Saturday in Budapest - part 2

Welcome back to Budapest my friends ... 


And so I have reached the Fisherman's Bastion, which is also the location of Matthais Church.


The Bastion is an amazingly castle-like structure ... and SUPER bright and white too. It was a really cool place. It was built between 1895 and 1902, in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque styles. It takes its name from the guild that defended that stretch of the city's walls during the  Middle Ages. It is a viewing terrace, so it full of stairs and platforms and paths - - all with AMAZING views of Pest, the Danube, and the parts of Buda below it. Check it out ...

I was excited to recognize this statue on the 1st landing I came to climbing up the stairs to the Bastion. It is St George, defeating the famous dragon. I've seen it in the Prague Castle courtyard, and I saw the "skull" of the dragon at Karlstejn Castle too. Fun!!

A neat shot of King Stephen I on the terrace of the Bastion, seen through the archway leading to the terrace.

Here is a wide shot of the Fisherman's Bastion.

A close-up of one the large towers of the Bastion. There are 7 towers, one for each of the Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. Wow - - it looks like it could be on top of a wedding cake!

A wide shot of the tower from the previous pic, with another tower shown as well. It is such a cool place! So many paths and stairs and windows to explore!!!

The stairs up to the ruins at one end of the Bastion terrace. You can see it in the wide-shot pic 3 pics ago.

The ruins of a Medieval Church, which are now on the property of the Budapest Hilton.

Still in the ruins - this is a statue of Julianus and Gerardus, exploring Buda and Pest in the 1230's.

A view back at the Bastion, from the raised ruins area in the previous 2 pix. I love seeing how far down the Bastion's wall goes.

The Church of Our Lady - aka Matthais (as in Corvinus) Church, which is right next to the Fisherman's Bastion. Those colorful roofs are just gorgeous!!!

A wide-shot of the Matthais Church. Lovely and large!

A close-up of the gorgeous colorful tiles on the roof of the Church of Our Lady.

A close-up of the Matthais Church spire.

A view of Pest and the Hungarian Parliament through the arch windows of the Bastion's walls.

A fabulous monument to King Stephen I, on the terrace of the Bastion. This is the statue seen through an archway up onto the terrace from the beginning of today's blog entry.

A close-up of King Stephen I ... I love the braided mane and the elaborate and decorative saddle rug. Cool!!

Cool statues in the archway leading down/up from the Bastion's terrace. This is the same archway that you saw King Stephen I through at the beginning of today's blog.

And so I leave the Bastion behind, as I am STILL hungry and the sun is HOT! I head down and to the left (north), as that is where the Parliament building is and I hope to find a restaurant for lunch.

A ... religious school perhaps ... that I found on my way down to the Danube riverside.

A lovely double-spired church with copper tops. There was a wedding coming out when I got there!

The "mall" where I had my lunch. The text reads "vi. Central Market" - so maybe the 6th Central Market?

A view up the spiral staircase of the pizza restaurant that I had lunch in - - the art was particularly cool! But I am a sucker for a spiral staircase!!! And ... considering the sun ... air conditioning!

The top (3rd) floor of my luncheon place, the non-smoking floor ... which doesn't make a lot of sense considering smoke rises, but I didn't have any problems - the place was pretty empty. That is a view into the "mall" on the left, although I entered through a street door two floors down. The food was y-u-m-m-y! And it was almost dead across from the Parliament, which was perfect for my plan.

And I am off again, having had my midday meal - and now full of energy again. I head across the square to the riverside walk, and head left (north, and away from the Chain Bridge) towards the Parliament building. I didn't have far to walk, but it was fun because I was right on the walls of the river - nothing but a drop between me and the Danube. Cool!

And so I reached the perfect picture position ... to get the building dead center in my lens. Check it out!

This building is AMAZING ... and pretty damn large too! It is the 2nd largest Parliament in Europe, and the largest building in Hungary. Construction started on the building in 1885, and it was inaugurated on the country's 1000th anniversary in 1896.

There were over 1000 workers building Parliament, using 40 million bricks and half-a-million precious stone and 88 lbs of gold. It is 879 feet long, 404 feet wide and 315 feet tall ... second only to St Stephen's Basilica as the tallest building in Budapest.

It has 10 interior courtyards, 13 elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases and 691 rooms - over 200 of which are offices. There are 242 statues on the outside of the building.

The building is in the Gothic Revival style, with its symmetrical style and a central dome - shown here.

A cropped close-up of the central dome ... you can see the flying buttresses.

Another beautiful church seen on the Danube riverwalk on the way back towards Pest.

A cropped close-up of the lovely rooftop tilework that seems to be unique to Hungary.

I'm not sure what this monument is for, but it is REALLY neat! It doesn't translate well, something about the victims of a storm. I am still on the Buda side of the Danube riverway.

I made my way back to the Chain Bridge, and across it - - to the Nyar A Lanchidnal ... the Summer at the Chain Bridge festival.

I'm now at the festival.

This is the first stall I came to once I reached the bottom of the stairs from the Chain Bridge ... I love it! It is so quaint and rustic and sweet -- but I have to admit that I was a little grossed out when I discovered what they served. Check the image out on my Picasa page if you want to know ... as there may be children reading this!   ;-}

So, for those curious peeps ... here is a link to the above image on Picasa

This is the small stage at the festival, and these artists are performing an operetta concert titled "Come with me to Varasdin"

So, after walking through the entire festival and not finding anything that jumped up and bit me (but much lovely stuff nonetheless) - I headed back to my hotel for dinner and a rest, as I would be coming back to the festival tonight for the Fire Dance ... woo hoo!!

A great fountain I passed along the way home, it definitely reminds me a Greek mythology though ... that looks suspiciously like Poseidon at the top.

This sculpture caught my eye ... especially the infant held my the hand. It is a monument to Lutheran pastor Gabor Sztehlo - who saved around 2000 children and adults during the rule of the Fascist Arrow Cross Party.

And so that is it for my first day in Budapest ... back to the hotel to rest and recoup, and then back to the Summer at the Chain Bridge festival for the ... FIRE DANCE - - woo hoo!

Stayed tuned to the cool, I mean hot, pics of the Fire Dance.

Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Budapest Day One

Thanks for coming along!