Budapest
On Monday morning, we took a tour of Budapest. The tour started out as a walking tour of the Castle district. Along the way, our tour guide Agnes gave us some background about Budapest. The area was originally divided into Buda and Pest, with the Danube River in between. In 1873, when the first of the bridges - the Chain Bridge - was completed, the two cities joined to become one and was called Budapest. Buda is hilly and contains the Castle District. Pest is flat and contains many government offices.
Our walking tour started at St. Matthias church, which is next door to our hotel. The church is named after King Matthias, who was a very popular medieval king. The church is nearly 500 years old. At the start of World War II, the stained glass windows were removed from the church. When the church suffered damage from the bombing during the war, the windows were not damaged, and were able to be replaced in the church after the war was over.
Near the church is Fisherman's Bastion, which was built as a viewing platform, and was designed by the same architect that designed St. Matthias church. The platform offers splendid views of the Danube River down below, the Chain Bridge, and the Pest side of Budapest. Looking out over the Pest side, you can easily see two domes, which are the tallest structures on the Pest side. One dome belongs to a church, and the other belongs to a government building. The height of the two domes being exactly equal symbolizes the equality of church and state. No structures are allowed, by law, to be higher.
When Agnes was talking about some of the architecture in the area, she mentioned at one point that one of the architects for a particular project was married at the time to Zsa Zsa Gabor. When she said that, there was an audible sound of "oohs and ahhs" from the group. Agnes laughed and said, "I love that. I always get a reaction when I mention Zsa Zsa Gabor to Americans."
We walked a little further through the town as Agnes pointed out areas of interest. Then we soon boarded buses and continued our tour on bus. The bus part of the tour mainly covered the Pest side of town. The Parliament Building, which is on the Pest side, is the most beautiful parliament building in the world, according to many people. It is strategically situation across the river from the Castle. It is said that this placement signifies that the future of the country is with popular democracy rather than royalty.
On the Pest side, we drove down Andrassy Ave., a tree-lined street of fantastic architectural buildings, and often called the "Avenue of the Palaces". One of the buildings along the route was the Opera House, which is supposedly one of the 10 most beautiful opera houses in the world. There is also a House of Terror Museum, which is a museum that depicts Hungary during the time of Communism.
We also passed Hero Square, which has statues of many Hungarian heroes. In the middle of the statues of the heroes, stands a pillar, or column, atop of which sits St. Gabriel the Archangel.
Lastly, we drove through the Jewish quarter, where we saw 3 synagogues, including the largest synagogue in Europe and 2nd largest in the world.
Our walking tour started at St. Matthias church, which is next door to our hotel. The church is named after King Matthias, who was a very popular medieval king. The church is nearly 500 years old. At the start of World War II, the stained glass windows were removed from the church. When the church suffered damage from the bombing during the war, the windows were not damaged, and were able to be replaced in the church after the war was over.
Near the church is Fisherman's Bastion, which was built as a viewing platform, and was designed by the same architect that designed St. Matthias church. The platform offers splendid views of the Danube River down below, the Chain Bridge, and the Pest side of Budapest. Looking out over the Pest side, you can easily see two domes, which are the tallest structures on the Pest side. One dome belongs to a church, and the other belongs to a government building. The height of the two domes being exactly equal symbolizes the equality of church and state. No structures are allowed, by law, to be higher.
When Agnes was talking about some of the architecture in the area, she mentioned at one point that one of the architects for a particular project was married at the time to Zsa Zsa Gabor. When she said that, there was an audible sound of "oohs and ahhs" from the group. Agnes laughed and said, "I love that. I always get a reaction when I mention Zsa Zsa Gabor to Americans."
We walked a little further through the town as Agnes pointed out areas of interest. Then we soon boarded buses and continued our tour on bus. The bus part of the tour mainly covered the Pest side of town. The Parliament Building, which is on the Pest side, is the most beautiful parliament building in the world, according to many people. It is strategically situation across the river from the Castle. It is said that this placement signifies that the future of the country is with popular democracy rather than royalty.
On the Pest side, we drove down Andrassy Ave., a tree-lined street of fantastic architectural buildings, and often called the "Avenue of the Palaces". One of the buildings along the route was the Opera House, which is supposedly one of the 10 most beautiful opera houses in the world. There is also a House of Terror Museum, which is a museum that depicts Hungary during the time of Communism.
We also passed Hero Square, which has statues of many Hungarian heroes. In the middle of the statues of the heroes, stands a pillar, or column, atop of which sits St. Gabriel the Archangel.
Lastly, we drove through the Jewish quarter, where we saw 3 synagogues, including the largest synagogue in Europe and 2nd largest in the world.
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