A smorgasbord of transport modes

We took the tram from Óbuda to Széll Kálmán tér in Buda, where we changed trams to start heading towards the Buda Hills.

Our second tram took us to Városmajor, where we switched to the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway, which runs steeply uphill for some 3.7km.

A few hundred metres from the upper terminus of the cog railway at Széchenyihegy is the lowest station on Gyermekvasút (the Children’s Railway). As odd as this sounds, this 11km narrow gauge railway is operated mostly by children aged 10-14, with adult supervision and in particular, the train drivers are all adults.

Initially conceived in the late 1940s the Children’s Railway was part of the Soviet Pioneers children’s education programme, as a way to instil teamwork and leadership skills. These elements continue in today’s operation of the Children’s Railway as part of MÁV (the Hungarian State Railway company), with children fulfilling the duty of ticket inspectors/conductors, announcers and platform guards for periods of roughly 2 weeks at a time.

We got off the Children’s Railway roughly halfway, at Jánoshegy, in order to join the forest trail leading to the summit of János-hegy (John’s Hill), the highest point within the city of Budapest at 527m.

After drinks and ice creams, we took the 1km long Budapesti libegő (Chairlift) down to Zugliget. As the chairlift descended almost silently, we enjoyed the wonderful views down to central Budapest and across the Buda Hills.

Near the lower chairlift station, we caught a bus heading back down to Óbuda, where we took a suburban railway alongside the northern bank of the Danube into the centre of Óbuda to look for somewhere for dinner.

Our plan to eat in Óbuda was unsuccessful, although we did find some Roman remains.

We therefore took another tram and then the metro back into the centre of Pest, where I’m pleased to say we found the delights of the Anna Cafe & Bistro (https://www.annacafe.hu/en/basilica/).Read more