two restdays in Budapest: cathedrals, palaces and avenues

May 5, 2015

Rest Day one

Just like at home, always seems easier to get up early on the "weekends" rather than a work day....same today on our rest day. We are out and about early, the sky is overcast. Budapest is made up of 3 cities; Obuda, ancient Celtic and Roman ruins, Buda on the west bank of the Danube and Pest is on the east bank.

We walk across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side of the city...our hostel is in the Pest side of the Danube. We plan on taking the funicular up to the palace, only today it is not operating due to maintenance. So we walk up and around the palace and Matthias church. Because we are early the tour buses have not arrived yet and we have the old town much to ourselves.

After lunch, we do one of the chores of cycle touring i.e. laundry. We find the "Bubbles" Laundromat very near the hostel. The washing machines have options that include the soap being provided in the cycle, so no need to bring your own. And, a luxury, there are dryers as well. Patrick takes out the rainfly of the tent to dry. We had to pack it up wet yesterday, and will not need it again for a couple of days. When we leave Budapest our next night will be with a another warmshowers host.

Budapest is known as the "City of Spas". The afternoon we took the metro to the

Gellert Hotel and Spa. We have found the Hungarian people very friendly and helpful. The metro lady was very patient with us in helping buy a ticket, we had too large of bills to buy in the vending machine. On the other hand figuring out the spa was very confusing in figuring out all the signs to where the locker rooms were and where the pools were, how the magnet on the bracelet we were given worked to lock and unlock the locker. But we made it through and enjoyed relaxing in the hot water.

"Shoes on de Danube Bank" memorial to Jews who were ordered to take off their shoes and were executed on the bank of the Danube River by fascists during WWII

There is an underground memorial to Hungarian civilians who were massacred here by Soviet troops and Hungarian security forces while peacefully demonstrating. A lot of the details of why and who are still unknown because the communist regime re-wrote history. There are requests for people who know to come forward and tell the real story.

St. Stephens Basilica on a rainy evening.

Foggy morning view of dome on the parliament building in Pest and the Chain Bridge across the Danube River

Parliament buildings across the Danube River.

Rest Day Two

For the first time Rachel is walking around in a short sleeve shirt. We explore more of Pest, walking along the UNESCO street to the Central City Market then back along the Danube. Today is a lazy day, getting ready for the next stretch through Hungary. May 5, 1993 is when we met in Nelson New Zealand, a historic day in a historic city.

Central Budapest has a nice network of bikelanes.

Budapest Central Market Hall. The second floor arcades are full of tourist shops, the main floor sells all kinds of traditional Hungarian food stuffs. Very much like the Market Hallen we visited in Rotterdam, seems like a long time ago....

Ordering some Langos for lunch. Just like Indian fried bread.

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