All Saints Day In Budapest

Yesterday, after wandering around on Budapest’s well known Andrássy Ave near the famous Hungarian State Opera House, we went to Gellert Hill, a 235 m high hill on the Buda side of the Danube.  We had planned to hike up and take in the spectacular views we had read about, but when we got there I realized I had forgotten to put the memory card back in the camera after offloading pictures the night before!  Since it didn’t make sense to climb up and not take pictures, we decided to come back today, camera and memory card in hand…

Instead of climbing Gellert hill yesterday, we rode various trams around the city to have a quick look around all of town.  Since it was Halloween, we expected to see festivities taking place, but only found two people wearing costumes the entire day! Our hopes of a wacky and fun Halloween in Europe were crushed and we headed back to the hotel at night, where I looked it up and learned that Halloween is not celebrated in Hungary, but All Saints Day, today, is.  Unfortunately, that didn’t mean there was anything special happening, just more places were closed!

Today we began at the ferry docks, where we tried to catch the local ferry to Margaret Island as a cheap way to cruise up the Danube.  Unfortunately, Paul’s reluctance to wake up meant we got to the docks just in time to miss the ferry, which runs very infrequently now that it’s November and the tourist season is over.  In a desperate attempt to catch up to the ferry boat we had just seen pull away, we hopped on a tram that runs along the river bank and rode to the next ferry port, hoping to make it there before the boat did.   Amazingly enough, it worked, but when the boat we were chasing pulled up and unloaded its passengers, we realized it wasn’t a ferry boat, it was some kind of private charter!  Just to double check, we waited until everyone got off then asked the ship hand if they went to Margaret Island.  The guy said “sure, you can come with us” so we asked how much it was and he said “it’s free because we just need to go there to dock.”  We happily jumped on board and, although they didn’t actually dock at Margaret Island (they docked on the Pest side near it and gave us directions to walk to Margaret Island from there), we were super grateful to get a free boat ride up the Danube because we got great views of everything.  I wish all people could be that nice!

Instead of walking to the Island (which I had read doesn’t have much but is worth going to just to cruise the Danube), we hopped on a tram to go back to Gellert Hill.  The hike up the hill actually wasn’t too hard because it’s mostly a sloped path, not stairs, and the view from the top was definitely worth the 30 minute climb.  Apart from the view, there is a nice Szabadság Szobor or Liberty Statue at the top that was erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from the Nazi forces during World War II.  At the time, the success of the Soviet army was considered liberation, but over the years of communist rule public sentiment towards the “Russian heroes” would become bitter and the monument was actually damaged during the revolution in 1956.  Today, the monument is considered a remembrance to “all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary.”

We finished our day by walking across the Erzsébet Bridge, the second newest bridge in Budapest, and riding the tram along the river bank on the Pest side to take some night shots of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, which looks stunning when its lights come on after it gets dark.  Unfortunately today was colder than the past few days we’ve been here, so we headed back to our hotel early, not wanting to walk around in the cold anymore.  I can’t say I’m a fan of the winter weather, but at least there’s no snow!