The Missus woke early and was rarin' to go on our second morning in Budapest. I think the cruise of the Danube the previous night had something to do with it….as it displayed Budapest's beauty in perfect form. We headed out fairly early, the Missus wanted to check out Castle Hill before the tourist crowds hit, so we set off from the Marriott, past the Vigadó Concert Hall next door; just another one of the amazingly beautiful structures in the city.
Even beyond all the wonderful buildings, there are two things that quickly come to mind when I think of Budapest. One of them are the benches. I don't recall seeing so many benches in any other city. And folks seem to take good advantage of them.
The second are the sculptures…..which are everywhere as well. Right in front of the Concert Hall is the well known Little Princess statue which was created by László Marton whose inspiration for the sculpture was his daughter.
The one on the right is called Danube Wind. The figure of a woman is leaning against the wind of the Danube River. Not quite sure what she is looking at….though the view is wonderful.
There are also quite a few "mini-statues" hidden about. The Missus found this one close by. At first I thought it was a pile of dog turds; but closer inspection revealed….
A little balloon dog and a bone! you can be easily distracted in Budapest. Perhaps a homage to Jeff Koons?
We crossed over the Chain Bridge yet again; though this time with the intention of heading up Castle Hill. I mentioned that it was too early to catch the funicular up the hill to the Missus…. silly me….the Missus had no intention of catching the funicular. We'd be going up via the Várkert Bazár, the Buda Castle Park. From the park; there's an escalator then an elevator that takes you up to the Royal Palace.
The views from the park aren't shabby either.
And the view from Castle Hill, even on a hazy morning is stunning.
A statue of the Virgin Mary looks over the Danube to the Pest side. The statue was erected fairly recently.
It was nice having this view all to ourselves on this morning. We could really take in the city.
We really took our time at the look-out.
From here it's a short walk along the promontory to the Royal Palace.
According to several accounts I've read; this rendition of Buda Castle, rebuilt after World War II, is a far cry from what it was. To quote Wikipedia:
"The government made a decision about reconstruction only in 1948. According to contemporary photos, all the important interiors were in a damaged state, but their reconstruction was technically possible. The new communist government of Hungary considered the Royal Palace a symbol of the former regime. Therefore, Hungarian leaders chose to thoroughly modernise the interior and exterior of the palace. Architectural trends played a part in the decision, as modernist architects had condemned the Hauszmann style as "too ornate"."
The grand statue in front of the castle is of Eugene of Savoy; who helped to drive the Ottomans out of Hungary.
That statue of a bird above the area where the funicular arrives is the Turul.
This mythical bird is the symbol of Hungary. You can read more about the Turul here.
From here we walked into the Palace Courtyard and viewed the King Matthias Fountain; King Matthias was a very popular leader and is considered the last "true" Hungarian King as all those who came after were foreign born.
This courtyard is also the location of the Budapest History Museum.
From here we headed on out; past the ruins of a medieval monastery.
And of course more statues. This one is of Gróf Bethlen Istvan; who was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1921 – 1931.
This one is of a Hussar examining his saber.
This one is the Statue of the Independence War.
From here we headed toward the nearby Matthias Church. We were getting a bit hungry and started looking for a place to grab something small to eat and some coffee. There seemed to be nothing in sight. And then it hit us. A fragrance we'd been searching for during our walk in the city but had not yet found. The yeasty smell of bread and pastries. We followed our nose to this structure.
Where there was a tiny shop…..
And a young lady with the most welcoming smile…..
I ordered a savory strudel (Rétes) and a couple of the cheese "scones" (Pogácsa), along with some espresso and water. We had a seat at the tiny table.
And enjoyed our snack.
Not a big fan of the cabbage strudel, it was mushy, soggy, and fairly bland. We both enjoyed the "scone" which was almost a cross between a gougere and a scone. It was light and cheesy.
Along with some caffeine and H2O, it was just what we needed.
Budavari Retesvar
Balta koez 4.
Budapest 1014, Hungary
We were ready to get on with our exploration.