Sunday 29th May

We allowed ourselves a small sleep in to compensate for the late night before and decided to go to the thermal baths to wake us up and refresh our tired tootsies. We walked up to the Széchenyi Baths and bought our tickets and found the right entrance for the respective changing rooms. It both took us awhile to figure out the locker system but we got there. The next challenge was to find where the actual baths were. We crossed paths with each other purely by chance which was lucky, but we still spent about 10 minutes going up and down the stairs of this massive building trying to find the dam pools as there were no signs in English at all! Eventually we found them, they were really cool. Like Roman style architecture with big windows and busts of people. It was built in 1918 and hasn't changed much. We counted around 13 different pools, all varying degrees of temperature. We mainly chilled out in the 38 degree pool, and Hamish snuck off for a sauna. It was really nice to relax and see how the Hungairans spent their Sunday mornings. 

We popped back to the hotel for a change in clothes and then headed out in the hot hot sun to climb one the tallest peaks in Budapest where the Liberty Statue lives - the Gellert Hill which which also has a citadel on the top. On the way up to the statue we also found the Gellert Hill Cave Church but there was a mass on so we could pop inside.

The Liberty Statue or Szabadság Szobor was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during World War II. At the time of the monument's construction, the repulsion of Nazi forces by the Soviets was considered a liberation -- leading to the original inscription upon the memorial, "Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes." Over the following years, public sentiment toward the Soviets decreased to the point of revolution, which was attempted in 1956 and subsequently damaged some portions of the monument. After the 1989 transition from Communist rule to a more democratic government, the inscription was modified to read "To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary." 

View from the top

Statue of St Gellert

We trekked up this hill in the heat (it was mid 20's by this stage) until we finally reached the top. The view was pretty awesome, especially as it was such a nice sunny day. We took some snaps and looked around before heading back down, finding the Statue of St Gellért (San Gerardo) monument and waterfall which were really cool. Feeling peckish we found ourselves a supermarket and did another little ritual for our European holidays, had a picnic on the banks of the Danube. We got ourselves some salami and cheese and rolls and tucked in. That sun was pretty amazing. 

Hamish touching the waters of the Danube.

So amazing that Lou got a weird heat rash on her legs, she chose to ignore it and we carried on to have a gawk at the parliament buildings. It sounds dull but these buildings were pretty awesome. Budapest was united from three cities in 1873 and seven years later the National Assembly resolved to establish a new Parliament Building. The architect was Imre Steindl, who said he was inspired by Parliament buildings in Westminister. Construction started in 1885, and finished in 1904, we felt sorry for the guy cos he died 5 weeks before it was finished.

We kept walking north along the river until we hit Margaret Island, which is a little island in the middle of the river where there are massive parks, fountains, sports arenas and gardens. It was a pefect Sunday afternoon and every man and his dog was out enjoying the sunshine (literally about the dogs, strange that so many people live in poverty here but so many more have pet dogs). We had a lie down in the park and watched the world go by with an ice block. Mint. Then Lou's heat rash got really really sore so we headed back to the hotel about 5pm so she could wrap cold wet towels around her legs. Not ideal. 

After about an hour the swelling had gone down and we got dressed to head into town for a quick dinner. We didn't have any plans so we kind of just wandered. We found this really great Italian place where as you walked in you got given like an eftpos card and you just went up to the kitchen and ordered whatever you wanted and then you swiped your card, you got your food and ate it and then on the way out you paid for whatever was on your card. Very advanced for Budapest I would say! The food was again really good and cheap. 

After dinner we strolled down to the river where we were booked on a night time river cruise. We got a great spot on top of the boat outside and they gave us blankets to keep us warm (it got a bit nippy when the sun went down!). There was an audio guide as well, which was really odd. The narrator was pretending to be the voice of the river…so it sounded a bit fruity and really camp. Hamish got very snap happy with the night shots, I think we ended up with about 200 shots of the bridges to choose from. It was a real highlight to see all the sights at night, especially as all the monuments were purposely lit up for night time viewing and the bridges looked mean as well. 

The new camera paying dividends.

Parliament Building

We wandered back to our hotel, vey content.

Highlight #1: The river cruise and the view from the top of Gellert Hill.
Highlight #2: The Eastern European summer!
Lowlights: The dam heat rash!
Interesting Fact: Margaret Island is named after Saint Margaret (1242–1270), the daughter of Béla IV of Hungary who lived in the Dominican convent on the island. The story goes that Bela and family were invaded and all her children were killed so she prayed to God and said that if he made the invaders go away and gave her another child then she would make her child be a nun. And look what happened.