Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Visit to Buda Castle and the wrap up over Danube

I woke up a bit sad in the morning as today was the last day of the 10 day long vacation across 4 European cities. Thankfully today was also the day with 2 treats in one day - first was the visit to one of the baths and second was a cruise over Danube.

Budapest has several nicknames, like the Paris of East or the Pearl of the Danube, and also the City of Spas. Indeed, there are so many natural warm spring waters under the city (imagine a cauldron topped with some layers) that Budapest has had several great thermal baths for many centuries. The Turkish baths along the river Danube are still functional and much favored. 

Budapest Baths are one of the top reasons Budapest is visited by hundreds of thousands of travelers. Szechenyi Baths alone is visited by over a million bathers per year, many of whom are from abroad. Each bath in Budapest gives a special experience, unlike the others, so if you can, visit more than one of the Budapest Baths. 

The Budapest card allowed us free entry to Lukacs Baths, so we decided to visit the same. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and we started with the swimming pool. The Lukács Thermal Bath has eight pools and the outdoor ones are surrounded by a small park. There are 2 swimming pools at varying temperatures of 22 degrees C and 26 degrees C. We didn't know the same and dived right into the bigger one which was at 22 C. It initially felt a bit cold given the hot weather but soon turned out to be amazing  fun. 

After about 30 minutes in the pool we proceed to the thermal baths. The thermal section offers four pools with 24-40 C water temperature. We tried and enjoyed them all. The hotter the bath, the lesser the time one is expected to spend there. 

After spending about 20 minutes across the thermal baths, we proceeded to the thermal pool where water temperature is about 32 C. This bath was more fun, with pressure nozzles for various kinds of aquatic massages, a sitting area and a section with water current where if you put your feet up, the current would carry you anti clockwise around the sitting area. 

We had loads of fun and didn't want to leave the baths, but Buda Castle was still left on our list, so reluctantly we came back to hotel, changed and headed for the Castle. 

While it was hot, the breeze from the river helped a bit. After we crossed the chain bridge, we found a long queue for the Funicular, so we decided to walk up to the Castle Complex...it was a gentle slope and didn't feel too hard on the knees or heart.

One going up and one going down
Funicular to Buda Castle


Castle Complex

The weather was getting hotter by the minute, so we decided to skip the big complex and entered the Hungarian National Gallery. While we paid for the audio guide, we didn't realise that we needed to pay a fee to click pictures inside the Gallery. So again, I have no pictures of this museum.

The Hungarian National Gallery occupies the central wing of the palace, below the imposing dome. The museum's collection of Hungarian art was originally displayed in the Hungarian National Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. We were more than impressed by the work of Hungarian artists and a bit embarrassed that we knew so few of them. The audio guide came in pretty handy here and helped us get a better hang of various artists and their displayed work.

One of the museum's highlights is its collection of sculptures and paintings from the nineteenth century, when Hungarian artists started to gain international recognition. There are several masterpieces here including 'Women of Eger', a work from the Romanticist painter Bertalan Székely, 'The Recapture of Buda Castle' by Gyula Benczúr, and 'The Last Day of a Condemned Man' by Mihály Munkácsy. Also don't miss the works of Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry, whose expressionist style was ahead of its time.

We spent a few hours at the Gallery and as we had decided earlier, skipped the rest of complex due to the heat and headed back to hotel for some rest and food. The idea was to rest up and freshen up a bit for our last treat of the vacation - a night cruise over Danube.

While our original cruise time was about 8:00 pm, we were advised by our friends to take a later one. As luck would have it, it was pouring at the time we were to leave for the cruise. So we called ahead and requested for a reschedule which they graciously allowed. The Budapest card allowed 20% discount on this cruise, and that's how we chose this provider. You can check it online at legenda.hu

The cruise ship was very comfortable, closed on the top with windows on the sides for viewing. The cruise offers an audio guide for one to recognize the monuments and landmarks. I, honestly, can't capture this wonderful experience in words, so I will let the pictures below do the talking:


Buda Castle

Gellert Hotel and few other buildings on Buda side

Liberty Bridge

forgot what it was :(
House of Parliament


Margaret Bridge

Chain Bridge
Buda Castle - from another angle









































































The cruise turned out to be a perfect ending to our sojourn leaving me happy and content even though my vacation had come to its end!

Budapest - Day 2

We started our second day in Budapest with a visit to the St Stephens Basilica. It is the largest church in Budapest and can hold up to 8,500 people. Although in architectural terms it’s a cathedral, it was given the title of ‘basilica minor’ by Pope Pius XI. 



Dome from Inside






The incredibly ornate interior features about fifty different types of marble, elaborately decorated chapels, and many sculptures, including a bust of the basilica's patron saint, who was the first Christian king of Hungary.

The entry to the cathedral is free and there is a charge of HUF 500 to go up the Cupola. This is one of those rare Cupolas where elevator access is possible to the top and views, as expected, are beautiful. 

After spending about an hour inside the Cathedral and climbing the Cupola, we proceeded to the tour of House of Parliament. The tour has specific time schedule and it was imperative that we get there in time. The tickets can be bought in advance on line at www.jegymester.hu

The Parliament House is arranged around ten central courtyards and contains more than twenty kilometers of staircase, as well as 691 rooms. The building has twenty-seven intricately decorated spires. The impressive dome, visible from afar, reaches a height of 96 meters.

The building's facade is magnificent, decorated with eighty-eight statues of Hungarian rulers, pointed arch arcades and numerous gargoyles, spires and Gothic ornaments.



Main entrance stairs and hall



The interior of the Parliament House is as stunning as its exterior, decorated by some of Hungary's best artists.

The tour started at the staircase hall that is marvelously decorated with granite Corinthian columns, gilded ornaments and a huge ceiling painting by Károly Lotz.



Waiting Area for Press and other guests




Next stop was the circular Copula Hall, which features statues of Hungarian monarchs and an intricate, almost cathedral-like ceiling. The coronation crown and insignia of King Stephen are displayed here. But no photography is allowed in this room

We then went through the "waiting area" and proceeded to the Assembly Hall which is equally ornate and beautifully decorated.

The tour took about 45 minutes and was worth every HUF that we spent on the tickets.
Assembly Hall

Assembly Hall

The next stop on our agenda was the National Museum of Hungary. The Hungarian National Museum houses the nation’s most important collection of historical relics in an impressive neoclassical building, purpose built for it. It has seven permanent displays and for some reason I chose to visit none of them. I lounged on a sofa while my friends explored the museum. While they liked the museum, they found the audio guide pretty useless and hence were done in an hour or so. We then proceeded to the hotel for a much deserved and needed rest. The afternoon was hot and after walking around for so long, we just wanted to put our feet up for a while.

While we were enjoying the air conditioned environment, I got a message on Facebook from a friend who (I didn't know then) lives in Budapest. Guess there are some advantages of posting pictures on Facebook while in town! He and his wife offered to show us around in the late evening and we were all more than happy to accept the offer because, honestly, Budapest truly comes alive at night.

M1 metro station at night

In the evening, we boarded the M1 from the Vorosmarty ter to visit the Heroes's square. The Metro 1 is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro system. It is also the second oldest underground railway in the world (the first being the London Underground), and the first on the European mainland. The stations on this line look beautiful at night! The carriages are pretty rickety though and have no through access.


Heroes's square



Heroes' Square  was created at the end of the nineteenth century to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar conquest of Hungary in 895. The square only received its current name after the completion of the Millennium Monument which stands at the center of Heroes' Square

Soaring above Heroes' Square is the Millennium Column, the focal point of the Millennium Monument. The column is topped with a statue of the archangel Gabriel.
Equestrian statues at base of Millennium Monument


Behind the column is a semicircular colonnade with statues of famous men who made their mark on Hungarian history. Statues atop the colonnades symbolize War, Peace, Work and Welfare, and Knowledge and Glory. 



Around the base of the monument are a number of equestrian statues honoring the seven chieftains of the Hungarian tribes who, led by Árpád, conquered the area now known as Hungary. 




Museum of Fine Arts





On the north side Heroes' Square is bordered by the Museum of Fine Arts, a museum with an exquisite collection of European art, housed in a monumental classical building. 


Műcsarnok








Opposite the Museum of Fine Arts stands the Műcsarnok (Palace of Art), another Greek-like temple that nicely complements the design of the Museum of Art. The Műcsarnok is an exhibition hall, mainly used to host temporary exhibitions.


Crowds around the pool



After enjoying a lovely dinner in a cafe near the Heroes's square, we took the metro to the Elisabeth Square (Erzsébet tér). The square has open grassy areas, a small pool, a hip club, and concert venue, some food bars and terraced pubs, and Sziget Eye (Budapest's version of the London Eye).



Folks drinking, chatting, singing...





It was around 11 pm in the night and the party scene was really coming alive.

We spent about an hour here and then were walked back to our hotel by our friends because metro had shut down by then and because it was a very pleasant weather for a walk.

Sziget Eye in the distance


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Last stop of the vacation - Budapest

A short 2.5 hours journey by a RailJet train brought us to Budapest. The first order of things was to buy a Budapest Card - after some research we had found that buying the card would make sense as it allows unlimited use of the public transport, free entrance to a lot of museums and significant discounts on variety of activities. Even though we we were in the city for 3 days, we bought a 2 day card instead as we had decided to keep the first day very light and had planned on exploring the sights near our hotel.
View from the hotel room



After we bought the cards, we located the bus stop and a short 15-minute ride later, we checked into our hotel. All the rooms at this hotel offer amazing views of the river Danube, Buda Castle & Chain Bridge and ours was no exception.

An exhibit en route 
While we were contemplating whether to step out again in the hot sun, the clouds gathered and it started raining heavily. The showers lasted for about 30 minutes and left the evening cool in its wake, making it a perfect weather for a walk.

We decided to see the 19th-century Chain Bridge that connects the hilly Buda district with flat Pest (we were on the Pest side). This suspension bridge is the first permanent bridge to connect the two districts.
Chain bridge



We walked along the river along with hundreds of tourists equally interested in enjoying the evening breeze. As we reached the bridge, the crowds only increased. The side walks of the bridge were crowded with tourists taking pictures, cyclists and pedestrians.  
As soon as we crossed the bridge we saw a big crowd lined up in front of the funicular that runs from bridge level to Buda Castle above. Since we had plans to visit the castle next day, we decided to continue walking towards Fisherman's Bastion - a viewing terrace, with many stairs and walking paths.

Last set of steps leading to the terrace


The walk to the Fisherman's Bastion was again uphill but once there the views more than made up for the hard work. Last steps leading to the Bastion were a monumental double stairway, decorated with reliefs of coats-of-arms and various motifs.


Panoramic View from the terrace












The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen that was responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages and is made up of seven towers - each one symbolizing one of the seven Magyar tribes that, in 896, settled in the area now known as Hungary.







Cafe on the terrace




The present day lovely lookout towers / decorative fortification of Fisherman’s Bastion were built in the 19th century to serve as a lookout tower for the best panoramic views. There used to be real castle walls where now we can take fantastic photos from, but the present day structure has never served as an actual fortification in Buda.

While the access to balconies is free but to visit the top turrets/towers one has to pay a fee. The terrace also houses a cafe, a pretty expensive one though!




The Matthias Church






The towers, though fairy-tale like, seem to be in sync with the style of the Church of Our Lady (Matthias Church) and nicely complement the church, which was the intention of the architect. Matthias Church was built in 13th century along Trinity Square, in the heart of the Castle District,

Trinity Square with its Trinity Column (far back a bit to the right)



















Between the Bastion and the Matthias Church, there is a bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary mounted on a horse. The pedestal of the statute has episodes illustrating the King's life.






Old Town Hall






To the south of the Trinity Square is a white Baroque building that was the town hall of Buda till late 1873 when the municipalities of Buda, Óbuda and Pest merged to form Budapest. 



View of Chain Bridge and Bastion (far left) from the hotel








After spending couple of hours at the Bastion, we walked back to our hotel to find an impressive view of the bridge and bastion waiting to greet us. We raised our glasses to this view and to the promise of a perfect end to our vacation!


Monday, October 12, 2015

Vienna - Art History Museum and Imperial Treasury

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) was built in 1891 near the Imperial Palace to house the extensive collections of the imperial family. With its vast array of works and the largest Bruegel collection in the world, it is considered one of the most eminent museums in the world. The architectural mirror image of the KHM is the Museum of Natural History on the opposite side - we didn't visit that museum though.

Even before we get to the collection housed by this museum, it's important to note that the building was commissioned as a museum to begin with - very different from all major museums across the world that were usually palaces to begin with and were later converted to museums. 
The inside of the building is lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf, and of course, paintings. Looks like no expenses were spared to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection. 
Paintings gallery houses numerous major art works of European art history like Raphael’s "Madonna in the Meadow," Vermeer’s "The Allegory of Painting," the Infanta paintings by Velazquez and masterworks by Rubens, Rembrandt, Dürer, Titian and Tintoretto. 

Cafe inside the museum



The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection contains fascinating treasures from mysterious cultures long past. The Kunstkammer Vienna (Chamber of art and wonders) displays precious artworks from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque era. 
As with any museum, no  matter how much time one spends, it is simply never enough, so after a few hours, we decided to head to the Imperial Treasury. It is located at the Hofburg palace and contains a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. The entrance to the treasury is at the Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard), the oldest part of the palace. 

The Imperial Treasury is affiliated with the KHM and hence we could buy a combined ticket for the two of them. The treasury has 21 rooms that houses a  collection of rare treasures compiled by the Imperial House of Habsburg over the course of centuries. The notable treasures include the Imperial Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Austria. It also has the Imperial Regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

The lighting inside the treasury is very controlled and flash photography is not allowed, so again I decided to skip the photography and focused on enjoying the lavish and historical displays instead. It took us little over an hour to finish the tour - to be honest one would need more time to look at all the treasures but we were tired so we wrapped it up much quicker. 

A day at Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna

First stop of the day 2 in Vienna was Schonbrunn Palace. Vienna has lots of nice palaces (Hofburg and Belvedere to name a few) but we didn't have time to visit all, so I chose the one that came most recommended. I again booked the tickets well in advance at www.schoenbrunn.at/en which was very useful as the ticket queue was fairly long when we reached the venue.

Palace Facade
Schönbrunn Palace, the former summer residence of the imperial family, is one of Europe's most impressive Baroque palace complexes. It has 1441 rooms and gardens extending for 1.2 km from east to west and 1 km from north to south. Both the palace and gardens were placed together on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1996.

We had opted for the Grand Tour that in addition to the state rooms and private apartments of the imperial couple allows access to the precious 18th-century interiors from the time of Maria Theresia - all in all 40 rooms. The rooms, shown to the public, are mostly decorated in Rococo style. Most of the walls and ceilings are covered with white-lacquered surfaces with ornamentation covered with gold leaf.

Bohemian crystal chandeliers and white porcelain tile stoves are also part of the harmonious design. The living quarters and offices used by Emperor Francis Joseph are simple and very unpretentious; by contrast, the state rooms and guestrooms are much more lavish. And of course there is a Hall of Mirrors, where in 1772, six-year-old child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert. Photography is not permitted inside most of the rooms and so absorbed was in the beauty of it all, that I decided it's better to soak it in than click pictures.

By the time we were finished with the Grand Tour, it was almost noon and the sun was almost at its peak - honestly not the best time to the visit the one square km garden. But since the palace and its grounds form a unit and reflect each other, the visit would have been incomplete without visiting the gardens. 
Water ponds in the Garden



As expected the gardens are really beautiful. There are French Gardens called the Great Parterre which also contain a 630 m long maze in a classic hedge design. Adjoining this is the labyrinth, a playground with games, climbing equipment and a giant mirror kaleidoscope.






















The Gardens also have a zoo, an Orangerie, palm house and a botanical garden. But we were more interested in exploring the Gloriette (a building in a garden erected on a site that is elevated with respect to the surroundings). The Gloriette at Schonbrunn is on a hill at a height of 200 ft and houses a café and an observation deck, which provides panoramic views of the city.

Sun Fountain



As we left the labyrinth for the Gloriette, first stop on our was was the original Schöner Brunnen fountain, from which the palace gained its name. It pours through the stone pitcher of a nymph near the Roman ruins.






View of palace as one moves towards Gloriette
Gloriette














Life saver on  that hot day!
It was quite a walk to the Gloriette as it was a very hot afternoon and uphill walk is never easy. But the cold beer at the Cafe turned out to be a perfect reward at the end of the walk. 

View of Palace & City from Gloriette



After spending a good part of the hour at the cafe, we stepped out to enjoy the view. The view from the Gloriette, looking back towards the palace with Vienna shimmering in the distance was simply amazing!
View of Gloriette back from the palace











After a while we slowly made our way back to the palace, trying to walk in shade wherever we could find some. I wanted to visit the Orangerie and the zoo but the sizzling temperatures were to tough to handle and we decided to skip the same and boarded the subway back to the city.