{"id":2664,"date":"2019-11-04T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:15:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:15:36","slug":"13-buda-and-pest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2664","title":{"rendered":"13. BUDA AND PEST"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 14 days cruising and 3,200 kilometreos travelled, we moor in Budapest about 200 metres from where we started!\u00a0 We’ve travelled the long way round to get here!<\/p>\n

Now we get a tour of the city (with lots of weekend traffic).\u00a0 We saw the major sights of Pest (Pesht) from the bus.\u00a0 Basilica, Opera House, Zoo, and Heroes’ Square.<\/p>\n

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That, of course, is a three day city tour in seven words and one photo!<\/p>\n

But that’s a bit unfair.\u00a0 We did get lots more facts and figures about the city!\u00a0 We heard how the number two is very important.\u00a0 Budapest is after all really two cities.\u00a0 It has the second biggest parliament, the second biggest zoo, the world’s second metro system, the second most difficult language and the second biggest synagogue in world (apparently 25% of the city’s population were Jewish at one time).<\/p>\n

And that’s the second time I’ve written that!<\/p>\n

The opera house is about half the size of Vienna’s but you can see any of the 80-90 operas typically staged each year for about \u20ac30 – a fifth of the cheapest ticket in Vienna!<\/p>\n

St Stephen’s Basilica and the Parliament building are both 96 metres tall.\u00a0 No building in the city is allowed to exceed that height.\u00a0 By order!\u00a0 The Parliament has a total of 365 spires.\u00a0 One for every day of the year.\u00a0 It is also famous for having the first air conditioning system.\u00a0 (But I’m not sure if that’s first in Budapest, in Hungary, in Europe or in the world!)<\/p>\n

Apparently, the basilica contains two significant relics – the mummified right hand of St Stephen (the country’s first king around 1000 AD – although his name might have been Istvan at the time) and, we were told, the left leg of a famous footballer.\u00a0 Can that REALLY be true?<\/p>\n

OMG\u00a0 I’ve just checked with Mr Google.\u00a0 Ference Pusk\u00e1s was an Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.\u00a0 He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary.\u00a0 Even my solicitor in sleepy downtown Totnes knew him by name!\u00a0 (I like to do a full check on these things!)\u00a0 When he died in 2006 he was indeed buried in the basilica!\u00a0 These guides really know their stuff!<\/p>\n

The spa in central park, behind Heroes’ Square is fed by water at 75\u00b0 C coming out of a well which is 1,256 metres (0.8 miles) deep. The water has to be cooled before being fed to the baths.\u00a0 There are said to be 108 thermal sources in Budapest.\u00a0 Some of the Roman baths are no longer in use, but the Rudas Spa, built 450 years ago, is apparently THE real thing.\u00a0 The steam bath is almost suffocating.\u00a0 The temperature of the water feeding the baths is second only to that of Icelandic sources of geothermal heated water.\u00a0 The spa is also famous for its roof lights of different colours.\u00a0 But I’ll come back to spas later.<\/p>\n

The city didn’t escape war damage.\u00a0 The Allies bombed Buda for 102 consecutive days.\u00a0 All bridges crossing the Danube were blown up but they have all been rebuilt to the original plans.\u00a0 Talking of bridges, the Chain Bridge was designed and built by a Scot working with an Englishman.\u00a0 At the time it was the second permanent river crossing and had had to wait for the development of technology allowing long span bridges.\u00a0 The river flow is too high during periods of flood for multi-supported bridges.\u00a0 They would just get washed away by the river flow which can reach 15 times that of the Rhine.\u00a0 And we’ve seen previously how high and fast floodwaters can get in that river!<\/p>\n

With a commanding view of the valley, the Statue of Liberty has been erected on a hilltop on the Buda side.\u00a0 It has been nicknamed the world’s largest beer bottle opener.<\/p>\n

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(Not my photo.)<\/p>\n

We were dropped off in Buda Castle for a walking tour.\u00a0 Originally built by St. Stephen in 1015, the castle was later re-built for Theresa Maria.\u00a0 Actually, Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (1717 \u2013 1780).\u00a0 She was the only female ruler of the Habsburg Dominions.\u00a0 She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria & Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma. Top girl in the region.\u00a0 Definitely needed a castle!<\/p>\n

Our bus disgorged us right by the public loos.\u00a0 But at \u20ac1 a visit, we have a better plan.\u00a0 Cross our legs and wait!\u00a0 Plan B.<\/p>\n

We had visited Budapest at the end of a cruise from Nuremberg in July 2015.\u00a0 I made a comprehensive photographic record at that time.\u00a0 I’ve just checked it and it confirms what we thought this time.\u00a0 The crowds were far greater this year than they were four years ago.\u00a0 This time it was hard to get anywhere near the Fisherman’s Bastion!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Let alone get to see the spectacular view …<\/p>\n

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… and it was really hard to get photos of the Holy Trinity Column and St. Matthias Church!\u00a0 But here’s my best shot.\u00a0 The church has the shadow of the column on the front wall …<\/span><\/p>\n

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We passed a great view of the castle’s rear defensive walls…<\/p>\n

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… and various statues …<\/p>\n

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This peculiar statue was allegedly built by the communists to symbolise the unification of Buda and Pest.\u00a0 The general consensus was that that was a bit suggestive.\u00a0 Indeed it is affectionately known locally as the “Penis Fountain”!<\/p>\n

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In a more sober vein, here is Count Andr\u00e1s Hadik, a Hungarian nobleman, slightly famous for capturing the Prussian capital Berlin during the Seven Years’ War.\u00a0 Of course, he’s not as famous to us as is And\u00e1s Zewde (our cruise manager) (or even his dog, come to that)!<\/p>\n

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We elected to leave the tour and walk back to base.\u00a0 First stop – the Hilton hotel.\u00a0 This really is a Hilton unlike the hotel in Vukovar!\u00a0 We like to admire the floral display in the lobby …<\/p>\n

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… and, of course bring plan B into action.\u00a0 A visit to their upmarket rest rooms!\u00a0 Funnily enough we met three Riviera local guides also admiring the flowers!<\/p>\n

We walked down the hill next to the funicular railway which was busy transporting Japanese tourists up to the castle.\u00a0 We crossed the river on the famous Chain Bridge and back down the Eastern bank to our ship.\u00a0 We didn’t visit the holocaust memorial row of 60 shoes.\u00a0 This installation on the very edge of the river commemorates the 600,000 Jews taken from Hungary.\u00a0 \u00a0It is esigned to rust away and disappear in 100 years. Neither did we enter the covered market which had been designed by the Eiffel company.<\/p>\n

In the evening we were entertained by an Hungarian folk dance group.<\/p>\n

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The red vests date back to wars of 1848.\u00a0 Gypsies were not allowed to carry arms.\u00a0 They just played music while the Austrians, Hungarians and Serbs shot each other!\u00a0 A red vest indicated that they were not to be seen as targets.\u00a0 I’ve just checked my photos from 2015 and this Is the very same group as we had on board then!\u00a0 \u00a0However, the red vests are definitely a few sizes bigger this time!<\/p>\n

So that’s our last full day on this cruise.\u00a0 All good!<\/p>\n

“Ciao for Now”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 14 days cruising and 3,200 kilometreos travelled, we moor in Budapest about 200 metres from where we started!\u00a0 We’ve travelled the long way round to get here! Now we get a tour of the city (with lots of weekend… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danube-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2684,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}