Big Red Bus in Budapest

Budapest, Hungary

Hero's Square, part of Varosliget (City Park) a large central park in the city.
The monument celebrated the victorious Magyar Chiefs 

Stupidly, we allowed only one extra day in Budapest, so we had a choice of either seeing one or two things up close and personal or lots, on the back of a big red bus.  As the bus also involved no walking, that’s the option we chose…as you do.  We did the red line, the yellow line and the blue line – a couple of city bus tours then a cruise along a section of the Danube. 

The Hungary we saw from our Austrian train was vast open flatlands, most farmed with a few forested areas and rural villages set into the mix for good measure.  Its history involves lots of evolution under Romans, Magyars, Mongols, Ottoman Turks (143 years) and Habsburgs (Austria).  More recently, it was under communist control for 40 years but has since joined the EU (2004).  The Cap’n observed it to be good tank territory, so that's worth sharing. And about as much modern history as you'll get from me.

Budapest of the here and now, is a truly vibrant city and one that seems to have an eclectic mix of people, architecture, dress and outlook on life. Rather than ramble on, here are a selection of photos of Budapest as we saw it – from the back of a big Red Bus. 

Castle Hill & the exotic Fishermen's Fortress

I'm guessing this is the ING Building?

 

Sculpture under construction in Petofi Ter...hmmm

Another quirky bronze on the pedestrian walk
along the Danube dock area 

Erzebet Ter (Elizabeth Square) - a peoples' park

Interesting architecture.  Many of the buidings are "Secessionist", or Austrian Baroque 

Freedom Bridge

The Parliament Building from the Pest side of the Danube

(The Hungarian language is somewhat challenging.  It is quite different from any other in the region, with perhaps the closest connection to Finnish, so we were told.  Therefore our language skills, coupled with maps in Hungarian only, did not evolve on any level.  This is probably quite obvious.)