Budapest, Hungary - Day 4

For a change of pace today, we left the touristy old town city and went to Margaret Island, a city park on an island that lies between Buda and Pest in the Danube river. On the island people can rent bikes, use thermal and outdoor pools, picnic, and go to the mini zoo. We walked around and visited the ruins of a Franciscan church and a convent. There were a lot of joggers and bicyclists. One story says that Margaret island is named after the daughter of a Hungarian king who was forced out of the country by the mongols in the 1200s. He vowed that if Hungary was saved, her would send his daughter to convent. Upon his return he rebuilt the city and the daughter went to the convent and went on to do great things for the city. After some lunch, we went to the Buda side of the city.

Matthias Church, or the Church of Our Lady, sits on top of the hill. While the Pest side of the city is flat, the Buda side is hilly. The church is the second largest in medieval Hungary. It is beautiful inside but very different than others. The walls are not mosaic or marble like so many of the churches from that time. The walls are all painted with intricate designs. Not just a scene painting, though those are present too, but the entire walls are painted with designs. The exterior roof is made of colorful ceramic tiles in intricate designs.

We met the same tour guide, Endre, we had on Tuesday at the Angel statue for a tour of the Buda side. While Pest is the business side, Buda is more of a neighborhood with apartments. There are older buildings of course but they are more colorful and fresher looking. This is the castle area and the castle is at one end. The castle was used by kings and emperors, added on to, abandoned, bombed, rebuilt, etc. Most recently the prime minister used it as a residence and was having the entire thing redone to the original likeness at a hefty cost to the taxpayers. The people voted him out and now the work is half done and there are questions as to what they future of it will be.

On our tour, our guide pointed out a shop with the best strudels so we had to stop and get some on our way back. We walked across the Chain Bridge and saw the lions that guard the ends and saw the lights coming on on both sides of the city. Dinner was smash burgers at a place near our apartment.Read more