Budapest

Saturday, April 28, 2018

After purchasing a one-day pass for the transit system, we took a tram across the river to the Central Market Hall for a look around the cavernous, multi-level building, which opened in 1897.  The main floor is lined with vendors selling produce, meats (LOTS of sausages), caviar, wines, and varieties of the “national” spice, paprika.

We walked along the pedestrianized shopping street, Vaci Utca, to Vorosmarty Square to meet a walking tour group.  Our young guide, Dora, first led us through some of the notable squares and streets on the Pest side of the Danube, all the while giving us a sense of the history, geography, and culture of the city.  Like scenes from Make Way for Ducklings, we followed her to the banks of the Danube and then across the Chain Bridge to Buda.  It was an unseasonably warm day, so our trek to the top of Castle Hill didn’t feel exactly like a walk in the park; no doubt, if we’d been on our own we could have taken the bus or the funicular.  Nevertheless, the hilltop views across the river to Pest were lovely, with the bridge at our feet and the Parliament Building and Basilica of St. Stephen before us.

After the tour ended at the Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion, we had our lunch in a shady square, and then used a series of steps and staircases to get back to river level again. Our plan was to take one of the boats that travel up and down the river as part of the municipal transit system across the water to the Parliament.  Though Dora had said our passes would cover boat passage, we were told that the passes couldn’t be used on weekend boats.  We boarded anyway and when arranging to purchase tickets, we discovered that there was no charge for anyone over 65 – an unexpected perk of our advancing years!

After a few photographs of Parliament, we walked along the quay to view Shoes on the Danube.  This moving memorial, an assemblage of period  shoes sculpted of iron, honors the Jews and others who were shot into the Danube by the Arrow Cross militia in 1944, lines the river bank between Parliament and the Chain Bridge.

The cool breeze as we’d crossed the river had been a welcome relief on this very warm afternoon and we were starting to feel the effects of hours of walking, so we decided to take the boat south back to the dock right near our apartment for a little R and R before venturing out again later on.

After an extended Happy Hour and dinner in the apartment, we headed out to enjoy the beautifully lit city by night.  We used a combination of trams and shoe leather to cover both sides of the river from our digs north to the Margit Bridge and back.  The Parliament Building, Chain Bridge, Palace, Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church, and Liberty Statue were all illuminated and proved to be a pretty good match for the full moon above on this warm, clear night.