Today is our last day in Budapest before we have a travel day tomorrow getting to Prague, so probably no blog tomorrow. Our plan today was to go to the Buda Castle precinct. I had a brief visit the other day when I did the hospital tour, but Deb was keen to also take a look. We started with a local breakfast at a cafe in the square and then went to the Central Market to replenish our supplies for dinner. Last night we ate all the pate and drank all the orange juice. The market has a stall that squeezes oranges while you wait and the juice is outstanding.
After hearing of the fines for ‘fare evasion’ we took the option to load the BudapestGo app on our phone and buy a 24 hr pass for all the public transport and the caught a combination of trams to where the Funicular (cable car) goes up to the castle precinct. After 20 minutes of hot sun, and a convoluted purchasing process, we decided to take the private bus up the hill which delivered us to the main square near the Fisherman’s Bastion.
Buda Castle is the historical palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. First completed in 1265, the basis of the Baroque palace that occupies most of the site today was built between 1749 and 1769, but was severely damaged during the Siege of Budapest in World War II, and rebuilt in a simplified Baroque style during the state communist era. Defensive walls surround the entire Castle Quarter neighborhood to its north, which is well known for its medieval, Baroque, and neoclassical houses, churches, and other monuments. Since 2006, the area has been Unesco listed and the EU has poured billions into the rebuild which is ongoing today. The centrepiece of the main square is the St Matthias church whose interior is more painted walls and stained glass windows. The original church on this site was built in 1015, with the current version built in 1465.
After the church we walked around Fisherman Bastion, which gave defenders a great strategic viewpoint to see incoming invaders. The site is well maintained and everyone seems to get a turn for that special selfie. There are plenty of opportunities for the influencers to post their happy snaps here. As we walked around the site, we found a church tower that was the only thing left frome a church that was destroyed. The National Archives building is worth seeing with it’s glazed tile roof. As we made our way back to the square, we noticed lots of other houses where the superficial repairs are falling off, exposing the bullet-ridden brickwork underneath.
We had some lunch and then negotiated some bus travel to visit the Budapest Museum of Fine Art. This art collection is mostly between 1300- 1800 and is an impressive collection of Hungarian and other European artists. Apparently, Hungary was an important centre for renaissance art north of the alps, but successive invasions and occupations dispersed the collections. Much of the current displays had been purchased from foreign countries since 1990 and some was on loan from other galleries. Due to the time-period much of the art was religiously themed as most art was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church.
Other pieces included still lifes and dead animals. Interestingly, there was one painting that dated back to 1710 that depicted parrots and cockatoos. Overall it was an great collection and the building itself was a great space, paying homage to the great displays of the Renaissance past. I was only mildly distracted by the ‘handsy’ 70 year old man and his 20 year old ‘girlfriend’ appreciating the cultural experience.
The last thing we needed to tick off in Budapest was Chimney Cake. I am now convinced that this delicacy is an invention of the You Tube tourist videos. After the gallery, we walked for a kilometre in search of a store or cafe that might sell us one. Eventually, we ended up back near the touristy riverfront before finding some. So Chimney Cake is a spiral cake normally filled with ice cream and nutella. I, of course, skipped the nutella and had chocolate sauce instead. So … box ticked!
Until next time!
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