Budapest, Hungary 3

Day 3 began at a breakfast at Artizán Bakery. The local bakery opens at 7am on weekdays. Several people were already making a line to be served when we got there. 

The counter and shelf were filled with fresh pastries and loafs. In the small space more dough was being shaped. 

I chose Kakaós Csiga, literally a cocoa snail is said a most popular breakfast pastry in Hungary. Mine was with almond. It was nice and tasty. I would be so happy if this pastry was waiting for me in the morning. J had a savory pastry with onion (and something else?). Unfortunately it was a little oily and he didn't like it so much. Well, there were some savory options and he could have something else next time. 

The bakery was very close to the Liberty Square, or Szabadság tér, a park we walked through the day before. I liked the water fountain in front of the park.  

The event tents and stage from the day before were cleared up. The park was peaceful. I didn't know about the large monument in the middle at that time but I learned later that was the controversial Soviet War Memorial, dedicated to the Soviet soldiers died during the liberation of Budapest (1944-1945).

Budapest was filled with not only live-sized statues but also miniature statues. Mihály Kolodko, a Ukrainian-Hungarian sculptor created and hid 30 miniature statues throughout the city playfully. One of them was a mini Lunar Rover attached on the moon-shaped bollard on Hold street. 'Hold' means 'Moon' in Hungarian. The Apollo Lunar Rover was invented by Ferenc Pavlics, a Hungarian engineer who escaped Budapest during the 1956 Revolution, came to the United States, worked for General Motors and helped NASA. How interesting!

We revisited the Hungarian Parliament Building. In the bright morning sunshine the details of the early 20th century Gothic Revival architecture (although the dome is designed in Renaissance Revival style) looked stunning. 

At the north end of the Parliament, we passed by the Monument of István Tisza who served as Prime Minister twice, from 1903 to 1905 and from 1913 to 1917. Then we took the staircase down to the street along the Danube.

The river side of the Parliament looked impressive, too!

We stopped by the Shoes on the Danube Bank Memorial at the edge of the river bank, south of the Parliament, that marks where Hungarian jews were shot by the members of the fascist Arrow Cross.

The Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church on the north part of the Castle Hill were seen far away over the river. Visiting them was on our agenda of the day.

Before moving to the Buda side, we visited St. Stephen's Basilica. We found out the ticket shop this time and entered the church finally.

Good morning, Officer!

Decorated with gold and about 50 kinds of marbles, the interior of the Budapest's largest church was spectacular! 

The Chapel of the Holy Right holds the right hand of Stephen I, the first Christian king of Hungary, who ruled from 975 to 1038, referred also as St. Stephen, the patron saint of the basilica and Hungary itself. The mummified hand, one of the most important National relics was respectfully displayed.

We also went up to the Panorama Lookout of the basilica, the highest lookout point in Pest. It was easy because there was a lift!

The Gellért Hill over there!

The same balloon over there!

We also visited the Treasury and then went back to the church to admire the interior one more time. Normally you can enter the church only once with a ticket, but J persuaded the gate keepers to let us enter the church again and he succeeded!

It was time to cross the chain bridge and climbed the Castle Hill.

We arrived at the Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest's famous lookout on the Castle Hill. Built between 1895 and 1902 to celebrate the 1000th birthday of the Hungarian state, the Neo-Romanesque architectural style represents the early medieval times, when the first King of Hungary, Stephen I founded the state.   

He is St. Stephen I!

The Church of Our Lady, or The Matthias Church stood just right behind the Bastion. It was built in the 13th century, replacing the early 11th century Romanesque style church that was founded by King Stephen I. The name of Matthias refers to King Matthias Corvinus who remodeled and expanded the church in Gothic style in the 15th century and married there twice. The church had been a coronation church by Hungarian kings for centuries as well as a mosque of the Ottoman Turks for over 150 years.

The bright multi-color (mostly orange), diamond-pattern roof was an eye-catcher. The glazed tiles were made by Zsolnay, one of the most renowned Hungarian makers of porcelain and stoneware. The roof tiles of the Central Market Hall are also Zsolnay's, by the way.

So many people were visiting the church at that time. It was difficult to move around freely and have a moment to appreciate the beauty of the interior with colors inspired by Orientalism and Romantic historicism.  

Actually the place that I was the most interested in on the Castle Hill was Ruszwurm Confectionery, located in a few minute walk distance from the Church. Founded in 1827, Ruszwurm, one of Budapest's oldest confectionery shops, provides traditional Hungarian pastries. Although I wanted to taste their cake, both the indoor and outdoor seating areas were pretty busy. Perhaps next time. It was almost our lunch time anyway. 

It was a long walk (over an hour) to reach our lunch destination, located in Óbuda, a small town north of Buda and the oldest part of Budapest. In short, it was worth it. Kéhli Vendéglő is a traditional Hungarian restaurant, founded by the Kéhli family in the late 19th century, whose ancestors came to Óbuda from a town called Kehl near Strasbourg in the early 1700s. It's one of the rare restaurants in the area that has been in operation since its establishment until today.

The restaurant was very specious and looked charming. We were seated in the lovely courtyard at the back of the building, where the other guests were enjoying meals. 

We started with Pheasant clear soup with quail egg and Hortobágyi Palacsinta, savory stuffed crepes filled with pork meat. Both were delicious!

Then we had two main dishes to share: the keeper of the restaurant's mother, Esztike Levai's stuffed cabbage and Transylvanian steak filled with ham, bacon and mushroom with garlic-chive Tócsni, Hungarian potato pancakes. Excellent!

We also had homemade pickles as a side. Refreshing.

The lunch came with a bread basket. I liked all breads served at the restaurants during the trip. Hungary makes excellent bread. I was pretty full but I thought I could handle a dessert. Hopefully, sweet cottage cheese balls. However, J said NO...

We had more walking ahead of us. We landed on the north tip of Margaret Island, an island floating in the Danube, between Buda and Pest, and marched to the south end. The island was a greenery oasis, where you can escape from the city noises and bumping into tourists.

There was a rose garden at the middle point on the way. We stopped by there and took a break for a while. Maybe it wasn't the peak time yet but many roses were blooming beautifully.

It was pretty hot like summer. We looked for a path in shade and eventually reached the south tip of the 2.5 km (1.6 mile) long island.

Good for us! My feet felt funny, though...

J kindly found a nice cafe on our way to the hotel. While Espresso Embassy is a quality oriented coffee shop for coffee fans, they also provides tea. They made me happy when I found Sencha, Japanese green tea on the menu. When the lady at the counter told us they can make Sencha both hot and cold, I was super happy! I didn't expect to have chilled Sencha in Budapest. It tasted great. I almost ordered another glass. I think J had iced coffee. We needed to be hydrated after the extensive walk under the sun. 

To be continued...