Left the apartment at 6:00am for our tour to Budapest, picked up at 6:15, shuttled to the State Opera House for transfer to Hungary bus.
First a 20 minute tour of Vienna so we can compare to Budapest.
Buda, one side of the Danube, high land, Pest , the other side of the river, lowland= Budapest
Tour done in English and Spanish, I am understanding the Spanish better than his English!
Charles Square
Both cities have 23 districts
Statue of Beethoven
City park statues of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, Budapest also a city park.
St Stephen Cathedral, also one in Budapest. The one in Budapest dedicated to a king, the one here dedicated to a soldier.
The DANUBE canal crosses the city of Vienna, the Danube River crosses the city of Budapest.
Along the highway before the border:
Windmill farms
Hothouses and fields of vegetables and sunflowers
Bratislava, capital city of Slovakia
At the border, long line... Maybe due to refugee migration. This border was highly secure until 1989 when the wall came down, Gorbachev was in, Hungary joined the EU but kept their own currency.
Lots a d lots of German licence plates in the big line.This is the beginning of school holidays in Germany.
We had no check when we got to the tool booth, right through. Often, we are told, the bus could have a passport check.
Wifi everywhere, on buses and trams but this bus is from Hungary so we had to wait until we crossed the border to get service,
History lesson given between the border and Budapest.. Atila, Turks, Austrian Empire, 1849 Independence.
Sissi, wife of Franz Joseph, spent lots of time in Hungary and convinced her husband that Budapest would be the second capital of his empire.
Look into Myerling Incident.
Treaty of Versailles, Hungary lost two thirds of its territory to Austria.
After WwII became Socialist state, 1956 Revolution, civil war. Then under strict socialist rule until 1989.
Their language is unique, close to Iran and Turkey dialects.
Homes, very different than Austria....square stucco structures. Lots of flowers, mostly gladiolas and begonias.
Lunch by Hero Square right on the Danube, Goolash soup then paprika chicken. Yum!!
We met folks on our day tour from India, Spain, California, Japan, Iran.
- [ ] Afternoon bus tour with three guides on board, one English, one Spanish, onJapanese. Off to Gellart Hill because Castle Hill is closed because of a bike race. Whew, racing in a 32 degrees!
- [ ] Castle built in 1896and the square where 7 tribes honoured in 1996 Plaza Millennium.
- [ ] 123 hot springs, feeds city hot water
- [ ] Many thermal baths
- [ ] Artificial lake in front of our restaurant, ice skating rink in winter
- [ ] Statue of King Stephen in square also
- [ ] Grave of unsung heroes who fought for the freedom of their country.
Boulevard like champs D'elysses joining Central Park and and downtown, three sections. Part 1 small homes, service roads, 2nd part no service roads, 3 rd section very tall buildings on the Danube 200 homes pulled down to create it
Music study hall, leachers
WwII 70 percent destroyed in this area .
10 bridges connect Buda and Pest
Hungarian Rhapsody
All main streets go to the Danube.
Main street 6 miles long, main square has 8 corners, named Octagon.
20 theatres by Oktogon Square, many writers and poets, Finish language group.
Opera building in Italian Renaissance style, guided tours at 3
St Stephan Cathedral often called Bascilia because it is so big, took 50 years, finished in 1905, 3 styles. Concerts held, organ with 5000 pipes,
2000 years of history. Belonged to the Roman Empire. Hans in 5th century. Hungarians came in 9th century.
1850-1900 city built, 200 square miles, bigger than Vienna, smaller then Berlin.
2 million folks live here, 20 percent of the Hungarian population.
Elizabeth Square (Sisi) with fountain, showing symbolic rivers of Hungary.
5 star hotels
Little boulevard, largest Lutheran church, original testament of Martin Luther
Plaza Diagas
100 coffee cafes with Dorbos cake
Jewish Quarter, largest synagogue of Europe, 2nd largest of the world, 3000 seats, concerts here.
Memorial gardens for Jewish people who died in 1944. Closed today for Shabbat.
Behind a smaller synagogue, Orthodox.
Hungarian Art Noveau different than French -aArt Noveau because of ceramic styles on roof.
Fresh Palace finished in 1905, green roof photo. Royal Palace, called Old Palace Messiah church behind it. Fisherman Bastion
- [ ] Hill named after the first bishop of the country, Gellert. Statue of looking to the east because Hungarians came from the east, named Statue of Liberty with a palm branch,
- [ ] fortress Citadel built by Franz Joseph, who was not popular in this country but became king of here and symbolically blew up the front entrance of the citadel.
- [ ] Best view of the city, seeing Buda, hilly and Pest, flat with the Danube and all it's activity in between.
- [ ] 2 hour free time in the City Centre, Pedestrian Shopping Streets, St Stephan's church, 5 star hotel lobbies.very hot now, 34 degrees so the cooler places and shade were sought out for those two hours.
- [ ] Quicker ride back to Vienna, no issues at the Austrian border.
Home at 8:00
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