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  • Day 10

    Budapest oh Budapest

    January 10, 2015 in Hungary ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Ah Budapest! The story of two towns side by side separated by the blue Danube. One side is Buda the other is Pest.

    I arrived in Budapest Friday lunchtime, catching my train just in time. I'm staying in a hostel that is quite central and located just down from the Danube. The nightclub downstairs is a pain at night time, but the ensuite in our room is amazing and the whole place has a general quality feel about it.

    Shortly after arriving at my hostel I struck up a conversation with an Australian who has been backing his way through Europe over the winter. He's been in Budapest for a week now and was giving me tips on where to go and what to see.

    I accompanied him to lunch at his favourite spot beside out hotel. It was a chain shop as I later realised, but still very good food. He looked a bit like David Wenham.

    This afternoon I headed to St Stephen's Basilica for the start of the communism walking tour.

    Penned to give us insight into what life was like before, during and after the Iron Curtain. We were given a history of Budpest, how their roles came about in both world wars and stories of actions Hungarians took.

    Starting at the Basilica and walked by Szabadsįg Square where a new, controversial memorial statue to German occupation was recently installed, there is many signs of protesting all along the statue. We saw a bunker here which was secretly built for the army to escape through.

    The US Embassy is here and the former Stock Exchange, as well as a monument now known as the Liberty statue of Freedom Statue. It was originally built to thank the Soviet Union for helping liberate occupation in WWII. However, sentiments changed during the communist era, and the statue inscriptions have since changed to now read: "To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary".

    From here we proceeded to the State of Imre Nagy. Imre Nagy was the Prime Minister of Hungary on two occasions, including during the failed Hungarian Revolution in 1956. After Soviet forces regained control of Hungary, Nagy was stood for trial and was executed and buried in an unmarked grave. His name was banned during the Communist era as he represented freedom.

    After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Imre Nagy was reburied and a statue erected in his name. He stands on a bridge facing the West, and when you walk over it, you walk from the East to the West. Very symbolic. Our guide let us all walk over the bridge on our way towards Parliament.

    Parliament Square, known as Kossuth Lajos Square, is the home of Hungarian Parliament. There are three main buildings in this area. In 1880 an International competition was held to source a design for the new Parliament Building for Hungary. Imre Steindl, a Hungarian designer, emerged as the winner and work on the building began in 1885, making it one of Europe’s oldest legislative buildings.

    The judgers were so impressed with second and third place that these designs were also commissioned and were built facing the Parliament building. Today they house the Ethnographic Museum and the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. Parliament House is the tallest building in Budapest and remains this way on purpose, as nothing should be higher then Government (or something along those lines). Apparently when the Soviet Army moved in they put a giant red cross a top of its highest steeple.

    Parliament Square backs on to the Danube and this is where we finish our tour. By now, it is well and truly nightfall and our guide points out all of the important royal buildings and bridges lit up this evening. It’s a clear cool sky evening.

    She told us a story about how Heineken almost had to change the colour of their star, as it was law up until 2013 that the public use of symbols of totalitarian power was not allowed. The symbols included the hammer and sickle, the Nazi swastika, and the red five-pointed star. Apparently during the Cold War Heineken did change the colour of their star white with a red border.

    Our tour has come to an end and how group has shrunk considerably given the temperature we’ve been in for the last 3 hours. I always embark on these tours thinking that the cold won’t bother me that much. But today I was well and truly frozen and had to hide in a supermarket till I could think properly again and de-frost.

    With my phone advising that it felt like -8 (!!!!!) I said goodbye to the guide and found my way to the nearest appealing restaurant. Here I enjoyed a most delicious cheese and mushroom filo pastry and wine before taking a stroll back along the Danube towards my hostel. Taking in the most beautiful views around me.


    Full Moon Design Hostel
    http://www.fullmoonhostel.com/

    Walking Tour
    http://www.triptobudapest.hu/
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