The 'Pest' in Budapest

The overnight train from Prague to Budapest was quite good, we both managed to get some sleep. However there was one not so great side to it - at around 4.30am we were woken up and told that there was a problem with our carriage and we all had to swap to another carriage. at the other end of the train. So there we were (Cathy in her PJ's and a big coat) walking the length of Breclav station with suitcases in tow. Others on the train who looked out would have been suprised.

But we did get back to sleep and got to Budapest about 8.30am and got a taxi straight to our hotel. The taxi ride was an experience, I'm not sure the driver knew what brakes were for and the he kept saying 'aye aye aye' in describing the traffic. The he backed down a cobblestoned driveway to the hotel entrance, but halfway down got the wheels on one side onto the steps instead of the driveway.

We were really fortunate that the hotel was actually able to give us our room straight away - we had thought that we would just leave our cases there and get access to the room later. However getting access meant we were aboe to freshen up before we started walking.

The hotel is in 'Buda' which is the the south-western side of the river and is right under the palace complex and only 50 metres from the Chain Bridge (Budapest's oldest bridge) over the Danube.

We decided to spend today exploring 'Pest' - the other side of the river, so walked across the Chain Bridge and started wandering around. We also got a 'Budapest Pass' which gave us discounted enty and full use of the transport system. 'Pest' is a lot newer, basically because of wars etc. it was totally rebuilt from the time of the mid 1800's through to today (still building going on) and is based around wide boulevards.

We spent a bit of time at the National Museum, where they stepped you through the history of Hungary & Budapest from the tiime of Roman control right throughh to today's post-communist Republic. It became obvious that this is a country that has struggled to go for extended periods with stable political control, going through various kings with allegiances with other parts of Europe (often with Austria or the Czech's) but also having an extended period of Turkish rule, and then also the years of communist rule. They also have a history of blaming their leaders for what befalls them (and executing them) but then later exonerating them and moving the grave to somewhere better as befalls someone who they thought highly off.

We also looked through St. Stephens Basilica and climbed the dome to get great views of the city. The frescoes and adornment in the basilica was amazing. Following up from that we took a peek at the Opera House, but didn't go right inside the hall - just the foyer was enough of a wow factor. And we found this little 'Bible Museum' that was dedicated to the early western translations and copies of the Bible - very interesting looking at remnants of some of the earlier transcriptions.

Wandering the streets was great - the real pearls were spread out so we needed to cover a lot of ground and unfortunately didn't get to see as much as we would have liked. But we did go on an evening cruise on the Danube which included a commentary (using voices representing parts of the city's history) to point out and explain some of the major elements of the city.

Much more to do tomorrow before we rush off to Rome. We're both looking forward to a good night's sleep.