Thursday, 2 October. The boat had anchored during the night so we could sail into Budapest after
dawn. We got up at 5:30 and rushed on deck for the event. We had spent five days in Budapest in 1998,
but we hadn't seen it from the river. The Harmony sailed past the Gellert Hotel and Gellert Hill, the
Royal Palace, Matthias's Church, the Fishermen's Bastion, the Hilton Hotel, Chain Bridge and the magnificent Parliament Building before docking on
the Pest side of the river.
The Chain Bridge has become the symbol of Budapest, as Tower Bridge is of London. It was opened in 1849, the first permanent bridge to link Buda and Pest. It was destroyed in both World Wars, then rebuilt.
We finished packing, put our suitcases out at 7:00, and went to breakfast. Then we said goodbye to the
Harmony and boarded the bus at 9:15 for a city tour with a local guide. We drove down Andrassy Street
to Heroes' Square, a huge open area between the Exhibition Hall (1905) and the Fine Arts Museum
(1906). The Square was jammed with buses and groups of students and tourists.
The centerpiece of the square is the Millennial Monument, built in 1896 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Hungary. It features seven horsemen, representing the seven Magyar tribes that came down from the Baltic coast and conquered the land that became Hungary. (The other three tribes are said to have settled in Finland; hence the similarity between the Hungarian and Finnish languages.) A 350 foot column in the center of the square is topped by a statue of the Angel Gabriel holding the Hungarian cross (with two horizontal bars, similar to the Cross of Lorraine) and the royal crown. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is just in front of the column.
Back on the bus, we drove back into the city, passing a number of embassies, the ornate Western Railway Station (1877) designed by Eiffel (of the Eiffel Tower), Octagon Square, the Opera House, St. Stephen's Basilica, and the Stock Exchange. Then we drove around behind the Parliament Building and over the Margit Bridge to Buda and into the Castle Hill area. The bus let us off near Matthias Church, and we had 45 minutes on our own.
Jane and I had explored this area thoroughly in 1998 so we were quite familiar with it. Out first stop was at the Hilton to use the facilities (something the hotel tries to discourage), but also to see the hotel again. It is an interesting place in its own right. The modern hotel, immediately next to Matthias Church, incorporates the ruins of an 18th century monastery into its structure. Particularly impressive was the courtyard facing the Parliament. The left side is the wall of the old monastery; the right, an ultramodern glass wall. A broken arch reaches part way across the opening between them, and the floor of the courtyard is punctuated by the stumps of several broken columns.
After looking around the Hilton, we walked over to Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion, easily
the city's most visited landmarks. It must be noted that the church is not named for St. Matthias, but
for King Matthias, who married Beatrix of Aragon (from Naples) here in 1476. He also added the tower
to the church. There has been a church on the site of the present one for nearly 900 years, but most of
the current building is only about a century old.
The Fishermen's Bastion is about the same age. An original bastion on this site was torn down by the Austrians in 1849 after they suppressed the Hungarians in one of their periodic Wars of Independence. Fifty years later, the present white limestone bastion was built on the old foundations, but clearly more with a view to tourism than to defense. Walt Disney himself could not have done better! Despite apocryphal stories about gallant fishermen defending the city, the name apparently came from the fact that there was a fish market nearby.
We made a quick stop at the Tourist Office near Matthias Church to get some maps and information. Our bus picked us up on schedule and drove past the back of the Royal Palace. The original 19th century palace was destroyed in World War II. The exterior shell was rebuilt, but the inside is completely modern and houses a museum, library, and theater. The bus continued up to the top of Gellert Hill, around its citadel (also blown up by the Austrians), and stopped at a lookout point for a great view of the city and the Danube bridges.
We were then taken to the Opera House for a tour of the inside. But first there was a special surprise for
us. Janet had arranged for a soprano to sing several arias for us (not in the auditorium but in a smaller
room). It was very enjoyable. We had toured the Opera House in 1998, but it was nice to see it again.
Winding its way through the old streets of Pest, the bus finally dropped us at the Taverna Hotel, situated directly on Vaci Street, the main pedestrian shopping street, that runs parallel to the Danube. Jane and I retrieved our own luggage so we could get unpacked and go out during our free time. After a quick lunch, we walked several blocks down Vaci Street to the Market Hall (1896). The entire ground floor of this public market is filled with stands selling food products of all kinds. The second floor is devoted mostly to tourist goods. By the time we got there, though, Jane was getting very tired, so we didn't stay long.
After a little rest, we met Lee and Maggie to go out to dinner. We intended to go to Budapest's oldest restaurant, right around the corner from our hotel. But then we found out that the entire blue group would be going there the next night for our final group dinner. So after asking around, we decided to go to Cyrano's, just down the street. The food was excellent, but the service was slow and the prices were very steep. Afterwards we called it a night.
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