Budapest, Hungary 4
Our breakfast on Day 4 was at Tortuga és Pohánka, a Mexican-Hungarian Artisan Bakery. A Mexican owner/baker and her team make natural breads and pastries in a traditional way with locally grown products and Mexican ingredients.
Their breads and pastries certainly looked different from those of the bakeries that we visited in Budapest. I picked a sweet cheese filled bun, called Pancito. I don't remember what J had but probably he had a kind of savory pastry or sandwich. We enjoyed our bread at their small cafe space upstairs.
After the quick and nice breakfast we explored Városliget, or the City Park. It's a large public park in Budapest, which was the central venue of the Hungarian millennial celebrations of 1896.
There was a lovely rose garden in front of the House of the Hungarian Millennium. About 1,500 rose trees were planted there. It was a pleasant morning to be surrounded by the beautiful roses.
We continued wandering the park. There was a wide open field. Dogs must love to run there.
The Balloon!?
We have seen the balloon several times from a distance. I hadn't thought I could come so close to it, which was always far away looking like a tiny dot. The balloon is one of the Park's attractions that offers you a ride to see the panorama view of Budapest between 9am and 8pm. It was before 9am when we were there. Two people who wore like rangers were hanging on the ropes right below the balloon and some were watching it on the ground at the moment. It might have been a kind of rescue or survival practice. At least it didn't look like a fun float.
We found Vajdahunyad Castle near the Balloon. The handsome lakeside castle was built as a part of the Hungarian millennial celebrations of 1896. To showcase the architectural evolution through centuries and styles in Hungary, the castle was designed to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Corvin Castle, alslo known as Hunyad Castle in Transylvania, the largest knight's castle in historical Hungary.
We left the City Park and headed to the city center, which was pretty far away. Clearly it was another walking day. We walked through Heroes' Square, located just outside of the Park.
The large square was also built for the 1896 millennial celebrations. The 14 statues of the national heroes at the twin colonnades include, of course, St. Stephen I of Hungary.
At the middle of the square was a huge column surrounded with statues of the seven Hungarian tribal chiefs who brought the Magyar people to the land that is today's Hungary around the late 9th century. Archangel Gabriel crowns the column because it is said that the archangel appeared to St. Stephen in a dream, and offered him the crown of Hungary.
On our way back to the city center we stopped by Hunyadi Square Market, a marketplace built in 1897. The hall was smaller compared with the Central Market Hall and only a part of the stalls were open.
Hungarian staples, such as meats and pickles were available.
Produce was being sold outside of the hall. Strawberries were in season!
By then I got very thirsty. We didn't have any drink at the breakfast bakery and I forgot to bring a bottle of water. J had a solution. He took me to Café Zsivágó.
It was a charming vintage cafe. I felt like we just time-traveled to an old world.
J had tea while I had sparkling water with homemade strawberry syrup. It was pretty hot since the morning and the cold pink soda was just what I needed.
Our next stop was Dohány Street Synagogue. Built in 1854, the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest one in the world is situated in the old Jewish quarter. The Moorish Revival style synagogue complex consists of the Great Synagogue of Budapest, the Heroes' Temple, the Cemetery, the Memorial and the Jewish Museum and Archives.
The Jewish Cemetery for the victims of the Holocaust was located in the back yard of the Heroes' Temple.
The Great Synagogue of Budapest was huge! 3,000 people can be seated. Several guides inside were telling visitors a story in several different languages for free.
The Museum was small but filled with many things that I am not familiar with...
The Raoul Wallenberg Emlékpark Memorial was found in the back courtyard. The steel weeping willow has the names of Hungarian Jewish Martyrs on its leaves for eternal remembrance.
It was time for lunch. We tried Lebanese and Levantine cuisines at Byblos Restaurant near the Synagogue.
Flat bread was served with dippings and olives. The red paste looked very spicy and J confirmed it.
We ordered three dishes to share. One was Tabouleh. I have had the Lebanese parsley salad several times and I have made one by myself. This version was ok but salty for my taste.
Shish Taouk - grilled chicken marinated with spices was tasty. The grilled little red pepper looked cute but was the most spicy pepper that J had on this trip. Maybe people in this paprika country can generally somewhat tolerate pepper heat.
And spiced lamb meatballs, a similar dish to Kofta. It was pretty good, too. Overall the lunch gave us a nice short break from a series of Hungarian meals.
We had a plan for the afternoon. The Opera House Guided Tour!
On the way to the National State Opera House we briefly saw the Jewish ghetto wall fragment, a part of the old stone wall surrounding the Jewish ghetto that was erected in November 1944. The small section of the historical wall was reconstructed in 2010 without the original barbed wire as a reminder. It was a little difficult for us to find the wall because it was hidden at the back of the courtyard of the building on a busy street with many shops, hotels and restaurants.
We arrived at the Hungarian State Opera House! The impressive Neo-Renaissance building was built between 1875 and 1884, co-funded by the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary with one condition, that it should not be larger than the Vienna State Opera House in his hometown.
The guided tour started at the lobby on the ground floor, which was decorated with Italian marbles and gilded barrel vaults.
We climbed up the grand staircase and visited the bar area. Each of the nine large paintings on the wall depicts a different sound although one was missing due to water damage. Behind the bar was the original smoking halls that opens to the outdoor terrace.
Next check point was the Royal Staircase. Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen of Hungary, nicknamed Sissi have used the steps that lead to the salons on the first floor.
Legend says Queen Sissi liked the large mirror atop the stairs because it made her look thinner.
The Bertalan Székely Parlour was the Royal couple's waiting room.
The fireplace, carved from Italian oak, was for decorative purposes only. There is no chimney behind the wall.
The Red Parlour is the guest hall of the Royal Box. The name refers to its sour cherry colored silk textiles.
The Royal Box was located at the center of the Auditorium both vertically and horizontally. The best seat for King and Queen. Today the special space is usually used to store something like cleaning kits. That's very practical.
We were able to pop in the other box seats, looking around the Auditorium. Spectacular!
Then we came down to the lowest seating section, so-called Parkett. The stage was busy with setting for the next performance.
The guided tour ended with a short (10minutes) opera performance at the grand staircase. We were seated in the first row by chance. It was thrilled to see and listen to the two singers within a couple of feet.
The outside was still full of sunshine. We checked a chocolate store near the Opera House out, in which I was interested. Ghraoui Chocolate is a chocolatier established in 1805 in Damascus, Syria. In addition to the shop in Damascus, they have two shops in UEA and one in Qatar. The shop in Budapest is the only shop outside of the Middle East, and according to the staff at the shop, Budapest is currently the center of their business.
The shop was elegant and sophisticated like a high-end boutique. Ghraoui marries "European chocolate tradition with the fragrant flavours of Damascene fruits and nuts." We both tried one. I had milk chocolate bonbon filled with pistachio. Excellent. I don't remember what J had but I remembered he made a compliment.
Just a little one piece of chocolate wasn't enough to wrap up the day, at least for me. We revisited Café Gerbeaud for a tea time.
Again their cake collection made me difficult to choose one...
Sissi tart cake won this time. The bottom part was a short crust pastry tart filled with the light, refreshing redcurrant cream and the top part was a violet-flavoured berry mousse with a pistachio dacquoise sponge in the middle. Violet was one of Queen Sissi's favorite flowers. It is said that Café Gerbeaud was her favorite pastry shop. She always visited there when she was in Budapest. Other notable figures who visited the cafe include Princess Diana and Brad Pitt. I didn't see him at that time, though.
We found one of 30 miniature statues near the cafe, Mr. Bean’s beloved Teddy. The tiny bear was mounted on the wall of the former British Embassy building, who tries to give a tiny comfort to a fractured union caused by Brexit.
To be continued...
