Budapest, Hungary
September 16-18, 20, 2016
Rome to
Budapest, Hungary is a 90 minute flight. We rented a nice car since we plan to drive
into Transylvania, Romania for a few days.
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| Our Car |
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| Barb at the airport |
We are staying at the Gresham
Palace Hotel (Four Seasons), which is in Pest and has a beautiful view across the Danube River and the Buda side of the city.
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| Gresham Palace Hotel |
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| Beautiful iron work inside the lobby. |
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| Our room. |
We hired a guide to
take us to the main sights of Budapest.
The Central Market Hall has a
colorful food market, along with floors of clothing and tourist items to
buy. It is in a beautiful architectural
building.
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| Marketplace building. |
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| All kinds of fruits, vegetables and meats are sold. |
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| Paprika.....for which they are famous. |
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| Handmade items to buy |
Budapest has many thermal
spas. We looked at the Gellert Spa and
walked up to a Catholic Church that was built in a cave and was used by the Hungarian Catholics to shelter and protect fugitives during the war. When the Soviets occupied the City they closed the Church and sealed off the entrance.
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| Gellert Spa |
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| The outdoor pool. There are thermal pools, a swimming pool, saunas, steamers, and places for massages. |
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| The concrete around the edges are where the Soviets sealed it off. |
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| Gellert Cave Church |
We saw St. Stephens Basilica
and drove through the old Jewish Quarter where the Nazis walled off the area and
made it a ghetto, locking in the Jewish people where they survived until near the end of World War II when they were sent to concentration camps. The
Parliament building is also on the Pest side of the river.
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| St. Stephens |
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| Jewish Synagogue |
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| A shoe memorial for the Jews that were killed by the river. |
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| Parliament Building. |
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| Square where the US Embassy is located, along with a statue of Ronald Reagan. |
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| Statue of Ronald Reagan |
After walking across the bridge we hiked up Buda Castle Hill.
It has nice views of the city and the Royal Palace is now the home of
the National Gallery.
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| View from the top. |
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| Barb on the bridge. |
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| The National Gallery. |
Coming back from Romania, we
again stayed for one night at the Gresham Palace Hotel. We went to the Gellert Spa for a massage and
for soaking in the thermal pools for which they are so famous. It is like swimming in an old Roman Bath.
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| The lobby. |
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| Barb in the pool. |
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| Scott enjoying the spa. | | |
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| Daytime view from our hotel window. |
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| Nighttime view. |
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Of course we had afternoon tea at Gresham Palace! |
Budapest was a beautiful city.
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