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.