Beautiful Buda & Pes(sh)t

Our departure from Vienna at 10am had us in Budapest via train by 1pm. For the first 1-2 hrs of the trip we were in Austria and the terrain was all but completely flat. I guess we were not on the Switzerland side but we did not expect this. There was however extensive farm land all the way.

As soon as we got into Hungary the terrain started to change with some small hills growing into bigger ones. There has not been any mountains to speak of but considerable pretty rolling hills with picture book villages tucked on the side of, or in between, them.

Mark was going ahead of me to leave the train and before he could even step off the train there were people trying to grab his bag and shouting "taxi, taxi" at him... or, "you want room"! We after being in places that where we had not had to deal with hustlers it was a bit of a shock for a moment. We did want to check the train times for our departure out of Budapest while we were there and after saying "no" to at least a dozen different offers we headed to the info office in the station. (This is a train station that is for only International trains).

I chatted with a very helpful girl in there and quizzed her on the way to ensure we got into a legit taxi. She said the only way was for her to book one with a registered company and the driver would have to come and collect us from the Info office. She also assured me that to go with any of the 'casual' taxi's they would charge us at least triple. So... taxi booked and foreign currency withdrawn from a ATM (hf 10,000 = aud 67) we were on our way.

The hotel here is the only one Mark booked and I have to say... he did a marvellous job. (next time he can handle more of them!!) We are in Buda (Pest is the other side of the Danube River) in the old walled district of the Palace. There is a a main square with a cathedral in the middle of it and a fantastic arched walkway and lookout across the river on one side. We were fortunate to have our hotel on the other side of the cathedral with our room having a great view. (See the pic) It was a little disturbed due to scaffolding around part of the cathedral, for renovation works, but it was worth it when we saw the work they have done. It is so beautiful.

Here are a couple of other pictures of the cathedral. During WWII all the roof tiles were ruined. The ongoing renovations have replaced each of the ceramic disks.

The side doors hinted at the details inside.

All the walls and ceilings internally were intricately painted. It is not easy to convey just how lovely they were. To me there seemed a moorish influence. For reference, the men next to the coat of arms were larger than life size.

We spent yesterday afternoon combining some local sight seeing with a search for a laundromat as well as a particular train station to buy our ticket for tomorrow. (As there are only 3 trains to Zagreb per day we have to catch the 6:05am or we will not get to Split on the same day)

We had no luck finding the laundromat (so essentials only were handwashed) but we had a lovely time strolling around an area at the bottom of the walled section. It was obvious we were a rare tourist to this area and it was great to see 'normal' life going on in the neighbourhood and shopping street. We did manage to buy our train tickets from one of the most oppressive and cavenous office buildings we have ever been in. It is obviously a hangover from the communist past.

This picture gives an indication of the height of the back (lower) section wall and then this one with the collonaded wall is the one opposite our hotel.

One the way to find somewhere for dinner we were shocked to see this building nearby which is one they have retained to show the damage from the war.

After Ashleigh's comment re Mark and the blue 'phone' we saw this hot pink phone and couldn't resist talking a picture of it.

Finally one picture to show you the view from the top over the Danube River.