The Ham Nomads

16 Jul 2015. <HU> Budapest —

Today we went back into Budapest, using the Giraffe Hop-On Hop-Off to get around — and also to get a bit of a running commentary on what we were seeing. It was only about 400 metres from Haller Camping that we picked up the bus, allowing it to take us on its meandering route to the foot of the funicular, where we were yesterday. Here, we changed routes and let them take us up to the Citadella — it would have been a hot and tiring uphill walk!

 

Bálna

Statue group of the martyred rebel György Dózsa and his men

The bus entering the Buda Castle Tunnel

The magnificent Turul statue at Buda Castle

To be perfectly honest, the Citadel has little to offer, except magnificent views over Budapest — but these are worth the trip up! The Citadel has at least one claim to infamy — in 1956 during the abortive Hungarian Revolution, Russian troops occupied the Citadel and their tanks fired down into the city. Some of the exterior walls of Citadel still bear evidence of gunfire, probably from the Siege of Budapest (December 25, 1944-February 14, 1945), when the Russian troops overcame the German forces occupying the city.

Liberty Statue

We hopped on the bus again (a later one, of course!), and took it to where we could change for the boat cruise (also part of the Giraffe offering). This is a one-hour cruise up the Danube as far as Margaret Island (Margit-sziget, passing beneath Elisabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd), Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd) and Margaret Bridge (Margit híd) on the way upstream, before turning back and going downstream past the Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) before returning back upstream to port. On the way, we passed many of the sights we had seen before from different viewpoints. A pleasant way to spend an hour!

Buda Calvinist Church

Decorations on Margaret Bridge

Margaret Bridge

Monument to Szent Gellért on Gellért Hill

Going downstream towards Liberty Bridge

Coming upstream towards Liberty Bridge

You meet all kinds of craft on the Danube!

A most graphic — and amusing — toilet sign!

People were doing anything to keep cool!

After leaving the boat, we caught the bus again and went out Andrássy Avenue (Andrássy út) to the Hungarian State Opera House, as we knew we would be just in time to catch the 3pm guided tour. This opera house is the "little sister" of the opera house in Vienna — as Vienna was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it wouldn't do for a 'provincial' opera house to be larger! But the opera house has another quirk — only Hungarian workmen and Hungarian materials were to be used in its construction. This, however, had to be relaxed in a few areas, as Hungary has no marble resources, and in some parts of the building a special knot-free oak had to be imported to allow for intricate carving. But still, full marks for effort.

Just one of the superb ceiling paintings

Our guide was delightful

We met up with the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto)
and Floria Tosca (Tosca)

Kaiser Wilhem and his wife 'Sisi' (as she is affectionately known here) were regular visitors to the opera house, but the Royal Box could only be used by the Kaiser and whoever was accompanying him. On the many occasions Sisi came to the opera without Franz, she used a special box above stage right, now known as 'Sisi's Box'.

Sisi's Box

The Royal Box is in the prime position, dead centre at the back of the auditorium

The auditorium is magnificent, with a wonderful fresco of the Greek gods adorning its central dome. In the middle of the dome is a superb 3050kg chandelier — apparently it takes 15 strong men half and hour to winch it manually down for cleaning, and an hour to winch it back up.

After a fascinating tour of the opera house, we used the Hop-On Hop-Off bus to make our way back home to the camp for the night.

It had been another very hot day, and the way we managed it let us survive the heat fairly well!

Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 24,200 miles ( 38,946 km )