Around The World 2011 Day 27: Budapest, Hungary

We woke up to see Budpest in the rain.

If the sun were shining, the view from our room this morning would look much, much prettier.

Budapest is a city of history.  I would call it an unfortunate history.  I was tempted to use the word sad, but that seems judgmental.  If anything, I think that this city, and the nation of which it is the capital, has often been a progressive and forward thinking place that was subjected to the brutal control of its neighbors.  And then, at the end of World War II, it had the unfortunate position of being on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.  

I kind of do not want to go into it.  Maybe it is the rain, but I am not in the mood for the grim.  And boy can the history of Budapest get grim. 

How about we ignore history and eat breakfast?

The restaurant in our hotel is called Gresham, as in the Gresham Palace.  We learned that this building was built in 1906 by the Gresham Life Assurance Company of London.   It was heavily damaged during the Second World War and then nationalized during the Communist Era from 1947 to 1989, when it fell into disrepair.  In 1999 the building was purchased and turned into the beautiful hotel that it is today, becoming a The Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace in 2004.

Son of a gun.  Even our hotel has unfortunate periods of history.

I promise flattering pictures of our hotel tomorrow.

Breakfast part one.

Breakfast part two.

Exiting our hotel, we are treated to this view of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.  Designed in 1839, opened in 1849, severely damages in World War II (by the Allies), and rebuilt in 1949.  As generally awful as the USSR's puppet government was during the Communist Era, I will say one thing in their favor; they restored most of Budapest's bridges, palaces and buildings to pre-war designs.

We decided to do a hop-on-hop-off bus today.  We figured that in the rain, it would be the best way to get around and see some essential sites.

We walked around the corner form our hotel to József nádor tér.  I have already figured out that tér is the Hungarian word for square.  You always need to know the work for square in a new country.  József nádor tér features this statue of Archduke József, whose knack for city planning helped turn Budapest into a metropolis.  He was essentially governor of the region from 1796 to 1847.

This Lutheran Church is significantly smaller than the Catholic churches of Budapest.  Hungary was majority Catholic from the 11th to the 16 century, but after the Reformation it became majority Lutheran and then later majority Calvinist.  However, in the 17th century the Jesuits waged a successful couter-reformation and the country became Catholic again.  My hunch would be that 90% of the people could care less which strain of Christianity their state was pushing at the time.

Szent István Basilica, or Saint Stephen's.  It is hard to tell in this pic taken from a moving but, but this Neo-Classical cathedral is an imposing architectural giant.

Here marks the beginning of Andrássy Avenue, Budapest's answer to the Champs-Élysées.  They built this street in 1870 to connect Heroe's Square with the main part of Pest.

Many people have thrown the trivia at me that Budapest was created when cities on both sides of the Danube, Buda and Pest, were formed into one city in 1873.  But do not forget the red-headed stepchild of this unification, Buda's neighbor Óbuda which was also part of the deal.  Buda and Óbuda shared the West bank, with Pest on East bank.  From now on, every time one of us hears a smarty-pants talk of the unification of Buda and Pest, we have to jump in with, "What about Óbuda?  Huh!"  That will show them.

As is the custom, we hopped-off the hop-on hop-off bus at the Hungarian State Opera House.  This opera house was built in 1884 in the then Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

We went inside, but there was not a tour for two hours.  Therefore, this is all you get to see.

A statue of composer Franz Liszt in Liszt Ferenc tér.  Ferenc is Hungarian for Franz.

On the back of the staue's base, I suspect someone has a commentary about nobility or perhaps even monarchy.  Or maybe this is simply a Royal Bird.

Budapest is clearly a music town.  There are posters for tons of artists who to come to perform here.  When Britney hits your town, you know that you are on the map.

We ended up walking a half hour or so down Andrássy Avenue, because the hop-on bus driver had refused to let us hop-on around 15 feet away from his official stop.  Did you ever see the look in someone's face and know that they really just do not care and it makes you want to turn violent?  No?  Well, that is how I felt about Mister Bus Driver.

We walked until we reached Hősök tere, or Heroe's Square.  A version of this monument was begin in 1896 to celebrate Hungary's 1,000th year, but it was not completed until 1900.  They then built Continental Europe's first subway running the length of Andrássy Avenue to this square.

When the monument was built, the five statues on the left were members of the Habsburg royal family.  The monument was severely damaged in World War II, and when it was rebuilt the Habsburgs were replaced by the current figures.

During the short reign of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the entire monument was covered in red sheets and a statue of Karl Marx with a worker and a peasant was placed in front of it.  Thank goodness they did not tear it down.  Perhaps they did not have time, as this Republic lasted less than a year when the Romanian Army invaded and set up the Kingdom of Hungary that lasted until the end of World War II.

Seriously.  Hungary has been ruled by such a long succession of powers, home grown and external, that the fact that they have a national identity at all is probably due to the power of speaking a common language.  And, of course, the official language here was Latin from 1006 until 1844, even though the majority clearly used their native tongue.  My hunch is that the Kings of Hungary thought Latin was classy.

Too much history here.

We were really there.

Let us counterbalance all that history with this fact; Hungary has its own version of the 99-Cent Store.  They accept the Euro and Dollar everywhere, even though their official currency is the Forint.  185 HUF (Hungarian Forint) to the Dollar.  A 185:1 conversion makes the math not so easy in your head.

I said this was a music town.  I have friend who shall pump their fists in the air when they see Rammstein.


We rode the bus across the Danube, which might be the prettiest name for a river ever.  Of course, it is an exonym for the Duna, but even Duna sounds nice and relaxing.

This statue is a memorial to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph I, known affectionately as Sisi.  Sisi is beloved for being a non-conformist who abhorred conventional court protocol.   She is also a tragic figure, assassinated on September 10, 1898, in Geneva, Switzerland.  Elisabeth, aged 60, was stabbed in the heart with a long, sharp and narrow needle, and that the wound was unknown to her for some time after the attack.  She had been bleeding to death from the puncture wound to her heart, but the strong pressure from her corset had contained the bleeding until the garment was removed.

In the bus, we pass the Széchenyi Chain Bridge from the Buda side.  I have only taken around fifteen pictures of it from our hotel room thus far.

We arrived atop Castle Hill, the hill covered with churches and former royal palaces, that I have also been photographing at various times of day from our hotel room.

My favorite building atop Castle Hill is Matthias Church, a Gothic style church built in the 14th century. Matthias Church had originally been built in 1015 in Romanesque style, but clearly that style had to go.

I know that I probably always respond to Gothic churches because we see so many Renaissance and Baroque churches in Europe.

I just love the sharp angles and tall ceilings in a Gothic church.

The view from behind Matthias Church of the Danube and Hungary's parliament building.

One does not often get a picture of Priests taking a picture.  Holding their digital cameras like tourists, they look like actors pretending to be Priests, no?

Our hotel is right THERE.

It is estimated that nearly 80% of the buildings in Budapest were damaged during World War II.  A lot of damage was done by American and British bombers, and then the Red Army attacked in the Siege of Budapest.  Honestly, the World War II story here is almost too depressing to tell.

Let us just say that, yes, the Kingdom of Hungary aligned with the Axis, getting in return some territory that they had lost in World War I.  Hungary's refusal to take measures against the Jews combined with their willingness to negotiate with the Allies as the tides of war were changing led the Nazi's to occupy Hungary, deporting 440,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps during the last six months of the war.  Most went to Auschwitz.  Some were murdered here in Hungary.  After the American and British bombings, the German and Soviet armies fought out the Siege of Budapest, leaving very little of the city undamaged.

And then, when the Iron Curtain was drawn, Hungary became a satellite state of the USSR.  From there, Hungary's history becomes more inspiring, as Hungary led many of the reforms and changes that led to downfall of the Soviet Union.  But we can deal with the nice stuff another time.

Buda Castle was built in the 14th century as a Royal Palace for the Kings of Hungary.  It has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, sometimes by choice for fashion and sometimes not by war.  The Axis forces used it as their headquarters and stronghold during the Siege of Budapest, and by the time the Soviet had defeated them the castle lay in ruins.  It was rebuilt in the 1950's and 1960's and turned into a complex of three museums, as the Communist government saw no need for a Royal Palace.

The courtyard in front of Buda Castle is more notable for its view of the city than the view of the Castle.

You already know that our hotel sits at the opposite end of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.  The view of Buda Castle is definitely better than the view from it.

Obelisk!  Actually, all the lamposts on the hill below the back of the castle were obelisks.  I shot one for you.

Our bus headed to the next hill, where you find the Citadel.  The Citadel is a small fortress built in 1854 on the hill next to Buda Castle.  I did not get a good shot of it, as all you can see is a wall.

From the Citadel you see a nice view of the Danube.

In an awful story from history, Soviet troops occupied the Citadel during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungary's first attempt to break free of Soviet control.  There was never a time when the people of Hungary were content behind the Iron Curtain.  In 1956 there were spontaneous demonstrations throughout the country, and when the Soviet army rolled into to Budapest they set their tanks at the Citadel and fired down into the city, crushing the revolt.

Hungary's Parliament building was completed in 1904, and is one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings.  I love the Gothic-revivalist architecture of it.  It shares the title of Budapest's tallest building with Saint Stephen's Basilica.

Speaking of Saint Stephen's Basilica, there it is.  Our hotel is around the corner from here, and tomorrow we plan to walk over for a look.

By the way, the rain has stopped and the sun has forced it way through the clouds.

József nádor tér in the sun!  Do you remember what it looked like this morning?

The same pic from this morning.  Look at the difference between rain clouds and blue sky.  

With the rain gone, and with us both Hungry, we googled a restaurant on the iPhone.  Burger King.  And walking to Burger King, we accidentally walked through one of the main attractions of Budapest.

Váci utca (utca is street) is the main pedestrian shopping street of Budapest.  One of the things we love most about Europe is the many pedestrian only streets for shops and restaurants.  And we are just three blocks from our hotel.  I take it you can spot the Burger King sign in the above picture and it warms your heart with its promise of American delights.

While at Burger King we saw most of the guests staying at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace.  Four Seasons customers are almost always Burger King customers as well.

I got a kick out the fact that they decorated this Budpest Burger King with a shot form the Brooklyn Bridge.

Late lunch, early dinner.  And delicious.  If McDonald's is Irish fare, then clearly Burger King is royal food.

The truth is that we tried to eat at a traditional Hungarian restaurant on Castle Hill.  We sat down, got menus, and then waiting around twelve minutes for someone to take our order.  We gave up and walked out.  When you are not in the mood for the European sit and wait and eat lunch at our pace even if there are other things you want to do meal, nothing beats globalized fast food.

I should the iPhone's stopwatch to time how long it takes to order in European restaurants, and tweet the results.  Finally, I have a more useless use for Twitter!

I got a kick out of this store.  Victoria is going to be pissed.

Back at the hotel, we hit the pool again.  Since I got you two pool shots yesterday, the iPhone stayed in the room.

One last look out the window at Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Castle Hill.  Why did I not place my counter opposing shots of that bridge together?

Széchenyi Chain Bridge  from the East, and from the West.

Until tomorrow...