Budapest, Hungary: Two Cities are Twice as Nice

We spent the day today in Hungary's capital city, Budapest.  Unbeknownst to me, Budapest is actually the combination of two cities: Buda on the west side of the Danube (in the foreground of the picture above), and Pest on the east side of the Danube (in the background--the big white building is Parliament).  Hence, the capital's name: Budapest.

I climbed to the top of Castle Hill in Buda to check out the Royal Palace, which looks very much as you would expect a couple-hundred year old palace to look.  The view of Pest from the top is amazing, though, which makes it well-worth the climb!  The tall towers in the picture above belong to St. Stephan's Basilica (the patron saint of Hungary), and the bridge is called the Bridge of Chains.  I walked to Pest over this bridge, which was nice--because I was in the middle of the Danube, it was the one time all day I was not hot!

This is Hero's Square in Pest, which was erected in 1896 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the victory of the Magyars over the Carpathians.  It was very large and filled with scary-looking statuary, but a nice tribute, just the same.

The view of the Danube from the Fisherman's Bastion, which is at the other end of Castle Hill from the Royal Palace.  I climbed the towers, which were in surprisingly good repair in comparison to the rest of the city.

Matthias Church, which is in the same plaza as Fisherman's Bastion, has an absolutely gorgeous roof!  The shadows were getting long at this point, so you can't really see me, but the church is much more interesting anyway :-)

Siofok, Hungary: See Yesterday

Janine and I hung out at a wading beach all day (for being the biggest lake in Europe, Lake Balaton appears to be shallow everywhere...a new phenomenon for both of us).  It was very relaxing and felt like summer.  For pictures, see yesterday's post :-)

Siofok, Hungary: The Hungarian Version of the Jersey Shore

As a result of our train encounter with the Austrian fellows, Janine and I decided to take a mini-beach vacation in Siofok, which is hailed as Hungary's summer vacation and party capital.  Situated on the edge of a giant lake, the beaches are reasonably nice, the water is cool, and we finally got a break from the heat.  However...it is definitely the Hungarian version of the Jersey Shore!  There are scads of 16-25-year-olds livin' for the night--nothing is open until noon and the giant clubs don't close until 5am.

Our 4:30am wake-up call this morning made us decide to go for cappuccino instead of liquor tonight, but who knows what tomorrow will bring :-)

Pecs, Hungary: A (Hot) Gem

As I mentioned yesterday, Pecs has a history of both Roman and Turkish rule.  As such, there are strong influences of both Islam and Christianity.  The first place we visited today was a mosque-turned-church that is on the central square.  The shot above shows the original mosque windows and details (the red/white stripes are an Egyptian design); the Christians kind of just added things on to the existing artwork, so it was neat to see both traditions in one place.  One of the coolest things about this visit was that Janine and I met this man who was Muslim, and he translated all of the old Arabic writings on the walls for us.

The other major church in town is the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.  This church was always Christian, but the artwork still has an Eastern feel to it.  Unfortunately, the church was too dark for good pictures, but the crypt (see above) was well-lit and had nice marble and mosaic work.

The one time today when we weren't hot was when we went underground to the Tettye Caves.  The caves are naturally formed in tuff limestone rock, but were artificially enlarged, and have housed everything from mills to people to an amusement park.  Currently, it's just a nice tour (though it was in Hungarian...good thing we had the English brochure to help us along!).

We walked down to the main square after a late dinner for one last wade in the town fountain, and the buildings were beautifully lit.  It was like Christmas in July!

Pecs, Hungary: Off the Beaten Path

We took the six-hour train ride from Vienna, Austria, to Pecs (pronounced paisch), Hungary, this morning.  When we boarded the train at 6am, we had a nice surprise of mountains of beer and eight half-drunk Austrian fellows in our compartment.  They turned out to be really nice, though, and Janine and I had great fun talking to them until they disembarked near Budapest.  We continued on into the countryside of Southern Hungary, where--I am happy to say--we have finally escaped the tourists!  Notice the lack of them in the picture above...and aside from the waitstaff and our hoteliers, who speak limited English, we haven't actually heard any other languages besides Hungarian and German.  Yay immersion :-)

Pecs is Hungary's fifth biggest city, but it only has 156000 people.  Very small and clean, it has a mix of Christian/Muslim architectural and cultural influences because of its location.  The building are lovely, and there are fountains and gardens everywhere.  We didn't do much exploring today, as we got here in late afternoon and it was very hot, but stay tuned--tomorrow should prove interesting!

Bratislava, Slovakia: Quaint Little Town

Janine and I headed over the Bratislava, Slovakia--just a short train ride from Vienna--for the day.  Slovakia's capital is a quaint little town, with both a modern business section and a historic town center, filled with narrow cobbled streets, little shops and cafes, and plenty of old buildings.  We had lunch on one of the town squares, and for all you Sound of Music fans out there, I found a beer called Edelweiss :-)

One of Bratislava's claims to fame is that the cathedral there, St. Martin's, was the coronation site for eleven Turkish rulers of the Ottoman empire back in the Middle Ages.  The church itself was under restoration, but this square near it has similar architecture.

As per usual, we found the opera house--pictured behind me--which was an artwork in itself.  Overall, a charming visit.  One last anecdote: on our way in, we happened to be walking past the President's Palace.  All of a sudden, the police pass by, then turn into the palace, which was surrounded by a gate that we could see through.  We went up to the gate, and there was a band assembled and a guard of forty or so soldiers.  Then, the President gets out of one of the cars, and others (presumably foreign leaders?) get out of the second car.  The band starts playing, the soldiers do some sort of presentation, and the President walks the visitors around this red carpet that has been put out in as a sort of formal welcome mat.  They go inside, the band marches out, and the soldiers follow.  All this happens in the space of five minutes.  Welcome to Slovakia.

Spitz and Durenstein, Austria: The hills are alive...

Today, Janine and I got out of Vienna, and went 1.5 hours northeast to the Wachau Valley...wine country!  The valley runs for 35 km (22 mi) along the Danube, and is world-renowned for producing the grapes that make Austria's excellent white wines.  Interestingly enough, only one winery out of the forty-some in the area exports their wine anywhere; all of the rest of the wines have to be purchased locally.  Quaint little towns along the river with traditional architecture, lots of bikes, and hills just filled with terraced vineyards made this quite a picturesque place to spend our day. We tasted wine at three different places along our journey.  We also tasted the local schnapps, chocolates, and jams--all of which were made out of the apricots that are grown everywhere in the valley--at a fourth location.  It was all delicious!

We road our bicycles between stops, and actually ended up covering about half (17km/11 mi) of the valley.  I know, I know, bikes and wine are probably not a good mix...but no one got hurt, I promise :-)  The picture above is along the bike path that winds through the vineyards, and you can see the terraced vines growing on the hills behind me.  We had just gone swimming in the Danube (we had to change on the beach--quite the feat!), which is why my hair is all wet.

In Durnstein, we climbed to the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionhearted, king of England in the twelfth century (the Robin Hood king), was held for a few months.  The ruins were in ruins, but the view of the valley from the top was absolutely spectacular.  I felt like I was in the Sound of Music--it was awesome!