Friday, 21 March 2008 - Monday, 24 March 2008
We spent Easter in Budapest, and really enjoyed our time there, despite some inclement weather at times.
We stayed at the Art'Otel Budapest (http://www.artotel.de/budapest/budapest.html), on the Buda side of the Danube. The hotel was really nice and we had a great room that overlooked the Danube, with wonderful views across the river to the Parliament building.
Having checked into the hotel, we spent Friday afternoon at the Gellert thermal baths, which was quite an experience. The staff had fairly limited English - or at least a limited inclination to speak English - making it a bit difficult to work out where to get changed, where to leave our clothes, where to hire a towel, where to find the baths etc, but it was good fun, and we enjoyed our time there (despite the slightly gross concept of sharing a warm bath with about 100 people). We returned to the hotel that evening via Gellert Hill, which provided great views over the city. We finished the day with a really brilliant meal at a little French restaurant near the hotel, Le Jardin de Paris. Exceptionally good food and service.
We headed across the Szechenyi Chain Bridge on Saturday morning and spent the day in Pest. After an enormous breakfast at the most famous cafe in Budapest, Gerbeaud, we visited the House of Terror, a museum housed in the same building that served as the headquarters of the secret police, and which focuses on the atrocities committed by both Hungary's facist and Stalinist regimes. A pretty shocking place, particularly the prison cells in the basement of the building and the Perpetrators Gallery, with pictures of those who committed - or permitted to be commited - the various atrocities. We spent the afternoon visiting the Hungarian State Opera House and the hugely impressive Basilica of St Stephen, including the upstairs viewing platform. After checking out a market and sampling some traditional Hungarian delights, we made our way back to the hotel for a late-afternoon nap, before venturing out again that evening for dinner at a nearby pub.
We spent Sunday exploring Castle Hill, including Buda Castle and its underground labrynth of caves, Fishermen's Bastion and Matthias Church. All very impressive (though Matthias Church was unfortunately covered in scaffolding), and the sun came out, which really improved the views back down over the city. We returned to the hotel for another late-afternoon nap, before heading out for dinner at another nearby pub.
We spent Monday back in Pest, this time via the Margret Bridge. We visited the incredibly ornate Parliament building, a really interesting blend of neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque architectural styles. We also visited the Shoes on the Danube monument, one of the most moving monuments that either of us have seen - 60 pairs of old-style boots and shoes in cast iron, arranged in the spot where hundreds of Hungarian Jews were shot and thrown into the Danube by members of the Arrow Cross Party in 1944. Afterwards, we had some lunch at Gerbeaud, then spent the afternoon strolling through Pest for one last time. We returned to the hotel, collected our bags and made our way to the airport, and it was then a smooth trip back to Heathrow and home.
A great 4 days in another great European capital.
The view from our hotel room
The Szechenyi Chain Bridge
The Elizabeth Bridge
The Gellert thermal baths
Gellert Hill and the views back over the city
Breakfast at Gerbeaud
The House of Terror
The Hungarian State Opera House
The Basilica of St Stephen and the views back over the city
Cat and I at the Basilica of St Stephen
A market in Pest and Cat enjoying some Hungarian delicacies
The Danube
Castle Hill
Matthias Church (somewehere under the scaffolding)
Fishermen's Bastion
Cat at Fishermen's Bastion
The Parliament
The Shoes on the Danbube monument
We spent Easter in Budapest, and really enjoyed our time there, despite some inclement weather at times.
We stayed at the Art'Otel Budapest (http://www.artotel.de/budapest/budapest.html), on the Buda side of the Danube. The hotel was really nice and we had a great room that overlooked the Danube, with wonderful views across the river to the Parliament building.
Having checked into the hotel, we spent Friday afternoon at the Gellert thermal baths, which was quite an experience. The staff had fairly limited English - or at least a limited inclination to speak English - making it a bit difficult to work out where to get changed, where to leave our clothes, where to hire a towel, where to find the baths etc, but it was good fun, and we enjoyed our time there (despite the slightly gross concept of sharing a warm bath with about 100 people). We returned to the hotel that evening via Gellert Hill, which provided great views over the city. We finished the day with a really brilliant meal at a little French restaurant near the hotel, Le Jardin de Paris. Exceptionally good food and service.
We headed across the Szechenyi Chain Bridge on Saturday morning and spent the day in Pest. After an enormous breakfast at the most famous cafe in Budapest, Gerbeaud, we visited the House of Terror, a museum housed in the same building that served as the headquarters of the secret police, and which focuses on the atrocities committed by both Hungary's facist and Stalinist regimes. A pretty shocking place, particularly the prison cells in the basement of the building and the Perpetrators Gallery, with pictures of those who committed - or permitted to be commited - the various atrocities. We spent the afternoon visiting the Hungarian State Opera House and the hugely impressive Basilica of St Stephen, including the upstairs viewing platform. After checking out a market and sampling some traditional Hungarian delights, we made our way back to the hotel for a late-afternoon nap, before venturing out again that evening for dinner at a nearby pub.
We spent Sunday exploring Castle Hill, including Buda Castle and its underground labrynth of caves, Fishermen's Bastion and Matthias Church. All very impressive (though Matthias Church was unfortunately covered in scaffolding), and the sun came out, which really improved the views back down over the city. We returned to the hotel for another late-afternoon nap, before heading out for dinner at another nearby pub.
We spent Monday back in Pest, this time via the Margret Bridge. We visited the incredibly ornate Parliament building, a really interesting blend of neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque architectural styles. We also visited the Shoes on the Danube monument, one of the most moving monuments that either of us have seen - 60 pairs of old-style boots and shoes in cast iron, arranged in the spot where hundreds of Hungarian Jews were shot and thrown into the Danube by members of the Arrow Cross Party in 1944. Afterwards, we had some lunch at Gerbeaud, then spent the afternoon strolling through Pest for one last time. We returned to the hotel, collected our bags and made our way to the airport, and it was then a smooth trip back to Heathrow and home.
A great 4 days in another great European capital.
The view from our hotel room
The Szechenyi Chain Bridge
The Elizabeth Bridge
The Gellert thermal baths
Gellert Hill and the views back over the city
Breakfast at Gerbeaud
The House of Terror
The Hungarian State Opera House
The Basilica of St Stephen and the views back over the city
Cat and I at the Basilica of St Stephen
A market in Pest and Cat enjoying some Hungarian delicacies
The Danube
Castle Hill
Matthias Church (somewehere under the scaffolding)
Fishermen's Bastion
Cat at Fishermen's Bastion
The Parliament
The Shoes on the Danbube monument
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