Budapest

Budapest - I always wanted to visit that city :-) Thanks to an initiative of my friend Audrey we booked a long weekend trip in October to the Hungarian capital. Of course Jana and Sarah (our Christmas market "gang") couldn't miss. However, also Sarah's boyfriend Philipp as well as Marco joined.


Saturday, 10th of October:
Flying to Budapest in the morning.

What a fantastic accommodation we had during our stay: 2 apartments at "Brody Apartments"! Absolutely to be recommended should you visit Budapest one day. [Just click here to visit their website.] Beautiful, big, cosy, stylish, super centrally located - just great! And for German/Norwegian standards not expensive at all :-)
Jana and Audrey shared one apartment (#4) and Sarah, Philipp and Marco and me shared a second one (#11).
Apartment #4:

Apartment #11:

Along Andrássy Avenue.

The Heroe's Square with the Millennium Monument.

Városligeti Műjégpálya city park with Vajdahunyad Castle.

Next or in the park: the Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, the largest medicinal bath in Europe. One evening Audrey, Jana and me paid it a visit and treated us with some wellness and relaxation.

 

Above just pictures from the entrance hall. This is how it looks like from the inside (pictures taken from the bath's own website) as we couldn't take any.

Budapest-Nyugati Railway Terminal, one of 3 main stations in Budapest.

Passing by this shop - full of (colourful) muffins - where you get spoilt for choice!

A walk along the river bank of the "Pest" district, with view on "Buda".

  

Sunday, 11th of October:

Happy birthday, amore mio :-)
For breakfast we went to "Brody House" - which belongs to "Brody Apartments" but is fitted with rooms rather than apartments to rent. As rooms other than apartments lack kitchen facilities they offer breakfast at that place for "Brody" guests.

The Liberty Bridge.

Gellért Thermal Baths - one of the most famous thermal spa baths in Europe and one of the leading natural hot spring spa baths in Budapest.

An excursion to the district of "Buda". Taking the funicular on the way up.

View on the impressive Hungarian Parliament (lying on the "Pest" side of the river) seen from the "Buda" side of town.

Matthias Church.

"Sissi" - Elisabeth, Impress of Austria and Queen of Hungary

The Fisherman's Bastion.

Friends :-)

Around in the streets of "Buda".

The Royal Palace in "Buda".

Monday, 12th of October:
On the way to the Parliament.

 

If you wanted to visit the Parliament from the inside you had to book your space in advance - and so we had done in order to get a glimpse on the interior.

 

View from "Pest" on "Buda" hill with the Royal Palace...

...and Mathias Church and Fisherman's Bastion.

Budapest metro.

St. Stephen's Basilica.

Just to make sure every one knows where we are:

The Millennium Monument by night.

Home made dinner at the apartment.

Dessert included :-) German "Christstollen" and "Kürtőskalács" (or Baumstriezel in German) - an Eastern European type of spit cake.

Tuesday, 13th of October:
Visiting the Dohány Street Synagogue, also know as the Great Synagogue. It's the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It was built mid of the 19th century, in Moorish style with decorations from Islamic models. The whole synagogue complex consists of:

the Great Synagogue...

...the Jewish Cemetery...

...the Heroe's Temple, the Jewish Museum...

...and the Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs (at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Nazis) resembling a weeping willow whose leaves bear inscriptions with the names of victims.

The Chain Bridge.

The „Shoes on the Danube Bank“ is a memorial in Budapest to honor the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

The Danube river.

Wednesday, 14th of October:

Time for some grocery shopping of Hungarian specialties before taking the flight back to Oslo in the evening.

Very beautiful city. And it's huge. Damn what have we been walking!

And crazy language - you don't understand a word! You can't even slightly guess or derive from similar languages (as there is nothing similar) - a situation I'm not used to :-) Luckily we got along with English (and German).

What a pity, though, that we had such bad weather. Not necessarily in terms of rain, but rather with regards to the lack of sun. During the whole stay it was just grey all the time. Result: not much contrast on the outdoor pictures which all seem dull :-(

And à propos pictures: thanks, amore mio, and Audrey for all your pictures you shared and which I mainly used on this blog :-)