From Budapest to Bratislava

On Sunday we observed a day of rest, spending all day by the lake, swimming, reading, chilling, resting the sore knees.

Good bye, Balaton!

Unbeknownst to us, it was St. Stephenˋs Day, celebrating the foundation of the Hungarian state more than 1000 years ago. We only wondered about the fireworks going off all around the lake at night. 

And then we were off to see the capital of Hungary, Budapest!

As per usual in the capital cities, my human first went on a walking tour around the center, learning about the history of the city and the country.

In 1849, the first permanent bridge across the Danube was opened and advanced the unification of the independent cities Buda and Pest until they were finally united in 1873.

The Chain Bridge, first to span the Danube

Buda is the hilly part of the city, offering amazing view of the Pest side across the river.

First and foremost of the view points is the Fishermenˋs Bastion. Although it looks old, like almost everything in the city, it is not. Budapest was largely destroyed, around 80% of all buildings, in the Second World War. 

Matthias Church on Castle Hill (where there is no castle), consecrated in 1015; remember me telling you about Szolany ceramics? Here you go!

Therefore most of what you see today is "neo" something or other, neo-classical, neo-gothic, etc.

Sisi and "The little pincess", thatˋs actually the name of the statue

Art mirrors reality; look at the background of the right picture

First called the "Budapest Eye", they had to drop the "eye" part for obvious reasons. Real estate prices on the square dropped rapidly, due to great views into peopleˋs living rooms.

St. Stephenˋs Basilica

Freedom Square, lotˋs of controversial artwork here

More Szolany, the Great Market Hall

Freedom Bridge

Heroˋs Square, currently awaiting the winning heroes of the road races

Cafe New York, in case you crave bad service and a cappuccino for 12€!

The Opera

The most impressive piece of architecture to her by far was the Parliament Building. Since itˋs completion in 1902 it has been the largest building in Hungary. 
No less than 40 Million bricks and 40 kg of gold were used in its construction. 

The Dohany Street Synagogue, the fourth largest in the world and the largest in Europe, serves as a reminder to the large Jewish community that lived in Hungary before WWII.

Around 825.000 Jews lived in the country, of which 565.000 were murdered during the war.

Not sure what it is but Iˋm sure it has significance

Margaret Island serves as one of the cityˋs green lungs, besides Varosliget, the "City Forest", and various smaller parks and green spaces.

The island stretches over 2,5 km and sits in the middle of the Danube. Itˋs a great place to go for a walk or run, hang out in the sun, have a drink.

Margaret Island

Ruins of a 13th Century convent

Lions are all around Budapest; this one weighs 2,8 tons and is made of 850.000 lego bricks

The top of the Museum of Ethnology

Right now, the Athletics World Championships are happening in Budapest as well.

And although my human isnˋt all that much into athletics, it would have been a shame to pass up on the opportunity to see some of the worldˋs top athletes in action.

There are a couple of fan zones in the city and advertising is everywhere. Itˋs all very well organized, from the cute Racka sheep mascot to public transport and little cardboard fans they hand out in the stadium.

Steeplechase finale of the men

The atmosphere was excellent, people from all around the world seemed to be in the arena and everyone was cheered on.
At times, it was hard to follow the individual events because at most there were three going on at the same time, the high jump final, the discuss final and the hurdle semi-finals.

After two full on - and very hot- days in Budapest, we had a look around Szentendre, 25 km away but technically belonging to Pest, and Visegrad, and then spent the afternoon relaxing at the "Danube Knee", where the river bends at a 90-degree angle. 

Szentendre, a very "instagrammable" town

The Castle of Visegrad

Here we found a nice shady spot under some trees, literally 5 meters from the water in the village of Dömos.

And because it was such a great spot, we decided to stay an extra day.
My human went on a hiking excursion for a few hours to get an aerial view of the river bend from the "Preacherˋs seat".

Through the Ram canyon up to ...

... the Preacherˋs seat. Nice view of the Danube bend

In the early morning, we drove to Esztergom, the former capital of Hungary, until Budapest took over in 1361. Here we just wanted to take a quick look at the Basilica, which is the largest church in the country and the 18th largest in the world.

Then we drove across a bridge and by doing so across the border as well - back in Slovakia!

Since we hadnˋt seen the capital on the first round here, we were now headed for Bratislava.

Compared to the 1.7 million inhabitants of Budapest, Bratislava is rather small with itˋs 475.000 people. Although the unoffical number lies around 660.000. Bratislava is the seat of the Parliament, the Executive and of course the President.

The Presidential Palace

The center is off limits to cars, which makes for nice walking (if you have legs, that is).

The St. Elisabeth Church is an eye-catcher for sure, it is dubbed as Blue Church or Smurf Church. One can see why. 

No less than eleven kings and queens were coronated in St. Martinˋs Cathedral. Itˋs spire is topped by a gold-plated crown, which measures 1 meter in diameter. It contains 8 kg of gold!

The Castle doesnˋt look too much like one, rather like a very large boarding school. A nice one, of course. 

The original stood here since the 9th Century but was largely burned down in the early 19th Century. What was left was then destroyed in the Second World War and so the current building was only finished in 1968.
It still is the townˋs greatest landmark and affords some good views.

Up on a hill, just like the castle, stands "Slavin", a memorial and military cemetary. It is the burial ground of thousands of Soviet Army soldiers who fell during WWII. 

It was a very hot day and after a few hours of sightseeing a big ice cream in the shade sounded just right to my human. While looking for a suitable place, she saw this:

Minimum spending 13€? Well, easy done with those prices.

Needless to say, this is not where she enjoyed her ice cream!