Wanderung 32

Drifting down the Donau; Edging up the Elbe

March - April 2017


 

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March 30: Budapest, Hungary

We were up on the top observation deck just after dawn to take in the panoramic view of Buda on the other side of the river, as we were docked over on the Pest (pronounced " Pesht " by local folks) side of the Danube. The sky was cloudy and our first set of pictures were of gray stone buildings with a gray sky above and gray water below. But then the sun peeked out from behind us and transformed the buildings with the golden glow of dawn. What a difference that golden illumination made! So we retook all of our pictures before going downstairs for breakfast.

After breakfast we embarked on a bus and started our walking tour of Budapest (Buda on one side of the Danube, Pest on the other). Our bus first drove through the old town section of Pest, which featured some surprisingly pretty government buildings.

But we continued our drive out to Hero's Square before stopping to see it in detail. Hero's Square is a broad plaza with the Hungarian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the center and a huge, semi-circular colonnade in back of it. The original settlers of Hungary as we know it today were seven Magyar tribes of horsemen who had conquered and replaced the older indigenous population. These tribes were represented by huge bronze statues of seven mounted horsemen arrayed around the base of the pedestal right behind the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier.


 

Our guide explained the basic history of the first several kings of Hungary. Each portico between the columns of the colonnade in back featured a statue of a significant person in the history of Hungary These "Big Cahunas" started with St Stephan on the far left, who Christianized the Magyars who had first settled Hungary around 850 AD. My favorite, however, was the king who was just a regular-looking guy standing beside a big stack of books--he looked like my kind of guy! As I recall, he was the king who established the rule of law in Hungary, which also qualifies him as a "Good Guy" in my book!


 

Our guide skipped most of the kings in the middle (they were Italian or Austrian kings rather than true Hungarians, he said). However, he made an exception for Emperor Franz Joseph, the Hapsburg king of the late 1800s who was married to the beautiful Elizabeth, nicknamed "Sissi". Sissi was liked by Hungarians partly because she took the trouble to learn their language, but also because she loved horses, and she may have influenced her husband to peacefully incorporate Hungary into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Atop the colonnade were statues representing themes such as war, peace, and wisdom, if I recall correctly, all very nicely done.

In back of the Hero Square area was a curious flat, dry, concrete bed in the middle of a small stream bed right next to a fancy building. Our guide explained the concrete bed was flooded and used for boating in the Summer, and for ice skating in the Winter, and the fancy building was just a changing house!

We continued our scenic drive of Pest, passing the old city zoo, a derelict amusement park, and some very pretty neighborhoods before crossing the Danube River into Buda, over on the hillier side of the river. Across the Danube we could see the huge Hungarian Parliament building. It was a very fanciful, ornate Baroque-style building, which made it quite pretty from the outside despite its size.

We did not stop, however, until we were near the Buda Castle that is gorgeously situated on the hilltop just West of the river, but much to my surprise we did not tour it--our guide explained that although the exterior was beautifully restored, the interior is quite plain still. Instead, we walked up a picturesque lane on the crest featuring many tourist-oriented shops and ending in a small plaza next to the St Stephan Cathedral. There we toured the inside, which had been painstakingly and exquisitely restored after extensive damage at the end of WWII.

I was surprised to learn that the stained glass windows were also restorations, because rather than being modern, they were quite traditional in style and color patterns. Only when I looked very carefully could I see that the stained glass was a bit brighter than I would expect it to be if it were 200-400 years old, as the older glass typically has some accumulated grime on it.


 

The walls were all carefully painted in a beige and brown patten, which although very unusual was quite restful to look at. We also took the trouble to tour the historical exhibit on the side gallery, which required a rather long climb up a circular staircase back in the rear corner of the church, but was free. I recommend that exhibit as it explained how the walls were painted using stencils, and how the beautifully patterned roof tiles were constructed, as well as having some of the old gilded crosses and other precious religious stuff.


 

We exited the cathedral with just enough time to do a bit of shopping in the tourist boutiques on our way back to our bus, and that was surprisingly fruitful. Monika found some nice painted wooden eggs and an embroidered centerpiece thing that kind of folds up to form a flower, and we bought those to take home with us.

But serendipity struck just as we were running out of shopping time. We went into a very small craft marketplace at the end of the street, which contained at least 8-10 different vendors all crowded together cheek-by-jowl inside. Although there were many nice things, nothing really appealed and I was just about to write the marketplace off as a loss when we walked past a leather goods stand and I spied folding leather coin purses! I have been looking for those for over 10 years because the ones I bought in German 30 years ago are starting to wear out, and the German vendors I have asked told me that it is no longer economical to make them in Germany. I of course went immediately over to check, and they were even locally made of a rather thick, durable leather compared to my German version, but they were perfectly acceptable for containing a pocketful of Euro change, which is a situation we always end up in , both in the Eurozone, United Kingdom, and Canada, which all now use dollar coins. The young salesman was particularly nice when I started fishing around for a 1 Euro coin to help pay for the brown one I had chosen; he immediately said he would let me have it for only 10 Euro, as long as I promised I would buy Monika a beer when I found the Euro! People are often unexpectedly kind to me in foreign countries, which I do not truly understand, but for which I am profoundly grateful when I hear the horror stories that other world travelers relate!

Happy as a clam, I returned to the bus and immediately showed my find to Jerry, who had been helping me on the "Great Coin Purse Quest", and he immediately asked why I hadn't bought two as they were so rare and hard to find. You know, that was a darn good question and the answer is that I simply never thought about it. Jerry promised to remind me to buy two next time I found them!



Copyright 2017 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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