Another day, another tour of Budapest. Today we ventured south in Pest to visit the Central Market Hall. Opened in 1897, it has three floors of markets, with the main floor mostly being food items for the locals.
It was a Saturday, so it was very crowded, especially in the somewhat cramped upper floor, where they are mostly selling souvenirs…mostly crap to be quite honest.
We didn’t stay very long, so we decided to head to the Buda side over the Liberty Bridge. The traffic coming into Pest was terrible! Those cars aren’t parked….they are just in a really long line, and barely moving!
This is the view from the other side of the bridge. What looks like a castle built into the side of the rock face is the Pauline Monastery. It was apparently a nice place to visit a few years back, but walking by it was all locked up and looked like it hadn’t been occupied in years.
Further up the hill is the Liberty Statue, which sits atop the Citadella (fortress), our destination on this hike.
Here is a view of Liberty Bridge from the Buda side. The bridge is gorgeous!
Before hiking up the hill we first stopped at the Cave Church, an actual church inside a cave.
This is the entrance to the church. It felt like the cave on Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland. They claim it is mostly natural, but it seemed a little too well laid out to me.
There were several sections of pews. This church was completed in 1931, only to be closed up with concrete in the 1950’s when the Communists abolished all monastic orders. You can’t even worship in a cave under Communist Russia!
After the fall of Communism in 1989, the concrete wall was demolished, and the church reopened in 1992, and the man hanging on the cross once again reigned supreme!
Saint Stephen has a prominent position inside the church, complete with the bent cross on the crown. Even the statues have the bent cross! Don’t mess with a fad!
There are several viewpoints as you make the hike up the hill. It was a perfect day so there were a lot of people out and about. Kim pointed out that the ship behind the bridge is the one we will be boarding the next day!
The Liberty Statue stands out on Gellert Hill. It was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Budapest. After the fall of Communism, the original Russian inscription honoring the Soviet assholes was removed, and a Hungarian inscription reads “To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary”. Yeah, take that Russia!
When we finally made it to the top of the hill we discovered the entire area around the statue and the Citadella was under refurbishment. I guess it has been for a few years now, with no actual evidence of progress being made. I’m curious if Cal-Trans is involved? There was a huge fence around the site, so I took this from just outside the fence-line.
Here is the Hungarian inscription, which replaced the Soviet “bullshit” one. Liberated Budapest my ass!
On the way back down the hill we had this beautiful view of Elisabeth Bridge, named after Empress Elisabeth, aka Sisi, of Vienna fame. There was quite the rainstorm brewing on the Pest side, but fortunately it was moving away from us. We went back into Pest across this bridge.
We walked along the waterfront to our hotel, getting a great view of Buda Castle.
Up next, we board our river cruise ship, take a stroll to Margaret Island, cruise along the Budapest waterfront, and get an incredible performance by a concert pianist.