Budapest by night.

My hosts continued to be wonderful hosts. After lunch, we drove back to Budapest and rested for a bit before heading out to see Budapest by night.

Our first stop was the Church of St. Elizabeth of the House of Arpad. Gyorgy told me the legend of St. Elizabeth–that she was taking bread to the poor in secret and her husband asked her what she had. She opened her cloak and roses tumbled out. There is a rose garden planted at the base of her statue and the square is known as the square of roses.

Our next stop was the Dohany Street Synagogue. It is the second largest synagogue in the world. The link has a lot of interesting information about it, which I will let you read on your own if you are interested.
The front.
The Holocaust memorial.
There are many squares in Budapest and each corner of the square has a building like this. They are very grand.
On this street the buildings bent to meet the street.

I enjoy their crosswalk signs because the man walking in them is wearing a suit and hat.
We then went to the Opera House.
And posed at the sphinx statue out front.
Fancy light posts outside the Opera House.
One of my favorite parts of Budapest is the random decoration on seemingly normal buildings. I have no idea how a child and two dogs were carved above the lintel, but it is a delight to come across it on a side street.
Dedicated bike lanes!
St. Stephen’s Basilica can be spied between buildings.
We approached St. Stephen’s from the rear.
The bell tower.
The frieze.
I got a nice shot of the basically as we were walking away.
Decorated man hole cover.
Wrought iron gate on the side entrance to the Four Seasons Hotel.
Sunset view from the Chain Bridge which is closed to traffic and has a festival on it on weekends during the summer. It was the first bridge to cross the Danube and unite the hills of Buda with the flatlands of Pest. Like almost everything in Budapest, it was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt.












Tata food.

I ate well in Hungary and Romania. Very well. The food there agrees with me–the vast quantities of meat and starch, served with a soup or salad, sat well on my stomach. Remembering that last time I went, the food was my favorite part, I took pictures of nearly everything I ate, much to the amusement of my traveling companions. Now I can not only tell you how good the food was, I have actual evidence.

After having ice cream and sampling a Hungarian elephant ear we went to a very nice restaurant overlooking the lake. I got a nice broth soup to start and then this arrived. It was turkey stuffed with farmer cheese and dill. It was delicious.
Ibolya got fish, which the waiter finished at the table. He was very efficient in removing the head and spine. I was impressed.
For dinner I got this “parfait” which was suggested by the waiter. I was expecting the layered dessert in a glass a la the USA, but this was a mousse-like concoction which was very, very good.

Tata.

After a very good night’s sleep, Ibolya, Barnabas and I picked up Barnabas’ friend David and we drove to Tata, which is a town where Gyorgy has his surgery. Tata is not to be confused with Tatabanya, which is a different city entirely. Although, according to Wikipidea, Tatabanya is the county seat.

Tata has three lakes (so I’m told) a castle, and the day we visited, it had the fruit and flower festival. We walked through the castle area first but we were really on the way to get on this train. Boise residents will look at the picture and think “Tour train!
Ibolya and myself posing on the tour train.
David, Barnabas and Gyorgy with the lake in the background.
And on the tour train. (We got ice cream on the way there)
The tour train took us on a loop through the town. Here is a Hungarian gate. The gates in Hungary were seriously cool, we need to adopt this art form in the US.
A church along the train route.
Typical old building.
The train went into “English Park” and I saw another of the three lakes.
He doesn’t mind having his photo taken.
The Castle and the lake.
A closer view of the castle.
Barnabas visited Portland last year for three weeks so he was pretty familar with our icons. “We have a thing that is like the elephant ear, but savory” he told me. We got one and shared it among us. It was an elephant ear, but with cheese rather than cinnamon/sugar.
Inside a building there were flower arrangements and this fetching young woman.
Me posing by the John the Baptist statue.
We saw an exhibit of bonsai trees.
And this guy who made fruit and vegetables into very cool displays.
The food looked very good. This was the second pig I saw roasting on a stick.
A bunch of traditional foods were cooked here.
Should your pickled food smile at you? I vote yes.
Barnabas was interested in getting a bow so we stopped at this booth. The bow-maker had absolutely huge hands which I tried and failed to capture.
Here is Gyorgy’s surgery. I neglected to take pictures inside. He is an orthopedic surgeon and there were signed photos of athletes and dancers who have been his patients.
Barnabas on the phone.

ps. I found this cycling tour when googling other things for this post. It sounds fabulous. You should go.