Budapest – More Photos
Statue Park – after kicking out the Russians, rather than melting down all their hated statues, in 1991, the City fathers decided to create a park for all of them. Below Ann at the entrance.
This is the missing statue from the plinth of the Liberation Monument as shown in the previous page.
This is the metal Bela Kun Memorial. It reminded me of a cartoon cut-out, blown up out of all proportion.
There was one incident that happened on our first full day which did sour our memories of Budapest. We bought a Carnet of tickets at the kiosk to use on the metro. We turned round to see where to validate them, couldn’t see any machine (It was outside the station, but we couldn’t see it) so went down to the platform. Again no machine, so when a metro came, we assumed that the validation machine was in the carriage (same as on the buses), but again no such machine. When we got out of the carriage, thinking that maybe you validate tickets on exit, we were pounced on by a group of ticket inspectors, who forcefully demanded a fine. Even though we could show that we had paid for a whole group of tickets, it was in the rules that we had to be fined & they were not interested in listening to us. This mindless, bureaucratic attitude is a legacy of the Communist regime.
The Castle is really a large Royal Palace rather than castle. Yet another Hapsburg palace totally destroyed in WWII & rebuilt since.
Below, me posing. We were pestered here by someone offering his services as a guide. He obviously didn’t realise that by annoying tourists, he was not going to get any business.
The Castle area. I thought all these medieval-looking houses looked well-preserved. The area was flattened in WWII & everything rebuilt since. Even if they are modern, they are still very charming.
The Chain Bridge from our hotel. A short holiday that left us with mixed feelings about the city.
