I must say that both my flight to Frankfurt and Budapest felt like I was flying in a stunt plane. As you know I don’t enjoy flying all that much and when we make turns where the wings go perpendicular to the ground I break out into cold sweats. I flew into Budapest late Friday evening and was able to arrange a shared ride van to my hotel. On the way to the hotel I traveled across the Danube and was treated to amazing views of the Chain Bridge (the first bridge to connect Buda and Pest) and the Szabadag Bridge light up. Schankey got in at around 1:30 AM (she had driven from Bonn) and we headed to bed so we could get an early start the next morning. Well, first we had to go across the street to the gas staion and buy me a toothbrush since I forgot that and a regular brush…I don’t pack well. The next morning we left the hotel and walked to the Buda Castle area.
Walking to Buda Castle
The foundations of the castle were built in the thirteenth century by King Béla after Hungary was invaded by Mongol tribes. We walked up to the castle although there was a lift we did not have any Hungarian Forints yet (Hungary is part of the EU but is not on the Euro). We had amazing pancakes near the castle before we set out to explore the area.
The castle was set on a hill over looking the Danube with amazing views of both Buda and Pest across the river.
We walked around the castle admiring the statues and fountains as we headed to St. Matthias church which was the first parish church in Budapest built in the thirteenth century.
It actually became a mosque when the Turks invaded Buda in the 16th century. In the courtyard of the church we were treated to Hungarian Falconers. Near to St. Matthias is Fisherman’s Bastion which was mainly built for decorative purposes.
It has seven towers, one for each of the seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungary in 896. We stopped at the ATM to get some local currency and had to take a picture with 20,000 Forints!
We wound our way down the hill admiring the beauty of the streets in Budapest. We walked along the Danube on the Buda side to Margaret Island which is an island in the Danube.
We walked through the park and stopped to have some sausage and potatoes.
We finished crossing the Danube to the Pest side and walked along the Promenade to the Parliament House which was built between 1885 and 1902.
At the time of construction it was the largest parliamentary building in the world. We walked around the Pest side of the city to St. Stephen’s which is the largest church in Hungary.
We headed to the Central Market and stopped to view the Jewish temple on the way.
The Central Market was closed when we arrived so we stopped for dinner and had traditional Hungarian goulash and paprika chicken.
We walked over the Szabadag Bridge to Gellért Hill which is named for Bishop Gellért who was known for spreading Christianity throughout Hungary. On top of the hill sits Liberation Monument which was erected in 1947 as a tribute to the Soviet soldiers that freed Budapest from the Nazis during World War II.
In the side of the hill is the Cave Church which was built in 1929.
At the bottom of the hill is the Gellért Hotel which houses some of the baths which Budapest is famous for.
These baths are said to have healing powers.
We walked along the hill and were treated to amazing views of the city, the river and the bridges at night.
The next morning we returned to Buda Castle to purchase some handmade glass art and Kürtöskalács (Hungarian funnel cake) which was very wonderful.
We got to the car just before the rain hit and began our drive to Vienna. Along the way I was amazed at how many windmills there were in both Hungary and Austria. They really seem to use wind power to its fullest extent.
We stopped along the way at the Paprika Castle and had a great meal. Who knew we liked Hungarian food!
On the outside of Vienna sits Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens which was the summer residence of the Habsburg monarchy. The grounds are very large and even have a zoo complete with giant panadas (we didn’t go into the zoo but did see an emu which was outside the zoo).
The modern palace was begun in 1696 and is truly amazing. I really don’t know what you do with all the rooms of a palace but must admit I wouldn’t mind having one of my own.
In addition to the palace atop the hill sits the Gloriette which was built in 1775 and is dedicated as a monument to “Just War”, a war which leads to peace.
Schankey’s friend and coworker Englebert grew up in Vienna and told us we had to try an ice cream shop called Tichy which he claims is the “best ice cream in the world”. We approached the shop and it seemed that others besides Englebert had the same feeling! We had ice cream shaped balls with an apricot center covered in finely ground nuts and bowl of hazelnut ice cream.
Sorry Englebert but even my inexperienced ice cream palette must admit I like Italian gelato better!
We checked into our hotel (I’m going to travel with Schankey more often since she travels a lot for work and qualifies as an “Executive” at the Hilton chain which means we get access to the Executive lounge) and headed out to walk around the city. Oh and we got street parking because it was Sunday and also the next day as it was holiday! Parking is not cheap in Vienna! Even at night we marveled at the detail in the buildings and wondered how long it took to build such amazing things.
We capped our night off with some Italian food (yes I know we were in Austria but you can actually have too many sausages) and headed to the lounge to plan out our next day. We began our day with a walk to St. Karlskirche church. On our way we passed Square Schwarzenbergplatz with its fountain tribute to the Red Army.
In 1713 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI pledged to build a church to honor Charles Borromeo who help to heal many plague sufferers. The church was beautiful and due to the renovation we were able to take a lift up to the top and view the paintings on the dome up close as well as see a panoramic view of the city.
I’m not usually afraid of heights but a lift held together by some wobbly scaffolding was a bit unnerving! We walked over to the Hofburg area which was the location of the former imperial palace.
The detail of the buildings was something that you can not help but notice everywhere you looked.
Parliament Building
We walked through the Volksgarten (the People's Garden) to St. Stephansdom which is a beautiful gothic church first completed in 1160.
Attached to the side of a church is a ring to which horses were tied in the days of yore. A criminal who was once feeling from police (many years ago…probably in yesteryear) could not make it inside the church for refuge before he was captured so grabbed onto this ring used for securing horses. After tense negotiations the prisoner was NOT arrested and to this day Austrian children still use the ring as “gool” when playing tag. Englebert also told Schankey we needed to have sachertorte which is a chocolate cake with apricot jam in the middle created in 1832. We went right to the source of the creation and tried the sachertorete at Hotel Sacher.
We headed towards the hotel before a walk to the palaces at Belvedere but of course when we got close I realized I had forgotten my water color at Hotel Sacher. When I arrived at the hotel our waiter threw his arms up in a welcome back gesture and said “Ahh Tara, I have been expecting you…when you leave I look left and right but do not see you”. (you must picture a Hungarian waiter in a tuxedo saying this). Apparently I’m absent minded even in Austria! After picking up my picture we went to Belvedere and walked around the palace grounds.
We asked the concierge at the hotel for a dinner recommendation for good wiener schntizel as that is one of the famous Austrian dishes (although we did find out that it is an import from Italy). We took his recommended and headed to the Stadt Park Braü. Our server was awesome and dinner followed suit. We had beer cheese bread, white and green asparagus, and wiener schntizel. I can see how the wiener schnitzel originated in Italy as it is very similar to veal parmagian (minus the cheese, ragu and noodles!).
We were up bright and early as Schankey dropped me off at the train station (with five minutes to spare) on her way back to Bonn via Salzburg. It was an amazing trip and I am very happy that I had the opportunity to visit two beautiful cities! Thanks Schankey!
For more Budapest pictures please go to:
For more Vienna pictures please go to:
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1 comment:
You truely are a world traveler. Your pictures and comments can make one feel as if they were right there with you. With all the walking you do I can see how all the eaten you do makes no difference at all. How many miles did you walk in Budapest and Vienna?? Is the city now called Budapest or do the people there still concider it twwo different cities?? My history is growing as you travel. Keep traveling. Love Mom
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