Budapest, Hungary 2
I picked Rákóczi Túrós Táska, sweet cottage cheese partsy with apricot jam because I read that Túró is the most popular and deeply loved cheese in Hungary. J chose Túrós Batyu, sweet cottage cheese pastry, which was like mine but without jam. Like the bakery did, Túró is commonly translated as cottage cheese although it is fresh and creamy unlike a watery, grainy, plain American cottage cheese. Túró is close to quark, German-style cream cheese.
The pastry was delightful! I loved the combination of the fresh cheese and apricot jam. The pastry dough was wonderfully buttery, crisp, flaky. I thought that Hungarian pastries were more French than German.
The city looked like still sleeping in the Sunday morning.
It was very quiet around the Central Market Hall, which was super crowded a day before.
We crossed the Liberty Bridge, or Szabadság híd, built for the Millennium World Exhibition in 1896. Our destination was the Citadella, the former fortification located upon the top of Gellért Hill.
That was Gellért Hill. It looked high. I should have had one more Túró pastry...
We climbed up a narrow path right next to the giant Art Nouveau building of Hotel Gellért, a hotel and thermal bath complex that was opened in 1918.
We were getting very close to the top of the Hill. The view was nice!
Well, we didn't know that the entire Citadella was closed currently due to reconstruction of the 170 year-old fortress. At least we were able to take a look at the symbolic monument of Liberty Statue over the fence.
There were a couple of observation platforms just below the Citadella that gave us a lovely view of the Pest and the Danube.
A balloon!
Our next destination was the Buda Castle.
We tried to stop by the 19th-century Neo-Renaissance style Garden Bazaar at the south of the Buda Castle first. However, it was still closed because vendors for the Hungarian design market, a special event of the day, were setting up their shops. We decided to come back later and headed to the Castle. Climbing the stairs was our theme of the day. Good for us!
We visited the Hungarian National Gallery that occupies four wings of the Buda Castle and spreads over four floors. The collections includes the fine artworks from renowned Hungarian painters and sculptors, from the 11th century to today. Even though I don't know any Hungarian artists, I had a great time there.
A lady choir was singing at the hall in the middle of the Gallery. It was a bonus!
The early 19th century neoclassical style building right next to the Buda Castle was Sándor Palace, the official residence of the President of Hungary. We just missed the changing of the Guards' ceremony in front of the Palace. That was ok so that we could nicely avoid being trapped among dozens of spectators.
We admired the overlooking views from the Castle Hill again before going back to the Pest side for lunch.
We almost forgot to check the Hungarian design market in the Garden Bazaar out. We walked though the vendors but none of them were our taste. At least I was glad to see the white roses at the Garden closely. They were pretty.
We crossed the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, saying bye-bye to the Buda Castle.
Our lunch place was Retek Bisztro, a restaurant that's specialized in traditional Hungarian cuisine.
The restaurant was packed! Gladly we had a reservation.
Our waiter brought us a spicy sausage canapé as an amuse-bouche as well as bread and spicy paprika paste. The canapé was smoky and tasty but pretty spicy for me. I liked the fluffy sour-dough bread while I knew I should stay away the little cup of red paste.
We both had a combo of Beef Goulash and Chicken Paprikash. Both were pretty good. Especially the presentation of the Chicken Paprikash was the most sophisticated that I have ever seen. It was served with noodles “royal” style, which looked and tasted like a cake made with Nokedli, traditional Hungarian dumplings.
We also ordered cucumber salad with sour cream and Hungarian mixed pickles from Vecsés, a small town that is located at South-East of Budapest. The cucumber was also pickled, I think. Pickled vegetables were refreshing. Our waiter kindly told us which pickled peppers were spicy. I appreciated the input very much.
We both had a dessert and chose Somlói Galuska - sponge cake with rum and raisins, vanilla cream, walnuts, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It's one of the traditional Hungarian desserts that I wanted to try during the trip. Somlói Galuska is often called Hungarian trifle. The Retek's version was the prettiest Somlói Galuska. If you google-image Somlói Galuska, you would know what I mean. Not just the appearance but also the taste was splendid. The dessert was the best part of my lunch!
It was time for afternoon walk. We came to St. Stephen's Basilica but couldn't find a ticket center. We just walked around the church and kept wandering in the city.
We looked for a quiet park to have a seat for a while. We arrived at the Liberty Square. It was supposed to be a beautiful, leafy green square, dotted with statues, but the most part of the park was being used for a kind of event, including a music concert, at that time. We managed to find a bench at a relatively peaceful spot at the edge of the park and rested a bit.
The park is famously surrounded by several architectural masterpieces, including the Hungarian National Bank, the former Hungarian State Television (MTV), and the American Embassy. That's why I found the statue of George H. W. Bush, who was the first sitting US president to visit the Hungarian capital. Later I knew the park also had the statue of Ronald Reagan to commemorate his efforts to end the Cold War and Russian control over Hungary, which I missed.
Actually Budapest was full of statues. Finding one became my pleasure.
For example, the Columbo statue with his dog on the street named after the 19th century Hungarian journalist-politician, Falk Miksa. The late American actor's name was Peter Falk. They share the same last name. Just like in Japanese, in Hungarian the last name comes first, by the way. Also, he had Hungarian ancestry.
Eventually we ended up with reaching the Hungarian Parliament Building. Impressive!
On the way back to the hotel we passed through Zrínyi Street, the street running in front of St. Stephen's Basilica again.
We met a bronze policeman patrolling on the street. He was dressed in the early 20th century uniform of with the ceremonial Zrínyi helmet. Hence he was here.
