the little kids.
We walked back along the Buda bank for a view across the river to the Parliament buildings. We were passing the grand 
Calvinist Reform church just as a wedding party was posing for photos. Note the camera drone hovering just over their heads; something we’ll all have to get used to I guess.
This was our last afternoon of the cruise, perhaps just as well as my back was objecting painfully to all the walking. The 
cruise passengers were getting sick too; all four of our dinner companions had streaming colds, not good when we needed to be bug free for visiting our friend Margaret.
Many of the passengers had 6 am flights the next morning and would have to be ready to go by 3 am. We had an afternoon flight to Heathrow. Some were staying on a few days in Budapest hotels.
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Budapest by Night |
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That night we were supposed to have a performance by a Hungarian band but they were a no show. In compensation, our captain negotiated permission to take the boat on a full moon trip up and around the island to show us the lights. All of Budapest’s major buildings are illuminated so it was quite a sight, a great end to our cruise.
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Budapest by night (1.34) |
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