Budapest–11 May

I have never been in a city before with so many bookstores.  Every kind:  popular, academic, antique, rare, second hand …. they are side by side everywhere.  Obviously there is a very strong literary culture here.


I spent the morning on the hop on – hop off bus, doing the two circuits of the city that go past most of the main places on interest.  This gave me a good feel for what to get back to see and also some nice feel for the history of the place.  Budapest (the locals pronounce it Booda-pesht) impresses as a fairly modern city:  most of the major buildings seem to date from the 18th Century on, even though the area has been inhabited since before Roman times.  One of the main streets here is Attila Utica… a reminder that the Huns established the kingdom that is now Hungary.  There were Celts, Avars, Mongols, and Turks before the Germanic peoples took over and established the Hapsburg dynastic rule.  It was then that city grew into the metropolis it is today.  Several abortive freedom movements followed, and after World War II communism took hold until the uprising in 1956.

After lunch and siesta (yes I am falling prey to this very sensible custom ) I spent about 3 hours in the National Museum of History.  I took the audio-guided tour which is loaded with interesting historical information and guides you through the various rooms of displays.  I just did the historical period from 1600 to today. Very interesting and worthwhile, though hard on the legs and back – no seats throughout the rooms.  The had a wander along the river embankment before heading back to hotel.  For dinner I indulged in another Hungarian specialty:  duck breast in a rich red wine sauce with dumplings.  Started with soup of the day: a fruit soup!!  Cold creamy base with sliced fruit through it, and a scoop of ice-cream floating there too.  Was like having dessert first!  And of course, a Heineken to go with it.

Not really a lot of pics to show for all that.  Those I took are here.