Generally when I’m away with work I don’t have a lot of time to explore cities properly, so I find myself condensing things down so I can see as much as I can in a few hours. This usually means creating a walking tour that I can easily follow. Here’s my guide for a few hours in Budapest.
My starting point for this walk is the Szechenyi Chain Bridge on the Pest side of the Danube river.
Once across the bridge I come into Clark Adam Square where I find the funicular railway that’ll take you to the top of Castle Square. The square is named after the Scottish engineer Clark Adam who built the Chain Bridge and also the tunnel with its very ornate entrance. Clark Adam Square is the point in Hungary from which all roads are measured.
From here I take the funicular up to the castle, it’s definitely the easiest way to get up there, and at the time of writing it’s about £10 return. The funicular was first built in 1870 but was completely destroyed during World War II. It’s been totally rebuilt and opened again in 1986. There are some impressive views on the way up.
At the top is the Buda Royal Palace. This is the third palace to stand on this site, the second and grandest being built by the Hapsburgs in the Baroque style. Sadly this was destroyed during the Second World War. What we see today is a rebuild with a lot of work still going on. It’s still a very impressive building which now houses two museums.
As mentioned the complex is home to several museums including the National Gallery of Hungary and the National Library. As time was short I didn’t visit them. A little further into the complex is the famous Matyas Corvinus Fountain which depicts King Matyas leading a group of hunters with their hounds, and next to it the entrance to the Budapest History Musem.
My next stop is Holy Trinity Square. Sat in the centre of the square is the Holy Trinity Statue built in 1713 to commemorate the victims of the 1691 to 1709 plague. The column of the statue is covered with angels and topped by elements of the Holy Trinity.
Other points of interest to note in the square are the beautifully ornate Finance Building and the Old Town Hall of Buda but what dominates here is the spectacular Matthias Church. There’s been a church on this site since 1015 AD and there’s been various rebuilds and re-births to get to what we see now, and it’s quite something.
Next to the church is the romantic Fisherman’s Bastion with its white fairytale towers. Those towers have a meaning. There’s seven of them and they represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896 AD. The Bastion is named for the guild of fisherman who defended this stretch of the city walls in the Middle Ages. A lot of what we see today has been restored due to bombing during WWll.
If you have a little extra time it’s worth taking a look at Mary Magdalene Tower, the Hungarian National Archives and the Vienna Gate.
Continue down to the river where there are some amazing views of the Hungarian Parliament building.
I make my way back to the funicular railway and back down to Clark Adam Square. I cross back over the chain bridge to the Pest side of the river. Turning left I walk along the banks of the Danube until I reach the Holocaust Shoe Memorial. This moving memorial is to honour the victims of the Nazi’s secret police group, Arrow Cross. They executed Jews and others by shooting them and pushing them into the river, leaving them to drown. Before choosing who to shoot they made the victims remove their shoes. The memorial has 60 bronzed shoes in the 1940’s style which represent the shoes left behind by the victims of Arrow Cross.
Continuing along the river I come to the huge Gothic masterpiece that is the building of the Hungarian Parliament. With its white Gothic spires, red domes and 242 sculptures it dominates the east bank of the Danube.
The parliament took from 1873 to 1904 to build and I think it’s one of the most impressive buildings I’ve seen. Everywhere you look you spot little details, it’s just stunning. You can tour the inside of the building and this is something I’ll definitely do when I return to Budapest.
Literally next to the parliament is the Museum of Ethnography which carries a large and diverse collection of more than 200,000 ethnography artifacts. The museum was originally built for the Department of Justice in the 1800’s as a Supreme Court.
I’m now heading towards Saint Stephen’s Basilica but there’s a couple of stops I want to make first. Freedom Square being the first one. The square is named after the freedom fighters who were executed here in the 1840’s and was originally a military barracks. What I’m here to see is the Soviet Monument dedicated to the Red Army troops who liberated Hungary from the Nazis at the end of WWll. The monument is quite a rare sight as most of the communist era statues were moved out of town to Memento Park when Hungary became a democracy in 1989.
My second stop is a brief one and a bit of fun. The bronze Fat Policeman statue is a good luck statue added to Zrinyi Street in 2008. Apparently the exaggerated large belly is meant to show how hearty Hungarian food is. You can rub it for good luck and as you can see, many people do.
A little further on and the street opens up to a large square and the stunning Saint Stephen’s Basilica. The two towers and large dome dominate the square. The church is named after Stephen, the first King of Hungary – 975 – 1038. You can see his mummified fist which is kept in the reliquary. Construction of the church started in 1851 and was finished around 50 years later.
This is where my walk ends. I hope I’ve shown you that even with just a few hours you can still see a lot of the highlights that Budapest has to offer. I’ll definitely be back to explore this city some more.
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