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.

Csikós in Action

After the spectacular showmanship of the standing rider, we got down to business. The Csikós aren't just guys who herd horses and cows about on the farm, they were also the backbone of the Hungarian army. This meant that there were things these horses needed to be trained to do to protect themselves and their riders under attack.

The Csikós

After the horse stampede about the paddock, we headed to a different field (also filled with dusty sand) for the main event. This included a variety of Csikós showing us how they ride and manage their mounts. It was fascinating.

Lajosmizse and the Puszta Horse Show

Our guide/driver took us to a horse farm near the small town of Lajosmizse. This place hosts groups of tourists like us to see the horses and the Hungarian cowboys called csikós (sounds a little like "chicos").

These fellows dress and ride very differently from American cowboys, as you will see in a subsequent post. They also all carry whips, and I'll treat you to some video clips of that as well. We were greeted with a round of whip cracking and the next thing you know they are driving a herd of horses around the paddock. The soil here is sandy resulting in a field of deep and dusty sand. Although we felt perfectly safe behind the wooden rail, these animals were really charging past us.

Kecskemét, Hungary

On what appears to the last day of Indian summer here in Hungary, we booked a tour to the plains south and east of Budapest to see a little (a very little) of the town of Kecskemét, known as the Garden of Hungary. This is a town of 100k or so located in the heart of farmland.

As seems to be the case in every Hungarian town, there is a statue of Kossuth Lajos, The Governor-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848-49. Do not ask what a Governor-President is, for I do not know.

Devin Castle

About a 15 minute taxi ride from Bratislava, headed upstream along the Danube, we come to the confluence of the Morava river with the Danube. here, on a high rocky outcropping, is the Devin Castle. Or at least what is left of it.

St. Martin's Cathedral

The most interesting place we visited in Bratislava has to be St. Martin's Cathedral. The front of the church is an interesting place. To the left of the photo above is a large four-lane bridge connecting the rest of the city to the bridge across the Danube to Austria. The communists were not too particular about what was destroyed to build what they wanted.

The photo above shows a section of the original wall around the city. And just out of view to the right is the church.

The Church of the Elevation of the Cross

The Church of the Elevation of the Cross is externally still mostly in good shape even if very little remains inside. Above you can see the spire of the church with the Bratislava Castle on the hill in the distance. And before you ask, we did not visit the castle.

Bratislava, Slovenia

For a change of scenery, we headed over to Slovakia to see a little of the Old Town in Bratislava. All thing are possible when you are retired and the train tickets and hotels are cheap. Above is the street (pedestrian) just outside our hotel. At the end of the street is Michael's Gate. This is only remaining of the four original medieval gates to the city. It was built in 1300 and reconstructed in 1758 in its current form.

Ferenciek Tere

After my visit to the Franciscan Church, I headed back out into Ferenciek Tere to go catch up with E. On the way I spotted this imposing statue with interesting buildings in the background.

Budapesti Belvárosi Ferences Templom

After out immersion in WWI and a front row seat to the National Day parade, we rode back to Pest and stopped in Ferenciek Tere. I'd like to tell you that it was to see sites of great historical significance, but alas, I cannot. E saw a toy store she wanted to stop to see.

While she was shopping for a new puzzle to assemble on the dining room table, I was on the other side of the square investigating the the Pest Franciscan Church.

Várkert Bazár

We went to an exhibition created to mark the centennial of WWI. It is located at the Várkert Bazár on the Buda side of the river at the bottom of the hill on which the castle sits. This was wonderful, immersive experience. Three floors of a pretty fancy building have been turned into three layers of the history of Hungary (and Europe) starting in the late 19th century and ending (after a quick dash through WWII) with the 1950's and the 1956 rebellion against Communism.

Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside or I'd show you more. However, as we sat nearby at what is quickly becoming a favorite place to stop for a coffee and a sweet to perk up the afternoon, we found ourselves becoming engulfed in what seemed to be a demonstration.