Budapest: big streets, lots of sculptures and the Danube

Here we are again! We have recently returned from a wonderful group trip to Budapest, organized by our historical contacts, the Strabordo Association and the tour operator Movimondo, represented on site by the two excellent companions Tania and Mauro.

How to summarize the impressions of this trip? The title of this post is a fairly effective summary of the characteristics of the Hungarian capital; its physiognomy is characterized, at least in the half called Pest, by a network of wide flat streets, equipped with comfortable sidewalks (excellent for those who move around in wheelchairs, also because they are well equipped with ramps).

The whole thing is a bit reminiscent of Paris and dates back in its setting to the end of the 19th century, which brings us to the sculptures we talk about in the title. Budapest is full of statues and monuments dedicated mostly to characters and episodes of Hungarian history, which has experienced very dramatic events, especially in the last century, with the extermination of 600,000 Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust and the harsh communist dictatorship from 1945 to 1989, with the related popular uprising of 1956, bloodily repressed by Soviet tanks.

However, our interest is also piqued by numerous modern sculptures, well-integrated into the urban fabric, which is also full of green areas that host several of them. Among these works, the mini statues of the artist Mihail Kolodko certainly stand out, which appear unexpectedly in the squares of Budapest and which are fun to look for, locate and recognize.

But the Hungarian capital is full of churches and buildings with very particular architecture, and if you go up to the Buda hill, the old part of the city, you will be immersed in an atmosphere completely different from that of Pest.

A prominent place among the buildings is certainly occupied by those built at the end of the 19th century and decorated according to the dictates of Art Nouveau, which in these parts had a very important development in that period, often and willingly drawing from the folkloristic motifs of the country.

The third element of our title is the Danube, an immense and omnipresent river, crossed by many bridges and traversable by boat with cruises of varying lengths; we took a mini cruise of an hour and ten minutes that we will illustrate later, as well as we will tell you about a minibus trip to Szentendre, a small ancient village on the banks of the Danube.

So let's get started with the images, some of which were given to us by our friendly travel companions, starting with the Parliament, one of the most viewed and photographed monuments in the city:

And now a look at Freedom Square with its flowerbeds, trees, fountains, statues (including some faces well known to those who were there in the 80s..):

Here's the story that peeps out: the column seen before celebrates the Soviet soldiers who defeated Nazism, and it was left in its place, unlike other monuments from the Stalinist era that were relegated to a park on the outskirts of the city.

The monument that overlooks this fountain shows an eagle, symbol of Nazism, looming over an angel, symbol of Hungary. A strong controversy arose over the fact that Hungary at the time was an ally of Germany and therefore could not absolve itself for the deportation of the Jews, as if it were only a victim and not also an accomplice of Nazism.

Let's lighten the mood with the first figurine by Kolodko, which represents Kermit the Frog:

Let's walk a little more through the streets of Pest and meet some other statues, of more or less famous people:

Yes, it was Peter Falk, Lieutenant Columbo; the actor was in fact of Hungarian origin on his mother's side, and here we find another figurine of Kolodko, the suicidal squirrel, which could be another case for the famous detective to solve:

More statues in the streets: Sissi, the policeman (touching his belly brings good luck), the postman, the poet Attila Joszef:

And here history, in the most dramatic moments, returns and comes to meet us as we go. This series of bronze shoes that is found on the banks of the Danube represents a true memorial of the Holocaust:

In another area, the Jewish quarter, we find this monument entitled The Tree of Life:

And now let's cross the Danube and head to the hill where Buda stands, starting by visiting the Matthias Church, dating back to 1255:

The Fisherman's Bastion, erected in 1905, is located next to the Matthias Church; from the bastion you can enjoy a splendid view of Pest:

The Royal Castle is a stone giant that dominates the river and the Pest plain and houses numerous museums and the monumental Matthias Fountain, dedicated to a legendary hunting trip in the 15th century led by King Matthias Corvinus, with whom the young peasant girl Ilona the Beautiful fell in love:

Let's now take a look at some Art Nouveau buildings we encountered in the streets of Pest:

BEDO HOUSE

WALKO HOUSE

POSTAL SAVINGS BANK

The longest walk we took on this trip was the one that took us to the monumental Heroes' Square, along the very long Andrassy Avenue, along which we found, among other things, the National Opera:

The House of Terror, which was first the headquarters of the Arrow Cross (allies of Nazi Germany) and then of the Communist political police:

And here we are, triumphantly entering Heroes' Square, a huge space full of monuments illustrating characters and episodes of Hungarian history:

ART GALLERY

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

Behind Heroes' Square there is a large City Park, which hosts several buildings including the futuristic House of Music:

Vajdahunyad Castle was built for the Millennium of the Hungarian Nation (1896) first as a pavilion and then in masonry, with Romanesque, Transylvanian Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements:

a figurine representing Dracula:

ANONYMOUS

And now let's talk a little about the Danube, in the sense of telling you about our visit to the ancient village of Szentendre that overlooks the river about forty kilometers from Budapest. We will then conclude by talking about our cruise on the Blue Danube.

Let's start with Szentendre (or Saint Andrew in English):

And we close with the cruise, which took place on a comfortable boat accessible to us:

What else can we add to this batch of images? That the city is very beautiful and very large, so there is still a lot to visit between museums, spas and the green lung of Margaret Island. Our experience has also shown us that the distances to be covered require the use of motorized wheelchairs.

So we can only say goodbye.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!