A Sunday in Budapest

After breakfast in Honey, just around the corner from the apartment, we went to Mass in St Stephen's Basilica. I took a couple of photos before the service started but the church was so beautiful we resolved to go back tomorrow for a proper look around.

Afterwards we had a drink in the Basilica bar, where the friendly waiter remembered us from Friday evening. We then walked north along Hercegprímás u., lined mostly with elegant buildings. I was especially taken with one, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), on the corner with Bank u. Designed by architect Ignác Alpár and built between 1902–1905, this neo-baroque palace has served as the bank’s headquarters since it was founded in 2024.

North of here we came to the Light Art Museum. The current exhibition was More Than Human, with a focus on environmental issues and climate change. While not every exhibit grabbed us, plenty of them did and we had a great time watching the videos and installations, and photographing our favourites.

When we left it was already after 1.00. We started to walk towards the river, stopping in Szabadsag ter (Liberty Square) to take photos of the Soviet War Memorial which commemorates the Red Army’s liberation of Hungary from Nazi occupation, and some of the beautiful buildings around the square (including the US Embassy). There was a small café in the centre of the park and we secured a table in the sun for cold drinks and some people (and dog!) watching. While sunny it was quite a bit fresher than yesterday, with a sharp wind.

We continued down to the Danube, arriving just by the Parliament building. I'd left it too late to book one of the very popular tours of the interior but we were happy just to get photos of the exterior and of the nearby Palace of Justice.

South of the Parliament building were some interesting statues, including a traditional equestrian one of Count Gyula Andrássy, a Hungarian Prime Minister (1867–1871). This is a replica of the original which was destroyed by the Communist authorities in 1945. The stone plinth is decorated with bronze reliefs, including scenes of the coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. Nearby is a more modern monument to Attila József, a renowned twentieth century Hungarian poet.

We followed the river bank south to reach the very moving Shoes on the Holocaust memorial. This was installed in 2005 to remember victims shot by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. It features 60 pairs of rusty, cast-iron shoes, representing the victims who were forced to remove their footwear before being killed. My photos show it devoid of other visitors. In truth however it was very busy here with both tourists and locals out enjoying the spring sunshine. I would rather, perhaps, have visited on a quieter day.

Further still and we came to a man selling tickets for river cruises. This was something we’d considered doing and it seemed a good way of enjoying the sights while getting out of the strong wind that was blowing today. We bought our tickets for the 15.00 sailing, which would be in twenty minutes’ time. We were then told the boat was moored on the far side of the Chain Bridge about 300 metres along. That proved a bit of an optimistic statement as it seemed significantly further as we hurried along the cobbled path to make the departure time. We arrived with five minutes to spare and secured good seats inside near the front.

The ride was relaxing and the commentary interesting. It was hard to take photos through the window, so I went up on deck a few times to do that. The Parliament building can only really be properly appreciated (and photographed) from the river or from Buda. But for the most part I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Once we returned to our starting point we walked back to Deak Ference via Vorosmarty ter with its statue of the poet Mihaly Vorosmart.

Before going back to the apartment we checked and booked a restaurant for this evening. Our choice was Parasztkonyha, a more traditional restaurant than those we had eaten in up to now on the trip. It was very cosy inside, which was welcome on this chilly evening. The food (we both had soup followed by paprika chicken) was tasty though portions were far too large, and the service was very friendly.