Dunfermline Abbey

On our way south from St. Andrews to Berwick Upon Tweed, we stopped in Dunfermline to see the Abbey.

St. Andrews Cathedral

St. Andrews shows off the ruins of the mighty cathedral that whose construction began in 1158 and continued over a century. Wikipedia tells me that 119 m long, it is the largest church built in Scotland. In 1559 John Knox fired up the masses and the church as ransacked. By 1561 it was left to ruin and stone recycled for other uses.

Crail at Sunset

We drove to the small town of Crail on the north shore of the Firth of Forth not far south of St. Andrews. I went to the shore to have a look at the sunset over the Forth.

St. Andrews

AS you can see, we have now left Hungary and are spending a couple days in the St. Andrews area in preparation for our Christmas house sit in Berwick Upon Tweed, just south of the border in England.

You can't spend any time at all in St. Andrews without encountering the Hamish McHamish statue. This is the ginger cat that won hearts for this nomadic ways and the book Hamish McHamish of St Andrews: Cool Cat About Town.

Around Pécs

Like Budapest, Pécs is a city filled with buildings that are showing wear and tear.

Mosque of Pasha Qasim - Now a Catholic Church

The Downtown Candlemas Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pécs is in a building that spend several hundred years as a mosque. It was built between 1543 and 1546 by Pasha Qasim of the Turks after their successful invasion. It was converted back into a church in 1702. The associated minaret was destroyed in 1766 (Wikipedia).

Cella Septichora

The Cella Septichora (or as Google maps calls it - Tourist Attraction), the Roman Mausoleum, is an interesting place that actually sits under the modern ground level. the beams and glass you see above is the street level.

Pécs Cathedral

The Pécs Cathedral is closed for renovations and the outside is all I can see, but it is an impressive outside.

The Pécs Christmas Market

Our one night in Pécs was naturally focused on the local Christmas Market. Above you see some of the candied fruit and chocolates that make the seasons bright.

St. Sebastian's Church, Pécs

After a week of exchanging emails with the software company, I finally have a solution (or a bit of workaround) for getting processed images out of the program and posted to the blog. So, now we go back a bit in time to finish our visit to Pécs.

Just off the Széchenyi Ter is St. Sebastian's Church.

Parisi Udvar

These are pictures of our last sightseeing trip into Budapest. At Freneciek Ter there is a fabulous building that I photographed from the outside earlier. This time we inside for a look around. This is the Parisi Udvar, a hotel. And as you can see, it looks more like a church than any hotel I've ever been in.

A Visit to Pécs

One of our last outings while in Budapest was to make a short trip south to the City of Pécs. In the center of town is Széchenyi Ter where we find the Mosque of Pasha Qasim also know as Downtown Candlemas Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the Turks invaded in 1543, Pasha Qasim the Victorious built a mosque. In 1766, when they were driven out, the Jesuits destroyed the minaret and converted the mosque back to christian usage. 

Train ride from Ljubljana back to Budapest

The coming, as was the going, is an 8 hour train ride from Ljubljana to Budapest. This time, however, we came prepared with lots of water and snacks since we now know that the train has no dining car. 

Exploring Ljubljana

Prešeren square faces the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation on one side and the Triple Bridge on the other. This puts it right in the heart of the city. It is named for the most famous poet of the city, represented on this statue.

Katedrala Ljubljana

There is also a cathedral in Ljubljana and it, too, is a Baroque style building. It is quite impressive.

Cerkev Marijinega oznanjenja

There are a couple churches in Ljubljana that we visited, the being Cerkev Marijinega Oznanjenja, or the Franciscan Church of the Assumption.

Blejsko jezero

Our final stop on the all-day tour was at Lake Bled, Blejsko jezero. We arrived just before sundown. This made it a great time to grab a few images but a bad time to do what we really came to do. This small island in the lake, Blejski otok, was on our itinerary. There are small boats that are rowed out to the island and back so we could see the church that stands there. We will have to come back one day to do that since we wasted our day fighting traffic to get back through Ljubljana to get here.

Predjamski grad

Our next stop on our day-long tour was Predjamski grad, the castle built into a cave. When you have a large karst section in your country, cave is what you do.

Postojnska jama

Our first full day in Slovenia we spent on the road as we took a tour of several places outside the city. The first stop was Postojnska jama, a huge cave about half way between Ljubljana and the Slovenia coast.

Ljubljana at Night

After the 8 hour train ride from Budapest to Ljubljana, we were ready for some fresh air. So we stashed our stuff in the hotel (a very nice one, indeed) and headed out for a quick look about and some dinner.

(Rail)Road Trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia

As our stay in Budapest nears its end, we decided to take a road trip to see something new. We went across town, hopped on the train and went to Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Árkád Shopping Center

As you have no doubt noticed, we've been doing lots of shopping lately. This happens partly because this is the season for such things and partly because it has gotten cold and we've run out of compelling things to do outside in the face of that.

So, we have discovered a different mall that is very large and very nice called Árkád (Arcade).

Advent Market, St. Stephen's Square

So, the Christmas markets continue to open up here in Budapest. This one is in the square in front of St. Stephen's Basilica and is called the Advent Market.

Applied Folk Art Museum

Between the Buda Castle and the Danube is a small museum that displays folk art. Not sure why "applied" is in the name, but it does have some quite interesting items to see.

Rigoletto

We went to the opera (on Nov. 23, as you see above) and had a delightful time. Since the Opera House is being remodelled, the season is in the Erkel Theater.

Szent György nagyvértanú szerb ortodox templom

St. George's Serbian Orthodox Church is a place we wanted to see and were we lucky to arrive shortly before it closed for the day and we had a brief visit.

Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem

We went to the Baron Roland von Eötvös University to see the church and found it to be closed and under construction, as you can see on the right side of the photo above.

However, this is a place named for a well-known physicist from the 19th and early 20th century. This university is both the oldest (founded in 1635) and largest university in Hungary (currently about 28,000 students). It was named for Eötvös in 1950.

Szent Mihály-templom

I realize that it has nothing to do with the main point of this post which is St. Michael's Church in downtown Budapest, but I really liked the manhole cover in Váci utca (where the church is located). Thus, you get to start your brief tour of this church with a totally unrelated manhole cover.

Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda

I realize that probably no one who will look at this blog reads or speaks Hungarian. I certainly don't. But being immersed in the culture for a while, I'm beginning to catch onto a few words, here and there. I thought I'd pass along the favor and try to immerse you in th language a bit as well.

What you are looking at is the main entrance to the large Széchenyi thermal baths. I went there for a massage and a soak and to have a look about.

Szabadság Híd

The Liberty Bridge is the shortest bridge in central Budapest. It was built between 1894 and 1896 and opened in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph, for whom it was initially named. The center span was destroyed by the retreating Germans during WWII, along with all the other bridges across the Danube. In 1946 it was rebuilt and named the Liberty Bridge. It was the first reconnection of Buda and Pest and carried the first tram connection between the two sides of the river.

Gellért-hegyi sziklatemplom

On the Buda side of the Danube stands a rocky outcrop and within it a large cave that is a Catholic Church.  It was established by the Pauline Order, a Hungarian monk hermit order that still exists today.

In front of the church is a statue of St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary and the one who brought Christianity to the country. In the background is the Liberty bridge, Szabadság Híd. More on that tomorrow.

Aquincum - 2

At the Aquincum Museum, there are displays of some of the items found during the excavation of the site. Above, you see a set of nested boxes that were once used for cosmetics. It is shown with an array of bracelets and necklaces.

Aquincum - 1

We travelled to Óbuda (old Buda) across the river to visit the remains a 2nd century (from 1st century BC to about 3rd century AD) Roman city, Aquincum. In its heyday, Aquincum was home to some 15,000 residents. Because it was so large and lasted so long, there are a significant number of artifacts, gravestones, building parts, and information about its residents.

Fiumei úti sírkert - 2

There is a large colonnade in the center of the cemetery and at one end is a high ceilinged dome painted as as shrine to the ones buried below.

Fiumei úti sírkert - 1

The Fiumei úti sírkert or as Google translates this, Fiumei Road Tomb, is the place where heros and other significant people in Hungarian history are buried. It was established about 170 years ago and is filled with some pretty interesting memorials to personalities great and small.

Deák Ferenc tér

I realized that I haven't give you much of view of the streets here in Budapest. So this is a quick look at a small area around Deák Ferenc tér. This is right in the heart of the city a couple blocks from St. Stephen's Basilica, 3-4 blocks from the Danube, and a transportation hub for buses, trams, and the metro.

The photo above in interesting. As you have noticed in past blog posts (most recently in Glasgow) that I am fascinated by scenes that have a timeless quality to them. This time it is interactive. Take you right hand cover the right side of the image where the zebra cross is. Now tell me when this image is taken.

Tutankhamun

We heard there was to be a Tutankhamun exhibit in town, so off we went to see what we could see. Turns out this is different from any other exhibit we've been to.

Nothing in the exhibit is original, It is all reproductions. This sounds like a cheat, and perhaps it is. But what you get in return is a look as well crafted reproductions of everything that was found in the tomb. Rather than one or two pieces out of context, we got the full context of the search, the find, the many amazing pieces, and the life of the boy king. Pretty special.

Organ Concert at St. Stephen's Basilica

We went to one of the Monday evening organ concerts at St. Stephen's Basilica. This gave me a chance to bring you a few more photos and a video of a snippet of the concert.

Memento Park

As you no doubt know, Hungary had a long and often violent existence under Communist rule. When this ended on 23 October 1989, the 33rd anniversary of the 1956 revolution, Communist rule formally ended. On 19 June 1991, the Russian military occupation ended. This transition naturally required that something be done with all the statues erected during the occupation. That "something" is Memento Park. All the monuments (that survived the transition) were relocated to a park pretty far out on the Buda side of town. It was a long trip, but we jumped on a bus and went.

At the entrance to the park is this statue of Lenin. I do not know who might have placed the flowers at his feet but they were fresh. The only statue of Stalin in Budapest was destroyed in the 1956 revolution and no replacement was made. E has seen a hand of the statue in one of the museums here.

Between Vörösmarty and Deák Ferenc tér

Between Vörösmarty tér and Deák Ferenc tér runs a pedestrian street lined with fashionable clothing stores. This time of year this streets connects two squares that are filling will booths for the Christmas market.

And no, I did not (nor will I) try the rooster testicle stew.

Another visit to the Central Market

We needed a few spices to replenish supplies, so we headed back down to the Central Market (Nagy Vásárcsarnok) to see what we could find. Armed with a list of hungarian translations of the spices we needed, we bravely ventured forth.

Őrjárat utca & Neptun utca

On a stroll about our neighborhood, we found what appears from the location near a current doctor's office building and the signage nearby to be a former hospital. I don't know when this was built, but I find the hint of an onion dome at the top to add a charming lift to this otherwise drab structure.

Nighttime Photography Outing

I signed up for a guided tour to the best places for night time photography in Budapest and am pleased with the results. The young man, Miklos Mayer (https://hungaryphototours.com/), took me around on the Buda side of the Danube and clearly knew what he was doing and was very comfortable with the problems that came our way, as I will describe below.

In the image of the Erzsébet híd (Elizabeth Bridge) above, you not only see the city spread out on either side of the river, but you see the traces of the river boats as they moved while the shutter was open.

Hungarian National Gallery

On an on-again, off-again rainy day, we decided to do what it is the second sensible thing to do on rainy day. (First is, of course, stay home.) We headed to a museum. The Hungarian National Gallery is located inside the Buda Castle just across the river on top of a hill.

We took the bus and a couple trams get to the bottom of the hill and then bought tickets to ride the funicular to get to the top. We are not into climbing hills.

Andrássy út and Szent István tér

After leaving Hősök tere and stopping for a bite of lunch, we had ourselves a stroll along Andrássy út to see the sights. Mostly, we saw lots of high-end shopping places that we had no business going into. But along the way we did see a few interesting doorways.

Vajdahunyad vára and Hősök tere

In 1896, the city of Budapest dressed itself up and put on a show to celebrate the 1000 years since the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the foundation of the Hungarian State. To commemorate this event, a large park was created, Hősök tere (Hero's Square), at the end of an upgraded Andrássy Avenue and this park contained a series of statues to celebrate the mighty Hungarians of old, kings and such as that. Next to this park is a city park to which the Vajdahunyad vára, the castle you see above was added.

These two areas form the largest park in the city. On this fine autumn day, we went for a stroll in the park to see the sights.

A Few Observations about Budapest

After spending a while in Budapest, a place with such a different language, in a former communist country, and strong traditions that do not resemble any we know from elsewhere, it seemed like time to reflect on some of the things we have seen and experienced here.

I went recently back to the ramshackle house not far from us and caught it just at sunset to set the bright red foliage on fire. This seems like a good image to represent much of what we see here. A place with its own beauty, but still in need of some care.

Rákospalotai temető - All Saints Day

As promised, we returned to the cemetery in the evening of All Saints Day to see a cemetery full of light and life. It was certainly a place filled with both.

Rákospalotai temető - Halloween

Today we explored a section of a cemetery about a 15 minute walk from where we are staying. To give you a feeling for how out of sync life and the blog is, this visit happened on Halloween. The day after, All Saints Day, and today are celebrated quite differently here than they are in the US. First of all, there has been very little Halloween candy on display in the stores. A few Christmas displays are already out in Tesco.

The Remainder of our Visit to the Puszta

The denouement to the entertainment was to see some of the other animals traditionally found on farms in the Puszta. First up were the oxen pulling a wagon.