Only a couple of the former Soviet countries to which I have traveled have been determined to still operate as they did when they were Communist. Slovakia, which we needed to pass through while traveling from Poland to Hungary during our 2008 tour of Central Europe, was one of them. As part of the European Union, surrounded by other members of the European Union, we shouldn’t have been stopped at the border. We were stopped and made to wait for quite some time. The border patrol wanted to see all passports for everyone not from a European Union country (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand).
Shortly after they released us, we were stopped by the police in the first town we encountered. Although we had the correct sticker for the tour bus, the police wanted to see our driver’s receipt for the sticker, which he did not have with him. So they made him buy another sticker. They didn’t want to give him a receipt for that one either, but Franco and Wence argued until they got one. It seemed to me that the police in that town planned to fleece tour buses for a new sticker every time they passed through.
Since we took up so much time with all of this, we just went to a McDonalds to get a quick, cheap, lunch and continue on our way to Hungary. Fortunately, the McDonalds took Euros, so no need to exchange any money anywhere.
The part of the country we drove through was a ski resort area, quite mountainous and beautiful. But my opinion of Slovakia was so colored by our experiences with the authorities that I was much more interested in getting to Hungary than I was looking at the Slovakian scenery. Fortunately the border crossing from Slovakia to Hungary was uneventful.
After dinner that night in Budapest, we went on a cruise on the Danube River. All of the buildings on both sides of the river were lit up and quite beautiful. I did not yet have a digital camera and the photos I took didn’t turn out decently at all. I took some video as well, which turned out just fine. We were on a relatively small boat, so it was a private cruise for just our group. We were served champagne and some appetizers. Strauss music was played, including the “Blue Danube Waltz”.
What eventually became Budapest was originally founded by the Celts in about 1AD, but was soon taken over by the Romans. At this time it was called Aquincum. Some of the Roman town can still be seen. Later came some folks from Bulgaria who settled two towns – Buda, up on the hills of one side of the Danube, and Pest, on the flatlands on the other side of the river. In the 9th century, Arpad and the Magyars conquered the country and named it the Kingdom of Hungary with Buda as its capitol. The Magyars were from just north of Bulgaria.
The Ottoman Turks took over in the 16th century and weren’t driven out until the 18th century. Turkish baths still exist and are quite popular in Budapest. The Austrian Hapsburgs then had control until the 19th century when the Hungarians revolted and won their independence. The Chain Bridge was built across the Danube, linking Buda and Pest, which then became one city.
During World War I, Hungary and Austria were allied with Germany. As part of the losing forces, Hungary ended up being partitioned and lost a lot of its territory, including Transylvania, which ended up as part of Romania. Many Hungarian Transylvanians even today consider themselves Hungarian, not Romanian. In World War II, Hungary once again picked the wrong side and was taken over by the Soviets after the war. They now have a park (Memento Park) on the edge of town where they display all of their statuary from the Soviet occupation.
We had a busy morning after our Danube cruise. Our first stop was at Hero’s Square, which contains statues of Arpad and the boys plus a colonnaded display of the early kings of Hungary. At the top of the central column is the Angel Gabriel. The seven Magyar chieftains are depicted on horseback with Arpad front and center.
One of my long ago Scottish ancestors married a woman born in Hungary of the royal family, so I have a dab of Hungarian ancestry. When I had my DNA tested, a small amount of Eastern European showed up. That correlates with what I have found in the family tree.
After driving around Pest to see the City Park, St Stephan’s Basilica (the first king of Hungary), the Dohany Street Synagogue (the largest synagogue in Hungary), the Hungarian State Opera House, the House of Terror Museum (exhibits on the Fascist and Communist regimes with memorials to their victims), Memento Park, Margaret Island, and the Parliament, we crossed the Chain Bridge to Buda. There we went to Buda Castle. The medieval original had been destroyed during the siege to extricate Budapest from the Ottomans, so this version was built in the 1700s. It is used as a museum. We just drove around outside.
From there we went to the square near the Matthias Coronation Church. The church is over 700 years old and was being renovated and refurbished during that time, so the exterior was in scaffolding and the interior was closed to the public. I toured it on a later visit. King Stephan I originally built a church on this site in the 11th century that was destroyed by Mongols in the 13th century. The current version of the church was built after this destruction. Although mainly used for coronations, the church has also had a couple of weddings and a handful of burials. When the Ottomans took over, they whitewashed all of the frescos and turned it into a mosque.
Right in front of the church is a monument to the Plague. Most of the buildings close to the church are medieval (or reconstructed medieval). Next to the church is Fisherman’s Bastian. Although it looks much older, it was constructed in the late 19th century. Between it and the Matthias Coronation Church is a bronze statue of King Stephan I (aka Saint Stephan or Szent Istvan) on horseback. From the Bastian, one can get a breathtaking view of the Hungarian Parliament. This is the enormous, white, gothic-looking building that all of the river cruise ships go by in their commercials.
After a little bit of time to wander around the Bastian and the square, we went back down to Pest for a lunch break. Mom and I were hanging out with some Brits who spotted a British pub – the John Bull Pub. So we went there for lunch. Had one of the most interesting club sandwiches I have ever had with a glass of Guinness.
On our way to the town of Szentendre (Saint Andrew), which is not far from Budapest, we stopped off at some of the Roman remains of Aquincum. A pretty extensive area has been excavated.
Szentendre was founded by one of the Magyar princes who arrived with Arpad. The town was built over the remains of a Roman town. At Szentendre, we walked up a pedestrian-only, cobbled road to reach the main square of the town. Then we went down a side street to the Margit Kovacs Museum. She was a potter and ceramics maker. Several of her pieces were on display at the museum.
We returned to the town square and visited the Serbian Orthodox Church at the edge of the square. It was a tiny little church, but ornately decorated. I couldn’t get any decent photos because of its size, the amount of people in our group, and the lack of light in the church (but I do in a later trip). Serbs had been invited to settle in Szentendre (to try to evade the Ottomans) in the late 17th century during the Great Turkish War after the Ottomans had been kicked out of Buda.
To finish our visit, we had some cake and tea at Korona on the main square. The restaurant is 200 years old and serves traditional Hungarian food. We then had some free time to make our way back down the road leisurely. Both sides of the narrow street had shops. Some were clothing shops, some were souvenir shops and many were for various crafts. Ended up getting a couple of hand-embroidered table runners.
Our next stop on the trip was Vienna, followed by Prague.
