Budapest Continues

Wednesday May 21

Budapest

Another quiet day spent walking, we left the hotel and made our way along Andrassy Avenue, similar to St Kilda Road in design and lined on both sides with buildings from the 19^th century , including the Opera House and many residential blocks with inner courtyards, several embassies are situated along the avenue.

The avenue terminates at Heroes’ Square and the Millennium Monument erected to mark the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar Conquest, the monuments are adorned with large statues of warriors on horseback representing the Magyar people.  As we took many photos on our last visit we didn't take any this time.

Agricultural Museum

On either side of the square is situated the Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery.  The Art Gallery doesn't have its own collection but is used as an exhibition gallery.  Behind the square is a large park with the City Park Lake which is used as an ice rink in winter and nearby is the Budapest Zoo.

Also on the edge of the park is the Vajdahunyad Castle built for the millennium exhibition in 1896 it was made from cardboard and wood, it was so popular that it was rebuilt in stone and brick.  Part  of the castle complex contains the largest agricultural museum in Europe and in the garden there is a large statue of Anonymus, who wrote the first history of the ancient Magyars in the 12^th century.

Main Entrance to Spa

Walking on through the park we arrived at the Szechenyi Baths built over 100 years ago, a most impressive structure.  This spa features 15 different pools and is one of the largest bathing complexes in Europe; we had brought our bathers with us but decided that the entrance fee of $20 each was a little too much for an hour’s dip.

Main Outdoor Pools

As the day has been quite warm and we have covered five kilometres we decided to travel back to the hotel on the Millennium Underground.  This was Europe’s first sub-surface railway built in 1896, each train has two carriages and their combined length is about the same size of a Melbourne tram.  Train run around every five minutes and the ticket is valid for an un-interrupted trip for an hour or two hours at night for a cost of $1.70, we travelled eight stations and thought this was good value as it saved us the 5 km walk back to the hotel.

Several days ago outside the market a man promoting the “Hop On, Hop Off” bus tours gave us a flyer promoting a restaurant in a side street, the prices appeared to be half those of the restaurants in the main street, so we decided to try it out.

Walking down the main pedestrian street we refused the invitation of around twelve restaurants to dine and eventually found Grinzingi’s restaurant, a small venue compared to many we has passed.  We ordered a beer while we studied the menu and selected a pork dish with a cream and paprika sauce, served with rice, most delicious and the total bill was less $20 for two including a tip, less than one main course in some of the other restaurants.  Well worth the extra walk.