From Prague we headed for Budapest but on the way we also stopped for a few hours in Bratislava which is the capital of Slovakia and it turned out to be quite an interesting visit. We were dropped off at the castle after which we were taken into the centre of Bratislav old town. The castle is a national monument which was burnt down in 1811 and laid derelict for another 150 years before it was finally restored to its current condition. The castle has held a strategic position overlooking the Danube for centuries; as far back as 3500BC there have been fortifications her. The arrival of the Slavs in around 500AD led to significant additions and was sufficiently strong to withstand the Mongolian attacks in 1241; as a reaction to these attacks the construction of what we now see started. The Hillebrandt building of 1762 (burnt down in 1811) was restored only around the year 2000 and the reconstruction of the Honorary Courtyard was completed in 2010 with a large nationally televised unveiling ceremony of an equestrian statue of King Svätopluk I by Slovak sculptor Ján Kulich.
We had lunch in the old town and a wander round until our time for departure for Budapest. As Bratislava looked to shed the greyness of the Communist era many buildings were repainted. In an attempt to enliven the city centre, a few quirky statues were installed. Their popularity with tourists led to new statues, filling the centre of Bratislava with funny and quirky installations. Perhaps the most photographed statue is that of Čumil, the happy sewage worker, although there is some confusion as to his purpose; one says he's a typical communist era worker who doesn't give a toss about the work he's supposed to be doing; the other one says he's peeping up women's! skirts. Ah well, anything to bring in the tourists!
We arrived in Budapest late in the afternoon and after dinner went into the center for an organ recital followed by a visit to Heroes Square and a night tour of the Pest side of the city. The most ancient part of Budapest was established by the Romans in the first century AD; the north western part (buda, meaning Old Buda) of the present capital town became home of their military and civic settlement. Pest on the other side of the river is very flat (unlike the hilly Buda) and was also a Roman settlement; all three parts of the city (buda, Buda and Pest) were united in 1873. Construction of Hungarian Parliament building and seat of the Hungarian National Assembly was completed in 1904 and was modelled on our own parliament; at night the building is lit up and is quite spectacular.
The following day was action packed. Our first stop was on the top of Gellert Hill with a panoramic view of the city from the Buda side of the Danube which included a walk to the Liberty Statue. The statue, erected in 1947 as a memorial to the liberation of Hungary by the Russians, has an inscription that originally said "To the memory of the liberating Soviet heroes by the grateful Hungarian people" but after the revolution in 1956 against communist rule which was partially successful, the inscription was eventually changed in 1989 to read "To the memory of all those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary"
We boarded the coach and crossed to the Pest side of the Danube, driving past the State Opera House and the impressive Keleti main station ending at Heroes Square where we enjoyed some time taking photos. Heroes' Square is one of the major tourist attractions in Budapest noted for its iconic statue complex featuring the Archangel Gabriel at the top and the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars (Árpád, Előd, Huba, Kond, Ond, Tas, and Tétény) around the base of the column. On either side of the column are various other important national leaders as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Note: the pictures (below) are just 4 examples of the leaders - click for additional information.
Hungary fell to the Ottomans in 1526, and then became a battlefield between the Turks and Austria’s Habsburg Empire for the next two centuries. Of the heroes celebrated here, Stephen Bocskai, born into a noble Transylvanian family in 1557, who successfully led an army against Ottoman troops in 1595 is one of the most august. When Habsburg rulers subsequently imposed tyrannical control over Transylvania, Bocskai protested against Austrian rule with widespread popular support, victoriously leading homegrown armies against Habsburg troops. After his election as Prince of Transylvania in 1605, Bocskai was instrumental in negotiating peace treaties with both the Austrians and the Turks.
We moved on next to Castle Hill and the medieval old town which provides a wonderful view of the city, albeit a bit tourified, and marvelled at the splendour of the romantic Fishermen’s Bastion with its fairytale white towers. The Fishermen’s Bastion’s seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes (see heroes above) that settled the Carpathian Basin in 896 A.D which holds modern day Hungary. The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen who were responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages.
We also had a look round the 700 year old cathedral of Saint Matthias, which like much of this part of the world has had a chequered history. The first church on the site was founded by Saint Stephen, King of Hungary in 1015 although this building was destroyed in 1241 by the Mongols; the current building was constructed in the latter half of the 13th century. During the 150 years that the Ottomans ruled, this cathedral was converted into a mosque before Pope Innocent XI reclaimed it for the Christians in 1686. One of the most striking features of the cathedral is the colourful roof made up of mostly orange-coloured roof tiles which were added to the church during the restoration in the 19th century.
After a very nice and relaxing lunch on a river boat we had some free time during which we walked into the old town to the St Stephens Basilica which is named after Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose "incorruptible" right hand is said to be housed in the reliquary or shrine. The ceiling inside the Basilica is magnificently painted in gold with many religious paintings; a wedding ceremony was taking place at the time.
For our last day in Hungary, we went 'out of town' to see some of 'Old Hungary' including the Basilica at Esztergom, the castle ruins at Visegrád and the riverside town of Szentendre. First stop was Esztergom which was the capital of Hungary from the 10th till the mid-13th century when King Béla IV of Hungary moved the royal seat to Buda. The massive Basilica was worth the visit as it is not only a magnificent church (the largest in Hungary) but also sits high above the Danube with some fantastic views. After a short stay here we moved on to Visegrád which sits high above the Danube bend where we also visited the ancient fortifications. With its strategic position above the Danube and just north of Budapest, this was an obvious place to build castles which have been here since Roman times. The castle that remains now was destroyed during the Mongolian invasion but re-built by King Béla IV of Hungary and his wife in the 1240-50s. In its centre rises the Solomon Tower, a large, hexagonal residential tower dating from the 13th century but unfortunately during a Turkish raid in 1544, the southern part of the tower collapsed; its renovation began only in the 1870s and was only finished in the 1960s. After occupation by the Turks, the castle was never used again and now the Tower houses exhibitions installed by the King Matthias Museum (Mátyás Király Múzeum) of Visegrád.
We left Visegrád and travelled to Szentendre where we had about an hour to take in the atmosphere of this quaint old town, have some lunch and of course sample the local lemonade!! For a relatively small town of around 25,000 inhabitants, there are 9 churches, of which the Greek-Orthodox Blagovestenska church in the town center is the best known; this was built in the mid 18th century by settlers living in the Greek quarter next to the church. The Main Square boasts a Baroque cross which was erected in 1763 to commemorate the lucky fact that plague avoided the town.
The climb to the fortifications of Visegrád was difficult but very rewarding with fantastic views over the Danube and after a tiring but thoroughly enjoyable day we set off back to our hotel in readiness for the final part of our tour to Vienna.
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
