This is a blog about my trip to Budapest. We are staying with our friends, Paul and Manuella Nselel and their children, Sarah and Julian. They live in the Buda part of Pest, very close to the Castle District. We arrived in Budapest on Sunday, April 1 at 12:30 pm.
Today, Monday April 2, I woke up at 4 am. It was very dark and it was very quiet. It felt strange because I was in a new place, no one was awake and even the city was dark -- everyone was sleeping, it seemed. First I tried to fall back asleep but I couldn't. So then I tried to read but then I got hungry. My mother came downstairs and we had an early breakfast of bananas and yogurt and some cookies.
Julian and Sarah left for their school at 7:10 am. They attend the American International School of Budapest, which is about 25 minutes away from the city of Budapest, so they need to leave early.
At 9 am, we had another breakfast (I was really hungry!) and left to walk around the city in which we are staying.
We started by walking to the Castle District, about five minutes away. I learned that the major roadways in Budapest have tunnels underneath so that people can cross without getting hit by a car.
The Castle District is named that way because it is where the Royal Palace of the Hungarian kings was built. The palace was built in the 13th century by King Bela and expanded by different kings, like King Sigismund and King Matthias. From 1541 to 1686, the Ottoman empire captured Buda and converted the churches into mosques. The Austrian's Habsburgs recaptured Budapest from the Turks but the war destroyed the palaces and churches and mosques. It has been rebuilt over the years since. I saw the excavations of the medieval and ancients palaces by the Royal Palace today. I also went to the Holy Trinity Square where the Matthias Church stands. By Matthias Church there are steps that lead to the Fisherman's Bastion which had the best views of the Danube River, the Parliament and the city of Pest, which spread out to the plains beyond. I could really imagine walking on that tall castle wall and looking out over the river and the plains to see if invaders were approaching. It seemed like a good place to build a defensive fort, since it was on a hill and you had to approach it from the plains, and then cross a river and then climb the hill and then try to attack the tall walls of the castle.
KURTOSKALACS
Once we got to the Castle District, we ate a cake called kurtoskalacs. It is round and thin and shaped like a cone/paper towel. We got three: one covered in vanilla sugar, one in chocolate, and one with nuts. They were so good!!!
FUNICULAR
Next we went to see the funicular, which was close to the Royal Palace. It is a slanted train that runs up and down a hill in the Castle District, on the side of the Danube River. The Castle District is a big hill by the side of the Danube River. Because it is in Buda, there are other smaller hills around it as well, but it is the tallest and biggest one there. We walked along the top of the hill, past a Folk Craft market where they sold lots of embroidered shirts and a neat wooden gun that shot rubber bands, past the Holy Trinity Square and Matthias Church and to the Fisherman's Bastion. A market, a church, and even old cars,
but we couldn't find a place where we wanted to eat. My mother saw a lot of doors that she liked and she took pictures of them.
On the steps of the Fisherman's Bastion, (because fishermen protected that part of the wall during the Middle Ages), there was a man who was selling ceramic mouthpieces shaped like birds that you can pour water into and they make bird noises. He said they were an old Hungarian toy. My sister and I both got one (they were three euros each) and started quacking and chirping away. They didn't make any noise when they were empty and they had a different pitch depending upon how much water you poured in. We spilled a lot of water testing this out.
When we finally found a place to eat, we sat down outside and ordered lunch. It was a little windy, so we used the blankets that were on the chairs to stay warm. My siser, my mother, and Manuella all ordered soups: wild garlic cream soup, which was green because the wild garlic was the leaves called "ramps" and goulasch soup that was bright red with paprika. I ordered Wiener Schnitzel. It was good, I had been really hungry.
A picture of some ramps:
We walked out the Vienna Gate to go home, and stopped at a drugstore to buy shampoo, which we forgot to pack and vitamin c. Then we went to some open air markets to buy vegetables and fruits for dinner. I played my bird the entire time. We walked home up a long hill, making a big circle around the city of Buda. I was really tired but we worked on the journals and pictures instead of taking a nap because I didn't want to wake up at 4 am again!!!
We started by walking to the Castle District, about five minutes away. I learned that the major roadways in Budapest have tunnels underneath so that people can cross without getting hit by a car.
The Castle District is named that way because it is where the Royal Palace of the Hungarian kings was built. The palace was built in the 13th century by King Bela and expanded by different kings, like King Sigismund and King Matthias. From 1541 to 1686, the Ottoman empire captured Buda and converted the churches into mosques. The Austrian's Habsburgs recaptured Budapest from the Turks but the war destroyed the palaces and churches and mosques. It has been rebuilt over the years since. I saw the excavations of the medieval and ancients palaces by the Royal Palace today. I also went to the Holy Trinity Square where the Matthias Church stands. By Matthias Church there are steps that lead to the Fisherman's Bastion which had the best views of the Danube River, the Parliament and the city of Pest, which spread out to the plains beyond. I could really imagine walking on that tall castle wall and looking out over the river and the plains to see if invaders were approaching. It seemed like a good place to build a defensive fort, since it was on a hill and you had to approach it from the plains, and then cross a river and then climb the hill and then try to attack the tall walls of the castle.
KURTOSKALACS
FUNICULAR
Next we went to see the funicular, which was close to the Royal Palace. It is a slanted train that runs up and down a hill in the Castle District, on the side of the Danube River. The Castle District is a big hill by the side of the Danube River. Because it is in Buda, there are other smaller hills around it as well, but it is the tallest and biggest one there. We walked along the top of the hill, past a Folk Craft market where they sold lots of embroidered shirts and a neat wooden gun that shot rubber bands, past the Holy Trinity Square and Matthias Church and to the Fisherman's Bastion. A market, a church, and even old cars,
but we couldn't find a place where we wanted to eat. My mother saw a lot of doors that she liked and she took pictures of them.
On the steps of the Fisherman's Bastion, (because fishermen protected that part of the wall during the Middle Ages), there was a man who was selling ceramic mouthpieces shaped like birds that you can pour water into and they make bird noises. He said they were an old Hungarian toy. My sister and I both got one (they were three euros each) and started quacking and chirping away. They didn't make any noise when they were empty and they had a different pitch depending upon how much water you poured in. We spilled a lot of water testing this out.
A picture of some ramps:
We walked out the Vienna Gate to go home, and stopped at a drugstore to buy shampoo, which we forgot to pack and vitamin c. Then we went to some open air markets to buy vegetables and fruits for dinner. I played my bird the entire time. We walked home up a long hill, making a big circle around the city of Buda. I was really tired but we worked on the journals and pictures instead of taking a nap because I didn't want to wake up at 4 am again!!!
