Guess we'll see if that is true or not, as I'm still not really sure what to say. I've actually had drafts of four or five different posts on Hungary going for a bit now, but have be unable/unwilling to commit to any of them. But the other evening when I was skyping with Jake he said I should do one on Pest and one on Buda, so I'm going to do that. I am though, going to take some of the text from the other posts and toss it in to help speed this up a bit. Not that I'm in a hurry to go anywhere today, tomorrow, or maybe even the next day (I do like this place), but waste not want not. Right?
896 is an important number for Hungary. It's basically when they first became Hungary. I learned this twice. Once on a general "this is Budapest" walking tour when the guide talked about St. Stephen's Basilica. That's this place.
The dome of the Basilica is 96 metres high. It's the tallest building in Budapest. Laws were passed that nothing could be built higher, which keeps Budapest's city profile quite low and lovely. And with a population of around two million or so, it also means it is spread out along both sides of the Danube pretty well too.
I'm not sure where the 8 went. And I don't know how Gandolf figures into the story.
The next time I learned it was when the same tour walked it's way over to the Buda side of the Danube across the cable bridge.
Looking back at the Pest side you can see the Parliament chillin' out along the bank of the river.
It's dome is also 96 metres high. Apparently this is symbolic of the equality of church and state. So much so, that when the Soviet Union came along after WWII and having just freed Hungary from Germany proceeded to welcome them into the loving, some would say crushing, embrace of Communism, proceeded to cap the tower with a 4 meter tall red star, so that state won.
Apparently size matters.
I learned that little tidbit about the red star when on another walk that talked about the history of Hungary in general and Budapest more specifically during it's stint as part of the Eastern Block. That's also when I learned the 96 metre thing for the second time. Now, having known it by then, I got top marks when the second guide asked us all if we knew these things.
Keener would be a suitable name to call me should you be searching for one.
That's just another view from the Pest side. I did not go in, though apparently it is stunning. Perhaps next time.
Next time currently has a list of things to do which include, aside from the Parliament, going to a spa, taking a cruise on the Danube, going on a day trip to St. Andrew's, and remembering to read the brochure on the musical festival going on the entire time I was here before my second to last night so that I don't miss the whole damn thing.
Weep not though, as I saw plenty.
Apparently design competitions are the way to go when looking to build a parliament, and Hungary was no exception. The one above was the winner. Across the square from it are the two runner ups.
I believe this is currently housing the Ministry of Agriculture amongst others.
And this one is where the Ministry of Funny Walks gets it's daily exercise.
Nearby is Freedom Square, which was the main focal point of the tour on Hungary under Communism.
During WWII Hungary attempted to be neutral and held out till 1944 when Germany occupied them. During that time they deported so many jewish people that I cannot fathom how the word neutral gets to be used, but it does. Way more than what the quota placed upon Hungary by Germany actually was. Yes, there was a quota.
So when this monument got put up recently in Freedom Square with the basic metaphor being that Hungary was an innocent in all of this and were just being suppressed by Germany, people got seriously, seriously ticked.
Not the fountain. The fountain was already there, it's the thing behind the fountain. that monument now has police baby sitting it at night as people want the thing torn down and are suggesting they will do it themselves if the government doesn't take care of it. People are feeling that they need to be honest about their countries history, even if it is not the prettiest. I would tend to agree. So they're talking. We'll see.
Another monument that has people cheezed off is this one.
It's a monument to the Soviet soldiers who lost their lives liberating Hungary from Germany in 1945. Seems reasonable enough, unless you consider the tyranny under the Soviets that ensued afterwards and lasted until 1956 when Hungary had a revolution. Yes, it technically lost this revolution, but things did start to improve, so even though it was still under Soviet rule it was one of the better places to be on the block. That monument is also under close eye of the police and until a month or so ago had a fence around it that no one was allowed to cross.
So why is this monument still standing when every other vestige of Soviet rule has been torn down and all associated imagery has been banned, to the extent that even Heinenken considered changing the red star on their label to something else, though ultimately an exception was made in that case? Well, there is a reciprocal agreement between Russia and Hungary that monuments to fallen Soviet soldiers be protected in Hungary, and monuments to Hungarian military in Russia also be protected.
Fair enough. No clue what Hungarian war monuments are in Russia, but there you have it.
The revolution of 1956 got started up by a whole bunch of students out of this building.
That was, ironically enough, the Lenin Institute. And you know, the revolution was going along pretty well until the government made a call to Moscow and 2000 tanks started rolling in. 2000. That's how many tanks Hitler had for his whole western front apparently.
Oh, and why this revolution? Well, as I mentioned, things had gotten pretty out of hand between 1945 and 1956. A lot of the out of hand happened here, at Andrassy Ut 60 (read 60 Andrassy Rd.). Now the Terror House, a museum doing an excellent job of educating people on what went on during both the fascist and communist regimes.
Known as the "House of Loyalty" in 1944 when national socialist Ferenc Szalasi and his Arrow Cross Party came into power, thus beginning a short but nasty reign of terror that was soon taken up by Soviets once they "liberated" Hungary from Germany and came into power, it was used to imprison, interrogate, torture and murder supposed enemies of the state, which could by the way, be anybody. Seriously. Pretty much anyone. The Soviet leadership under Rakosi, and the AVH secret police carried on with the pretty much the same approach until 1956 when Hungary had that revolution I mentioned earlier.
Okay, let me switch gears a bit as you don't need me giving you a history lesson. We all have wikipedia for that.
Budapest is a complicated place. Lots of juxtapositions. It makes for a beautiful city, but that beauty is in both it's restored buildings (80% of Budapest was destroyed during the war), and those that have not been restored. It's not like there are tons of ruined buildings around town, but there are way more than anywhere else I've been so far. Walking around is an eye opener, and is a study in contrast. And ya, Hungary doesn't have the economy of a western European country, or the UK (or at least the economies they had until a couple of years ago), so it's not like it's all done. It's not like it's all either fixed or new. But I also think, and I may be very wrong about this, that there isn't necessarily the intention to make it all shiny and 21st century, that there is value in having some reminders about. Like I said, could be wrong about that.
Above is the Dohany Street Synagogue, the largest functioning synagogue in Europe. It is one of three synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, two of which remain operational. Why three? Well, there are three types of Judaism practiced in Hungary: Orthodox, Status Quo, and Neolog, or progressive. Each practice had it's own synagogue. Dohany Street is Neolog.
Behind it is this, the memorial to the victims of the holocaust. It is a weeping willow, and on it's branches are many, many leaves. On each of those leaves is written a name. Like I said, there are alot of leaves.
These shots are of other areas within the quarter.
The wall above is part of the wall that had enclosed the ghetto.
This was also the neighbourhood where I was living, and I absolutely loved it. Vibrant, alive. Just an incredible atmosphere both day and night. It's where many of the Ruin pubs are, and it's also where Kisuzem that restaurant I wrote about is. So ya, I kinda liked it there.
Meanwhile Andrassy ut, this wonderful, long boulevard that is referred to as "a little bit of Paris", is dotted with embassies, and leads up to Hero's Square, has got the same discordance.
Okay, this one isn't on Andrassy, it's on Liszt Ferenc, which only runs off of Andrassy, but was part of my walk that day so gets included now.
You may know Liszt Ferenc better as Franz Liszt.
This intersection part way up Andrassy is known as "the Octagon", and not because Chuck Norris fought to the death here. But, like Chuck Norris, no single photo would do it justice. It has to many facets to consume all at once. Like an opponent of Chuck Norris, you need to circle around it a few times to take it all in at which point you have been floored by it's sheer awesomeness. UNESCO may be feeling the same way. About the Octagon; I'm not sure how they feel about Chuck Norris. But who knows, maybe a bid should be put in for his cultural significance. If Chuck Norris were to become a UNESCO World Heritage site, would that mean he would live forever? Not that he won't. But you know, just to be on the safe side.
I will save you from the oct-a-view and just include the one shot, as truthfully, I did not do the whole walk about. Nor did I snap all sides. I just turned my head and blinked a little less for a few minutes.
At the top of Andrassy is Heroes' Square, and beyond it a park.
And like all parks it has the usual green spaces with water and bridges...
... castles...
... and of course, a huge spa.
Meanwhile, back in the city we have the Ruin Pubs. These are exactly what they sound like, pubs that are in the "ruins" of older buildings. Now, in truth, the building are just fine, all the walls are standing and they've more than possibly have passed a health and safety inspection since opening. It's just that the buildings are old, and not redone, and no one seems to be in any hurry anything to do anything about that, in fact, it looks more to be the opposite. They're really popular though, and I can see why. Fantastic atmosphere, if stupidly crowded for a 3am.
That last one, which you may not make out all that well as it's kinda a sucky shot, is all bunnies. Reminded me of Watership Down.
Not the best of memories.
I'm not sure if my father had read Richard Adam's novel prior to taking my brother and I to see the movie in theatres in 1978, but I'm really hoping not. Yes, it's animated. But you know what, there have been cartoons not meant for kids long before South Park came along. Just sayin'. Freaked me right out. And good.
Really funny now though. The memory, not the movie. Watership Down is to Peter Rabbit what Apocalypse Now is to Adrian Cronauer.
Yes Rich, I digress.
There are some other wonderful things on the Pest side that I should mention:
A station of Line 1 of the Budapest metro. Opened in 189-something it's the oldest subway in continental Europe. Emphasis on the continental, as London's is the oldest overall.
The market.
And yes, this shot is from my Buda side picnic lunch in the rain but I ate the leftovers in the park by Heroes' Square, so I get to include it here too.
Some fantastic sculptures.
This one has been nicknamed The Hulk. (And not by me.)
This one is of Imre Nagy, the leader of the reform government in the 50's that helped bring about the revolution of 1956 and got brought down by the Soviets. He's looking to the west, having turned his back on the east. You gotta love metaphors.
This statue of a little girl, dressed up as a prince (it's the artist's daughter and she apparently did this sort of thing all the time) was the first public work of art displayed post 1989 when Hungary finally did successfully attain it's freedom.
And of course there is graffiti, whether I spell it correctly or not.
And then there are bridges. You've already seen the cable bridge, this is the Liberty Bridge, and is quite close to the Great Market Hall, where I bought the yummy picnic stuff.
This is the bridge I crossed over to Buda the second time, and where I'll pick up the second half of this tale another day.
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