Revolution and Flea Markets

A memorial to the 1956 Uprising

Today is Saturday, 23 October, a national holiday here in Hungary.  Today commemorates the uprising 54 years ago in 1956 against the Soviet domination and oppression by Budapest and the Hungarian people.  For a brief while the revolution was a victory until a few weeks later the uprising was crushed by the Soviet military.  But this day is remembered each year by the Hungarians with a special memory for those who died fighting against communism and the Soviets.  Still flags are flown with holes cut in the center in the manner of the flags of 1956 when people cut out the communist symbol that had been put in the center of their flag.  It's a day of pride and a day of sadness here.

But we get ahead of ourselves.  So let's travel back one day to Friday instead of 54 years to see what we've been up to.

Friday was a bright and clear day.  We first set out for the Parliament Building, a huge complex that outdoes the Houses of Parliament in London.  Unfortunately, because of today's national holiday, the Parliament Building was closed on Friday.  So we ventured forth across the Danube to the Buda side of the river.  When we got there, we got into a funicular--one of those funny hillside vehicles that is build for a steep incline.   Our ride up was fairly quick but we rose quite a distance.

The Chain Bridge

Ceremony at the Office of the President

At the top we were rewarded with two things: First, we chanced upon a ceremonial changing of the guard in front of the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary; and second, we had a marvelous view of the Danube and Pest beyond.  Being a clear day, we could see forever it seemed.  And the Danube sparkled and shone as it flowed on its way to the Black Sea.

Szent Matyas

We then wandered over to Szent Matyas (Saint Mattias) Church, which is called the most beautiful church in Budapest.  Indeed it was stunning, inside and out, though there is some reconstruction going on so scaffolding covered parts of the exterior and some of the interior was blocked off.  The original construction of the church in the 1300s, if I remember the timing correctly, was undertaken by Matyas who was king of Hungary.   I'm not sure what he did to become a saint, but he surely built a nice church.

View from the Fishermen's Bastion

After checking out the view some more from the Fishermen's Bastion, we crammed ourselves into a small bus for a ride down to Moszkva Ter (Moscow Square--a few things still remain of the Soviet era, I guess) where we found ourselves some lunch and then came home for a while.  In the evening we enjoyed some time in a wine bar and had a marvelous meal in a restaurant behind the Opera House.  We strolled up Andrassy Ut following dinner to catch our train home.

Flea Market

This morning, Saturday, we ventured out to find a flea market that occurs in the city park each weekend.  It didn't look like we were going to find anything, thinking it was closed for the national holiday, when we virtually stumbled upon it.  At first it look pretty pathetic--a few booths with some medium interesting stuff but then we turned the corner and the size of the flea market hit us.  It seemed huge!  And this is the smaller of the two flea markets in town.  We spent about an hour strolling around the market in which practically everything you could imagine was for sale:  clothing, paintings, books, plates, glasses, trinkets, medals from the Soviet era, computer parts, even an old crank phonograph.  And it was crowded with people, all looking for bargains. 

We then wandered back across the park to the Széchenyi Baths for another warming dip.  Allen & I spent our time inside this time in the various "medicinal" thermal baths, meaning they had minerals rather than just plain warm water.  Either way, it's a wonderful feeling to soak in nicely warm water or sit in a steam room and just relax.  After all, we are on vacation!

Viszlat!