Once again, I headed for Vorosmarty Ter. No surprises today – no public performances were being staged in the morning and the Square was deserted. People seemed to have set up their wares on Vaci ut, since the faint notes of a violin was audible. I headed for Roosevelt Ter, and for the umptieth time, to the Szechernyi Lanchid. I could have opted to take the metro to the Buda side, but my obsession with the Chain Bridge won the day, and I decided to walk across it. The day was hot but pleasant and a faint breeze was flowing across the Danube. My first destination was the Budavari Castle on the top of the hill.
The castle can be accessed either by twisted walkways, or more romantically, by a funicular railway. Two cars, Gellert and Margit, take tourists and visitors up to the gates of the Royal Palace. As the car descent upwards, you get to see a breathtaking view of the Pest side all round. On the courtyard of the palace, they were setting up some kind of stalls, completely spoiling the look of the façade. I was of two minds – whether to head into the palace and spend the next few hours immersed in the museum or head for the Fisherman’s Bastion and the Matthias Church. The possibility that today being a Sunday the church might be closed for mass, prompted me to opt for the former option. Before heading into the palace museum, I had to shop for souvenirs. The lady at the shop seemed to be excited to hear that I was from the “far away exotic land of India”. She gave me a might 20 % discount on the souvenirs. As I had vowed to Pragati, I did buy those beautiful Hungarian dolls – in fact three of them (“he is a 30+ guy who plays with dolls” she had remarked).
The palace is another grand museum – in fact it houses two. I limited myself to one of them – the Hungarian National Gallery that houses paintings by Hungarian artists. They may not be as famous as the likes of Picasso, Rembrandt or Van Gogh, but the paintings are lovely and spectacular. I spent a full three hours over there before heading towards the Fisherman’s Bastion. From up here, you can get a beautiful glimpse of the Danube with all her bridges and the sprawling view of the city stretching out on the Pest side. On the backside of the palace, the hills of Buda stretch out, packed with houses on their slope. The grand courtyard behind the castle is famous for the Matthias Well, a drinking fountain famous for its statue of a hunter and a pack of dogs. All the tourists, especially the Chinese and the Germans were going gaga over the superb panoramic view. There were a few Indians too, but most of them had an air of superiority over them and behaved like snobs, avoiding any attempt at socializing – especially the ones who were alone. The families were quite nice, and I even had lunch and a cup of coffee with a couple from Kolkata.
The claim to fame of the Matthias Church, as far as we Indians are concerned is that it is here that Salmon Khan screamed his heart out: “Agar Mile Khuda Toh, Poochhoonga blah blah blah…” in that movie. It is a beautiful gothic cathedral with huge stained glass windows (I admit I’ve got something for them). The steeple is currently under renovation, and hence one is not admitted up there. But the interior of the church is enough to captivate you. The cathedral was extremely crowded with tourists, with some insensitive bunch of people even clicking photos with flashes, in spite of usage of flash not being allowed. I was constantly changing my camera lenses to take photographs. Out of the blue, a group of Portuguese tourists (How do I know? The guide was holding a Portuguese flag to indicate to the crowd where she was standing) suddenly started singing Gregorian Chants. Their voices reverberated into multiple echoes in the vast interior of the building. Soothing and scintillating as it was, the sudden voices made me drop my camera lens! Thankfully, the floor was carpeted and my preciousss lens was not damaged.
The Hungarians are almost like us Indians. Their national sport is something they are not successful in – in this case, Soccer. The Hungarians are however quite successful in other sports (remember Krisztina Egerszegi, the Olympic medal winning swimmer in the late eighties?). The success of the greatest woman chess grandmaster, Judit Polgar, seems to have had its effect in the popularity of chess in the country. In the streets you can find people setting up chessboards, challenging passer-bys for a game of chess. It was a pleasant surprise to see the announcement that a live chess match, featuring live chessmen (now if that is deemed feminist, perhaps I should use “chesspersons”) would be held at 5:00 pm. I stayed back to watch the same. Here was a group of young men and women (some of them little boys and girls), enacting out chess matches on an enormous chessboard. It was an experience unto itself.
I had purposefully purchased only a one-way ticket for the funicular, with the intention of climbing down the hill on foot. My next stop was Gellert Hill and the Citadel on top of it. I climbed down to the chain bridge and continued further south on the Danube Promenade on the Buda side. This was a stretch I had not walked on before. The walkway is flanked by the tramway, covered by the canopy of trees. Cars whiz past the huge old gateways of the palace. Even though the palace (and even the whole city of Budapest) is a UNESCO World Heritage monument, the old gateway has fallen into disuse and is ‘decorated’ by graffiti at many places – a habit which is not restricted to India as we would like to thing.
Towering over the Danube between the Elizabeth bridge and the Liberty Bridge, Gellert Hill was a challenge. The old lady and the gentleman I met at the foot of the hill warned me that I was a strenuous half-hour climb. I smiled at them and said that I would still like to risk it. He wished me luck and I started the climb. The pathway snaked up through the shrubs and trees on the hill. A Hungarian guy had placed a game of chance on a glade in the pathway and a stupid American Tourist was trying to lose his dollars by betting. Soon I started growing tired, as by now I had been walking for 8 hours and I was hungry. I had to rest twice on the way up, but managed to reach the citadel. The statue of liberty towered tall over me. This was the highest point in the city of Budapest.
The souvenir shops had already started closing but there was still quite a crowd around. The reason was the spectacular panoramic view that the spot offered. The sun was also setting, casting its orange glow on one side of the Danube. The whole city was visible from here from one end to the other. I sat there for quite a long time, quietly contemplating the view. Soon, it was evident to me that it was time to leave. This was my last view of the City of Budapest. I got up for the last trip back.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, good night,
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.
As Pragati had remarked a few days back, it always pains to leave from anywhere, and I had finally fallen in love with this beautiful city
Reason argued that I cross the Elizabeth Bridge and take the metro from Ferenciek Tere. But a last wish to walk across the chain bridge took me to Roosevelt tere. Perhaps it was poetic justice, for my last walk in Budapest was to trace back the path me and Pragati had taken on our first day here – from Deak Ferenc Tere to the Chain Bridge.
Observation of the day (rather, the trip): The most common quote by Pragati during this trip: “Are you mad?”
Pic of the Day: “The Sleeping Woman”, a Hungarian painting that hangs in the Palace
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