VIKING TRAVELOG GRAND EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE RHINE-MAIN-DANUBE RIVERS DAY 14 – BUDAPEST Entering Budapest, Hungary on the Danube River. Margaret Bridge in view. HUNGARY’S GRACEFUL AND INSPIRING CAPITAL Take in one of Europe’s great cultural capitals. Over the last few decades, Budapest has reemerged as one of the continent’s iconic cities, divided by the lilting Danube and connected by the graceful Chain Bridge. Meet your guide for a panoramic tour, beginning in modern Pest. Along the elegant Andrássy Avenue, the Champs-Élysées of Budapest, admire the Hungarian State Opera House. Stop at Heroes’ Square, a wide-open plaza of monuments and statues commemorating the Magyar state. Across the river, explore the more traditional Buda side of the city. Here you will visit the Castle District with its massive hilltop castle complex, the turreted Fishermen’s Bastion and Matthias Church, named for the country’s most popular medieval king. From the heights of Buda Hill, enjoy fantastic views of the famous Chain Bridge, the first span to ever connect the two halves of the city when it opened in 1849. 1 Ancient Viking longship (galley prow with oars) sculpture (winged figurehead) at the Margaret Bridge. http://www.aviewoncities.com/budapest/margaretbridge.htm [Note: This vivid image came to mind at the end of the day when an accident occurred near here. I write about it in my epilogue.] First sighting of the majestic Parliament building on the Pest side of Buda-Pest. 2 The Buda side of Buda-Pest. The Castle complex could be seen on the hill. The Parliament Building is built in the Gothic Revival style; it has a symmetrical façade and a central dome. The dome is Renaissance Revival architecture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Parliament_Building 3 Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, but the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda_Castle In the distance was the Liberty Statue (Freedom Statue), a monument on the Gellert Hill which commemorates those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Statue_(Budapest) 4 The main façade overlooks the River Danube, but the official main entrance is from the square on the east side of the building. Inside and outside, there are altogether 242 sculptures on the walls. The façade displays statues of Hungarian rulers, Transylvanian leaders and famous military figures. Equestrian statue of Gyula Andrássy, next to the Hungarian Parliament Building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyula_Andr%C3%A1ssy 5 I took this opportunity to have a picture taken of me with the Grand Parliament Building from the deck of Viking Tir. We weren’t going to visit the Parliament building. With its height of 96 m (315 ft), it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest, along with Saint Stephen's Basilica. The number 96 refers to the nation's millennium, 1896, and the conquest of the later Kingdom of Hungary in 896. As our Viking longship continued to slowly move down the Danube River, the panoramic view on both sides of the river, the Buda & Pest sides, came closer into view. On the right side (Buda), the magnificent view was absolutely dazzling, especially the Matthias Church (aka Church of Our Lady of Buda) a Roman Catholic church, in front of the Fisherman's Bastion at the heart of Buda's Castle District. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Church 6 I could understand now – as I had read – why Budapest had reemerged as one of the continent’s iconic cities. I could see the neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style Fisherman’s Bastion, with its seven towers, which represent the seven Magyar (Uralic-speaking) tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 895. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisherman%27s_Bastion 7 The Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest. It was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. It was opened in 1849. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9chenyi_Chain_Bridge The Burg castle (previously called the Royal Palace) now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and The Budapest History Museum. It sits on the south tip of Castle Hill, bounded on the north by what is known as the Castle District 8 The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular or Budavári Sikló is a funicular railway in the city of Budapest. It links the Adam Clark Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge at river level to Buda Castle above. The line was opened on March 2, 1870, and has been in municipal ownership since 1920. This funicular rail was the second in Europe, only Lyon had a similar transportation system at that time. The line has the following technical parameters: • Length: 95 meters (312 ft) • Height: 51 meters (167 ft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_C astle_Hill_Funicular Guardian lions at each end of the Chain Bridge. The lions at each of the abutments were carved in stone by the sculptor János Marschalkó and installed in 1852. They are similar in design to the bronze lions of Trafalgar Square (commissioned 1858, installed 1867). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9chenyi_Chain_Bridge 9 Our “Panoramic tour of Budapest” began at 9:00 am. Our tour guide was Viktoria. As we drove through the Pest side, Viktoria told us some history: “The Pest (pronounced Pesht) side was a fishing village at the beginning. Pest means oven because it’s very hot in the summer; Buda comes from the word for water because of the thermal springs. There are 118 springs in Budapest; there’s a volcanic fault line along the Danube, creating thermal springs. Downtown is similar to Vienna, with boulevards connecting streets. The beauty is in the details, especially on the Pest side.” Viktoria: “Pest side was built mainly in the 1800’s. In 1838 we had a great flood, with more than 300 buildings destroyed. After the great flood, they had to rebuild the whole city, with a new style of building in the order that you see now.” 10 Viktoria: “We are driving on Andrassy Avenue. It’s known as the ‘Hungarian Broadway’, and it leads to Heroes Square.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%91s%C3%B6k_tere Viktoria: “In 1896 we had our country’s 1,000-year celebration. Heroes Square was built for that occasion. Heroes Square was the ‘gate’ for that celebration. On top of the monument is Archangel Gabriel, who is holding the double cross, meaning the king is above religion. St. Stephen got that cross from the pope. According to legend, Archangel Gabriel showed up in a dream to the pope, who was told to give the holy crown (and double cross) to Stephen.” 11 Viktoria: “On the bottom of the column we have the seven tribes (tribal leaders of the Magyars, or Hungarians) on horses.” The Magyar chieftains who led the Hungarian people into the Carpathian basin. In the front is Árpád, considered the founder of the Hungarian nation. Behind him are the chieftains Előd, Ond, Kond_(chieftain), Tas, Huba, and Töhötöm (Tétény). Little survives in the historical record about these individuals and both their costumes and their horses are considered to be more fanciful than historically accurate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_chieftains_of_the_Magyars Charioteer with a snake, symbol of war. Archangel Gabriel with double cross. The chariot of peace was female, and she faced the male chariot of war.. 12 Our friends Cathy and Joe were with us on the tour. They’re looking at the Museum of Fine Arts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Fine_Arts_(Budapest) The Budapest zoo and botanical garden is the oldest zoo part in Hungary and one of the oldest in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Fine_Arts_(Budapest) 13 The Capital Circus of Budapest. Its current building opened in 1971 and is the only stone circus in Central Europe. It seats 1450 people, and features animal, clown, and artistic performing acts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Circus_of_Budapest As the bus drove to the highlight of the tour, Viktoria gave us a history lesson: “We had the Hungarian kingdom until the 16th century. The Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans, and they wanted to come up north to central Europe. They conquered many parts of the Hungarian Kingdom. After 150 years, the Austrian Empire defeated the Turks and ruled over Hungary. Austria made an alliance with Hungary, creating the Austrian- Hungarian Empire (monarchy) in 1867. The golden age of Hungary started at that time, and developed a lot, with many buildings being built. But all good things come to an end. WWI ended the Austrian-Hungarian empire. In the Treaty of 1920, the lands previously owned were taken away (i.e. Serbia, Slovakia). Two-thirds of the territory was lost. During WWII, Germany promised Hungary it would be given some of the lands back. Promise was not kept. Romania got Transylvania. From Hungary, 600 Jews were taken away, so we changed sides. The Soviets were closer to us, and they came to help us fight against the Germans (Nazis). So in Dec. 1944, 50 days of siege started while Soviets were fighting Nazis. Many buildings were destroyed during the fighting (bombing). The Russians won, and as the 14 Germans left, they burned and destroyed all our bridges. At the beginning we were happy for the Soviets, and we even erected a Liberty Statue for them. We didn’t take those statues away after the collapse of Communism.