I slept better last night with the help of my Senheiser in-canal earphone which acts as a pretty good ear plug. The roomies had an early morning and when I woke up they already cleared the room. After breakfast, I went to Szent István-bazilika (St. Stephen Church) by bus No. 15. I alighted somewhere near the church and after some searching and navigating using the map, I found it. Hmmm I think I'm getting better at reading maps now.
Szent István-bazilika is Budapest's largest church. It's landmark dome can be seen from all over the city, was built in Classical style between 1851 and 1905. Inside is the Hungarians' most revered relic – the mummified right hand of Hungary’s first monarch, King Saint Stephen, who brought Christianity to Hungary and founded the Hungarian state in 1000. It's free to enter the church. The interior of the church is really great and impressive. The artwork on the walls and the dome just blew me away. It reminds me of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. All these grand churches have really great and detailed carvings / drawing on the dome and the walls are mostly in gold. 金碧辉煌. The christian songs that were played really adds to the mood and feeling. The center of the church where they set the benches were off limits to the tourist. In a side room I saw the miracle mummified right hand of King Stephen. After that, I paid 500Ft to go up to the Bazilika's dome / cupola. You can either choose to take the elevator or climb up the stairs on foot. The cupola offers a great view of the Pest side and you can also see the Buda side landmarks from a very diferent point of view. It's worth going up on a good clear day.
Next, I went to Vaci Utca, the famous pedestrian street in Budapest. It's a pedestrian street with a variety of restaurants, cafes, fashion outlets targeting at tourists and the rich & famous. The street starts from Vörösmarty Square, where it is pedestrianised and leads to the Great Market Hall (Nagycsamok) near Fővám Tér. However, even if you are just window shopping you'd still have to walk down this street at least once. The starting point, Vorosmarty Square is also where the legendary GERBEAUD is located. Gerbaud cafe is one of the largest, most traditional, and most famous café-confectioneries in Europe. The cafe was established by Henrik Kugler in 1858 and expanded by its later owner, Emil Gerbeaud, and by 1990 was already world-famous. Here, directly on the busy Vörösmarty Square, the motto of the Gerbaud cafe is "to see and to be seen".
I took a sneak peek inside the cafe but didn't sit down to have coffee. However, I did tried their Gerbaud ice cream which is pretty good. I especially love the deliciuos and crunchy ice cream cone. The single scoop ice cream here cost 220Ft but at other places you can get it for 130Ft. That's branding :p A stroll along Vaci Utca brought me to the JEGBUFE cafe which only has tall tables but with no chairs. I bought a 3-layered cake, the top layer is fruits; second layer is black in color (might be poppy seed or coconut dipped in brown sugar?) and the bottom layer is coconut. When I pointed to the cake to the lady at the counter, she gave me a thumbs up... does that means that I accidentally made a good choice? Anyway, the cake is best eaten 3 layers together as the slight sourness of the fruits blends perfect with the sweet coconut.
After my cake, I went searching for the green-rooftop building I saw from afar. Its the Iparmuveszeti Museum and its rooftop makes it stands out from the other buildings. After some photo shots, I stroll along Raday Utca, another street also lined with restaurants and cafes. I think I prefer Raday utca to Vaci utca as currently there are just too many roadworks and construction at Vaci utca. Raday utca is more laid back with slightly lesser tourists. Taking a tram to Oktogon station, I come to this huge intersection junction. I then change to the Orange metro line to Hosok Tere station where the Heroes Square is at. It is surrounded by two important buildings, Museum of Fine Arts on the left and Palace of Art (or Art Exhibition Museum) on the right. The central site of the square is the Millennium Memorial (also known as Millennium Monument or Millenary Monument) with statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history. Besides that, there is a huge park, zoo, amusement park and circus situated nearby.
A huge yellow building caught my eyes and I realised that was the famous Szechenyi Medicinal Bath (Széchenyi-gyógyfürdő). It is the largest medicinal bath in Europe (with a total of 15 pools) offering a sizable sun bathing area, which surrounds 3 pools of different temperatures. The temperature ranges from 27ºC/80.6ºF to 34ºC/93ºF with the hottest 38ºC/100.4ºF. Winter or summer, chess is played in the shallow waters of the 34ºC/93ºF water of one of the pools. Too bad this time around I could try any of the thermal bath due to 'time of the month'... one thing about female travellers is this monthly issue which could hinder you from some activities. Never mind, I shall come and conquer the baths next time.
Its still pretty early when I finish strolling at the garden. So I decided to head back to town and grab some dinner before coming back to the Heroes Square for some night scenes. I went back to Raday utca searching for a restaurant recomended in the lonely planet guide book. I found the place but too bad it's not open. So I went walking around and didn't know what to eat. In the end, I bought Burger King's Angry Whopper Meal and head back to the park next to Heores Square. The whopper meal cost about GBP4 (SGD12) almost double the price in SG. But the burger is also almost double in size. Sitting at a bench in the park with a beautiful lake in front of me, eating the burger, it's pretty good but a little lonely...
At 8pm the Millennium Memorial lit up. The Szepmuveszeti Museum on the left of the square is hosting some official proceedings tonight. Buses ferrying diplomatic guests from various countries arrived one after another. I saw a representative from Japan. After standing and watching for a while, I went off to shoot the monument. Got some pretty nice shots, satisfied and head back to the hostel. Yes, tonight I own the room to myself again. No more orchestra... yippie !!!
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