Beautiful Budapest, part 3 - Pest

What can I say about Pest that I haven't already said? It's the other half of Budapest, but certainly doesn't play second fiddle to its older brother Buda. Pest is where the action is - restaurants, nightlife, culture, business, etc. Let's get to the photos...

I thought this was funny. Those stickers were on random ads and posters all over the city.

Palinka. In Romania it comes in used plastic beer or soda bottles. The Hungarians know how to step it up a notch, a big notch.

Some apartment buildings across the street from The Great Market Hall.

Outside the opera house. A Maserati and a Fiat. Two Italian cars, two entirely different looks.

St. Stephen's Basilica

The House of Terror museum. The building used to be the local headquarters for the dreaded AVO, the Hungarian secret police.

The Budapest Metro line #1, the oldest subway line in Europe.

Metro line #3. Enjoy local news on giant screens while you wait for your train, assuming that you can read Magyar.

Inside the Great Market Hall.

Chachkys for the whole family, Great Market Hall.

Paprika, garlic, jarred fruit, preserves, honey, etc. All good stuff at the Great Market Hall.

Busker on the Danube with his petrified friend.

These yellow trams are everywhere and, I don't know why, but I think they're really cool. That's Castle Hill in the background.

Hungarian boys learn to ride statues at an early age.

Dance to the music.

This is Petofi, Hungary's revolutionary poet.

The Geological Institute, a fantastic example of Art Nouveau architecture, of which I'm a big fan.

"Native Americans" on tour in Hungary. Keteli Train Station.

A Citroen 2CV. I love these cars, especially in yellow with plaid interior.

Parliament's dome.

Here's the tram again, with Castle Hill in the background.

Beautiful Budapest, part 2 - Statue Park

During the years 1989 and 1990, the people of Central and Eastern Europe liberated themselves (to one degree or another) from Communism. During this process, while most countries gladly destroyed and disposed of their socialist-realist public art and their over-sized dear leaders, the Hungarians decided to do something quite novel with these symbols of oppression. They built a (sort of) theme park for them. Statue Park, located a few kilometers outside of the city, is quite a trip. Lenin, Marx, Engels, Bela Kun, and even Stalin's boots have found a home in suburban Budapest.

My favorite part of the park has to be the gift shop. Some highlights: Trabant t-shirts, CDs of "Communism's Greatest Hits (vols. 1&2)", candles of Stalin in bust form, Lenin socks, and many other souvenirs from a (thank god) bygone era. For me, the biggest irony was that, considering the merchandise, there were signs on the window of the kiosk displaying the fact that they accept all major credit cards! Ah, Communism reduced to a kitchy capitalist venture. You gotta love it. However, all is not schmaltz over there. The exhibition is a learning tool, a way to remember the past so as not to be doomed to repeat it. Better that they were removed from the city proper though. Let's take a walk through the park, shall we?

The front gate. That's Lenin on the left and Marx and Engles on the right.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. One of history's biggest criminals.

Karl Marx and Freidrich Engles. Two Germans who should have been Russians.

Stalin's boots. In 1956, the people of Budapest revolted against the Russians, sawed Papa Iosif off at the legs, and subsequently used him as a "W.C.".

The entrance gate, view from the inside. On the left is a Soviet soldier that once stood on Gellert Hill, overlooking Budapest.

Here he is, our glorious comrade.

The Hungarian worker makes friends with the Soviet soldier. "Thank you for coming to my country and liberating me from the capitalist pigs and imperialist bourgeoisie criminals. No, please, steal all of my belongings and have your way with my wife. No problem. After all, we're comrades, right?"

R.I.P. Vlady.

Bela Kun, first leader of the Hungarian communists, showing his proletariat army the way to...?

An army of blank faces.

Communism was once close to having the world in its grip.

A monument dedicated to leftists who fought in the Spanish Civil War. Again, the faceless soldier, typical socialist symbology.

It's hard to give scale here, but this guy is HUGE!

Socialist-Realism at its finest. The chiseled faces of the workers.

I wonder why the communists chose the star to go along with the hammer and sickle?

Here you get a better idea of the size of the big guy on the left.

I could have dropped a lot of cash here. I settled for a few postcards and a Stalin bust candle, which I will ceremoniously burn down upon my return to the land of the free and home of the brave.

The sun sets on Statue Park. Goodbye Lenin.

Beautiful Budapest, part 1 - Buda

This is the first in a long overdue series of photo blogs about my trip to Budapest in April. What can I say about Budapest that hasn't been said already? It's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and a "two for one" at that. What I mean is that Buda and Pest were (and for all intents and purposes are) separate cites long before they became one.

Buda was the predecessor to Pest, and was founded on the hilly west bank of the Danube. The Romans settled the area to the north before the Huns showed up. Hungarian kings fortified their palace on what is know as "Castle Hill", now a UNESCO protected Heritage Site. Turks conquered it, Russians bombed it, but the tenacious Magyars are still there after a millennium.

Pest is flat and lies on the East bank of the Danube. It developed much later and was primarily an agricultural area until the dawn of the industrial revolution, at which point it became a major commercial center. Pest is blessed with beautiful Austro-Hungarian and Art Nouveau architecture, old tree-lined boulevards and the fantastic "City Park", which contains museums, monuments, mineral baths, a zoo, etc. etc.

That's it in a nutshell. I'll let Wikipedia do the rest. Let's get to the photos, shall we?

Looking to Buda from Pest. The dome of the famed Gellert Hotel and Baths is in the background.

Atop the citadel on Gellert Hill. There used to be a large Russian soldier mounted below the woman with the palm leaf. You'll see him later...

Another shot atop Gellert Hill.

The Danube and Pest from atop Gellert Hill. No, I didn't use the photo on the Wikipedia page. This one's mine. However, I'd have to think that there are many just like this one.

Gotta train 'em early. Especially if the Russians decide to invade again. Gellert Hill citadel.

A lion on the Szechenyi Chain Bridge, with Parliament in the background.

A map of the fortified city atop Castle Hill in Buda.

A ride through the streets of old Buda.

No customers, no problem.

Outside Ruszwurm, a cafe and pastry shop dating from the early 19th century. They make great Apple Strudel.

St. Matthias Catherdral. Named for Matthias Corvinus, or known to the Romanians as Matai Corvin, Hungary's greatest warrior king.

Inside Matthias Catherdral.

Plenty of reading material available, no matter the language.

In a park atop Castle Hill. I love this shot.

Hungarian flags flying outside the prime minister's office.

Castle Hill, near the National Gallery.

View of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge and Pest from atop Castle Hill.

Hungarian Parliament.

Terrace outside of the National Gallery, perched high atop Castle Hill.

Dusk on the Danube.

Castle Hill from the Pest side of the chain bridge.

Same thing here at night.