There are tons of people for this walking tour! We figured there wouldn’t be anyone because of the weather – but there are so many people, they have to split the tour in half with 2 guides. We go with Andrash (not the real spelling, but the phonetic way to say his name – the Hungarian language defeats us!). He is great – lost his voice over the summer and is just back now on tour, so he can’t shout and we have to come in close to him. Not a problem.
We start off in the square, the move on to the river area where the Academy of Hungarian Sciences is located. We get the history of Hungary – the kings, the empires, the Nazi’s, the Soviets….then we move on to Erzsebet square where the Budapest Eye is located – a miniature version of the London Eye, it’s still pretty big and probably gives a good view of the city. Along the way, we pass fabulous buildings and architecture in all sorts of conditions – repair and disrepair.
Next we troop our way around to St. Stephen’s Basilica, the largest church in Budapest. It is a gorgeous church – and a gorgeous square along with it.
There is such a culture clash here – these beautiful gothic and rococo buildings, and then – on the same square, within metres of each other – soviet style block building. Like split personalities!
After taking 1 minute for pictures (ha ha) and waiting for the folks who dove into the coffee shop, we move on to the Danube and the Science Academy building. Hungary has a huge number of Nobel and other prize winning scientists here – they have won awards for all sorts of things including the development of Vitamin C , co-development of the Atomic Bomb, development of holography – and lots more that I couldn’t retain a day later. Sigh. Regardless, its one of those beautiful buildings you’ll find all over Budapest.
The building is right across from the Danube, so we turn our attention to the river, and walk along it’s banks to start our climb up to Castle hill. Along the way Andrash keeps us entertained and informed with Hungarian history, food suggestions and Hungarian language tips.
We get to cross the Danube over the famous Chain Bridge – which is really cool – the entrance on both sides are huge lions which are great – and the views from the bridge are just stunning (but we are walking so fast, and have to keep up, so not so good for pictures!).
Now we get to climb the “hill”. Working off the Langos! The stairs really aren’t all that bad, they are broken up with long tile walkways – in semi-poor repair so you have to watch your step – but we’re up top at the castle in no time, and barely out of breath.
The views from here are spectacular – the Pest side of the river is quite scenic with the Parliament building, St. Stephens church and all the other beautiful buildings.
Up top, we get to look around the castle grounds and hear the history of the castle, the occupations, the whitewashing of the walls and the lack of decoration. The museum may be a good place to visit for Hungarian painters, but otherwise, not so much. It’s still pretty amazing on the outside though. And the surrounding Castle Hill district has beautiful buildings and great scenic statues.
We end our tour at St. Mathias cathedral, which has just finished renovations – so we get to see it clean, and without scaffolding. Gorgeous!
We end up at the Fisherman’s Bastion, so called because this is where fishermen sold their catch on the square by St. Mathias church. The terraces (which cost to go up) offer great panoramas of the city – but we’re walking down the stairs around the Bastion, so we get the same basic views for free!
The tour has been great – lots of info, good tips (where to eat, where not to eat, how to count your change and what to say to your waiter – seriously great tourist info along with good history and culture info). But also, this has (and still is) truly our exercise day! After about 3 miles of walking on the tour, including up to castle hill – we retrace our steps down castle hill and head into the Jewish quarter in search of food – and – the Ruin Pubs!
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