Budapest Discovery 10/04/2019

27,000 steps...That's how many steps we walked during this day. We had a busy, busy day. The day began with a walking tour of Budapest and ended with a late night Danube River tour to view the city lights at night.
After breakfast we met our tour guide at St. Stephen's Basilica. We covered several historic points of interest on the Pest side of the river and then walked across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side and ascended to Castle Hill. We viewed the Bulgarian White House and the Fisherman's Bastion. At the completion of the tour we took a bus back to the Buda side and went to the Covered Market for lunch. The market is the #1 tourist attraction in Budapest.
St Stephen's Basilica is a Roman Catholic basilica in Budapest. It is named in honor of Stephen, the first King of Hungary. His mummified right hand is housed in the reliquary. It is a religious relic and is available for viewing by the public. We went to see it the next day.
While on the tour we saw the hotel that Michael Jackson stayed at while he was on a visit to Budapest. There is a tree outside the hotel where his fans were standing as Michael was waving at them. It is now a quasi religious shrine to Michael Jackson. In the park near the tree is a "padlock cage". When couples are getting married they go to this steel mesh cage and place a padlock on it and throw away the key as a symbol of their undying love for one another. After the bloom goes off that rose, you can rent a set of bolt cutters and remove the symbol.
The Chain Bridge was the first suspension bridge built. It was ahead of its time. The bridge opened in 1849, after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, becoming the first permanent bridge in the Hungarian capital. At the time, its centre span of 202 metres (663 ft) was one of the largest in the world. The lions at each of the abutments were carved in stone by the sculptor János Marschalkó [hu] and installed in 1852.^[7] They are similar in design to the bronze lions of Trafalgar Square (commissioned 1858, installed 1867).^[8] The bridge was given its current name in 1898.

The bridge's cast-iron structure was updated and strengthened in 1914. In World War II, the bridge was blown up on 18 January 1945 by the retreating Germans during the Siege of Budapest, with only the towers remaining. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1949.

The Castle Hill complex was first occupied in 1265 and was used by the reigning Kings of Buda. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times through the centuries. The most devastating destruction occurred during WW ll during the battle between the Germans and the Russians. Heavy fights and artillery fire rendered the palace into ruins. The furniture vanished, roofs and vaults collapsed, and the southern and western wings were burned out. The destruction was comparable to that of the great siege of 1686. This is considered one of the biggest disasters of Hungarian military history. It now houses the National Archives of Hungary.

There is a statute in the complex of a Hungarian Hussar, Count Andras Hadik. Early in the Seven Years' War (1756 – 1763), Hadik executed the most famous hussar action in history: when the Prussian King Frederick was marching south with his powerful armies, the Hungarian general unexpectedly swung his 5,000 force of mostly hussars around the Prussians and took their capital Berlin.

We also viewed the statue of the Turul The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a hawk or falcon in Hungarian tradition, and a national symbol of modern Hungary and Transylvania (now part of Romania). As you can see, it has been a busy day. I will try and wrap it up.

I mention we went to the Great Market Hall for lunch. It opened in 1897 and is still in use today using the same building. You can get all sorts of goods on the 3 floors in use... Fruits, vegetables ,wines, paprika, household goods and so much more.

Last, but not least we took a night time riverboat cruise on the Danube. A busy, busy day.