After some three hours of driving, we saw the lights of the metropolis, which took our breath away in all its wideness.
We arrived! The traffic sign wished us welcome and some city buses, always on their daily routs, were taking the last passengers for the day to their destinations. Youth, getting ready to enjoy the beginning of the weekend and a clear sky, promising tomorrow to be just a perfect January day for exploration, welcomed us to Budapest.
Saturday morning, after a late breakfast we hit the city. Public transport is well organized, everything runs on time and frequently. We used it to the maximum, for daily tickets allow you to use all types of public transport. So we took a tram to the subway station, cross from Pesta to Budim under the Danube, and catch the next tram to take us to the mini-bus which brings us to the Citadel.
Unlike the underground in London – the only underground rail system older than the one in Budapest, where you can only get a glimpse of the way it once was if you walk along the tunnel towards Hyde park, the M1 line has most of the stations in the original state (with some newer stations since the line was prolonged later on). As said Budapest was the second city in the world that got a subway system, and some legendary stations like Oktogon or Hösök still maintain the feel of the days long gone, but more about that later.
The name Citadel originates from Italian Cittadella “little town” and it really is a town within town. It’s hard to find a postcard of Budapest, that’s not taken from this hill. From here there’s a fantastic view of the city on both banks of the Danube. You can also see some huge billboards here, explaining how the city had developed in the past more that century and a half, since the Chain bridge was constructed.
The day was not cold, but it was windy. Still that didn’t stop us from taking some great photos. Still at the top is a high class (but not really expensive) restaurant “Citadella Panorama”, where you can have a cup of tea or coffee, or even eat lunch. In the upper floor there’s a whole side of the restaurant made of glass, so there’s an excellent view of the city.
After refreshments we zigzagged down the path towards the walkway along the river. On the way down we came to St. Gellart on the Gellart hill, from where his statue looks down towards the Elizabeth’s bridge. According to the legend, this is the place where the saint was thrown in the river to drown.
After the Chain Bridge (Lanchid) was constructed, the joining of two cities begun and thus we get the combined city of Budim and Pesta in 1873 as the great metropolis Budapest. This is the time to mention, that broad avenues are on the Pesta side, since it’s straighter and roomier, while Budim has steeper and narrower streets, full of interesting old houses.
It’s the bridges themselves, that give part of the charm to the city, naturally with the Lanchid standing out from the rest, that even got to the UNESCO world heritage list and is recognized by the famous lion statues.
The story says that in 1849, when the bridge was opened, the architect proudly said: “Tthis bridge is so perfect, I dare you to find a flaw in its construction!” And in the style of Emperors new clothes a little boy spoke up: “The lions have no tongues.” And really, they haven’t, but that doesn’t make the bridge any less majestic.
With all the nine bridges Budapest has, this one still remains the symbol of the unified city and at night the view only gets better.
On the Budim side the bridge goes into the tunnel under the hill where the Budim castle (Budim var) stands. It too is a part of the UNESCO world heritage list. We’ve only visited the south wing of it, upon descending the Citadella. Today the castle houses the national gallery and the museum of the city of Budapest, but it used to be the home of Hungarian kings. The other side of the castle was planed for the next day and it was the one that really impressed us.
After visiting this part of the castle, we stopped for a quick snack. You can get something nice to eat and drink at approachable prices. A larger sandwich at the main metro station is between 300 and 350 HUF and at the Moscow square (the last stop of M” line) you can get a coffee for 160 HUF, 200 for a latte. And the thing that surprised me, you can even drink inside, although that’s really rare in Hungary.
After another refreshment we took a walk along the riverside, with nicely marked cycling track and the walking area just along the tram line. The stations are so frequent, you can step down just about anywhere, not missing out a single sight, so we also took a ride, to rest our feet a bit, to step down a little later to make some more shots.
From here you get a great view of the Parliament, standing 96 meters tall, 123 meters wide and 268 meters long, being a very imposing building nice to see.
The Parliament opened in 1896, to celebrate the 1000 years of Hungarian arrival to the Pannonia straights, that’s why it’s 96 meters tall.
In time they realized a different type of stone should have been used to make the parliament, for this one was not resisting the elements all to well. Some years ago a clean up job started, which still isn’t completely finished.
Here’s some info about the Parliament: it was built by more than a thousand craftsmen and has over 40 kilos of 24 carrot gold built into in. There are 691 rooms in it and you can visit it every day, with guided tours at 10am, noon and 2pm at entrance number 10. Tickets cost 3000 HUF, but it’s free for EU citizens.
I suggest you see it during the day, but definitely return during the night, when it’s the real treat for all the picture fans.
That’s what we have done. We went back to our room for a little late afternoon break, but returned to the banks late at night. One has to admit the city’s beauty gets a whole new dimension in the nightlights.
And when we finally decided to hit the hay, we made a plan for tomorrow, because we realized that without good organization we will miss out way too much.
