We’re back. Sort of. Shortly after returning we came down with the flu. Nasty stuff. It wiped us out and we are still suffering the after-effects: Brain fog. But there’s more, a type of lethargy. I gave it a Hawaiian name, lac-a-wanna. Each morning I sit down to whip out a blog, it strikes. I snuggle down into my comfy chair for a nap. Peggy has a solution. “Just post some photos, Curt.” Okay. Waterfalls always work. We visited two: Rainbow Falls in Hilo and Akaka Falls just north of Hilo. But first, this…
We came across this sign just outside of Akaka Falls State Park. For a mere $20, we could cuddle a cow. Woohoo! Who could resist cuddling Elsie? Step aside kittens and puppies.Turns out, the farm is run by the Hare Krishna Cult. Remember when the members used to march through airports in their Indian clothes, chanting and soliciting funds? At least here, they were giving you something in return, assuming cow cuddling is your thing. The Krishna folks even have a sense of humor about it. You can buy a t-shirt. Or…A comfy cow cuddle pillow. In case your are wondering, Peggy and I passed on the opportunity to shell out $40 between us for the privilege. But back to the falls starting with Rainbow Falls in Hilo.We’ll start with a photo of the falls photographed through a spider web since it seems to reflect the state of our mind right now, fuzzy.The twin falls of the Wailuku River plunge about 80 feet. The large cave behind it, hidden in the shadows, is said to be the home of the Hawaiian Goddess, Hina, mother of the God Maui.An upper view of the falls. The falls were given their nickname because you can often see rainbows in the falls on sunny days. We didn’t, and believe me, Peggy was looking. She loves rainbows.There was also unique flora such as this leaf that was about to open.We thought it might resemble the leaf to the right of it.The size of the leaves in Hawaii always blows my mind. As do the number of vines that find their way up almost every tree. In addition to flora, there is interesting fauna. The Rainbow Falls cave was the perfect sanctuary for Hina in ancient times, except for a giant lizard or mo’o named Kuna, who would hassle Hina by throwing boulders and logs over the falls when the river flooded. Hina was safe in her cave, however, until one day Kuna blocked the river with thoughts of drowning her. Hina called desperately for her son Maui, who heard her plea and rushed over to save her. First, he knocked the huge boulder aside that was blocking the river and then he went in hot pursuit after Kuna, eventually catching the giant lizard and pounding him with his mighty club. Thus ended Kuna and the story, except…When we got back to our car to drive back to our home from Rainbow falls, Kuna’s small cousin, Little Mo’o had taken over the hood of our car and refused to budge. “Aha, Little Mo’o, I told him, let’s see how well you hold on when Peggy is driving 60 MPH down the highway!”Little Mo’o was still perched on the hood when we arrived home! He had hardly moved. How it had managed to hold on was totally beyond us. Akaka Falls, north of Hilo, is 442 feet tall.Unfortunately, heavy vegetation didn’t let us see the bottom of the falls. There was a fence on the edge that I could have perched precariously on and possibly got a shot, but I had visions of making it to my 82nd birthday, which was three weeks away.We satisfied ourselves with taking pictures of the top of the falls.Close-ups.And the attractive Hawaiian vegetation.Including bananas. That’s it for the day. I’ve earned my nap. Next up will either be more of Hawaii or we will be back on the Danube River.
A view of Croatian countryside from the Danube River.
Our journey down the Danube River from Kalocsa, Hungary on October 1st took us to Vukovar, Croatia and on to Novi Sad, Serbia. Since I felt like I was coming down with a cold, I skipped the trip into Vukovar and will be focusing on Novi Sad today. Peggy did make the trip, however, and told me the guide devoted much of his attention to the bloody conflict that had taken place during the 1990s Yugoslav Wars. The peaceful countryside above is my counterpoint to that conflict. The tragic war that tore up the region was yet one more example of what happens when people focus on what divides rather than what unites, and clever, unprincipled politicians exploit differences to gain power rather than focus on common interests to solve problems. Unfortunately, our ancient tribal instincts make fomenting disunity much easier than creating unity. But a guy can dream, can’t he…
Maybe if we all just ate more chocolate. Grin. It doesn’t care what your political, ethnic, religious, economic , or other tribe is. I almost lost Peggy at this store in Novi Sad.Or maybe if we spent more time listening to music and going for quiet walks in the countryside. We stopped in Novi Sad to enjoy an old musician play Serbian folk songs on his gusle, a traditional Balkan instrument.A mural in Novi Sad showed musicians (with one enormous rooster crowing along) performing in a rural village. The painting made me think of Grandma Moses. The musician also entertained us with his frula, a traditional Serbian flute.Just down the street, a young Japanese woman entertained us with popular Western songs utilizing the latest in technology. The old Serb man and the young Japanese woman represented two incredibly different worlds connected by music.The huge Petrovaradin Fortress was our first view on coming into Novi Sad, a bit ironic given my comments on peace. I’m sure others would use the word ‘realistic.’ The Fort dates all the way back to the 1600s and has miles of tunnels running under it.A pair of eyes were staring down at us at a restaurant near the fort.This clock tower at the end of the fort had an interesting twist: The minute hand was short and the hour hand was long. Our guide explained that the switch was made because sailors and fisherman using the Danube were much more concerned about the hour and needed to see it from a distance. The clock is nicknamed the “drunk clock” by some because it’s slow when the weather is cold and fast when the temperature is hot. One of our first views on docking in Novi Sad was this old apartment building. Its hodgepodge of colors caught our attention but not nearly as much as the mural on the end of the building…Nice kitty.Our walking tour of Novi Sad took us through its attractive old town featuring modern shops. Most shops were advertised in English as well as Serbian.My weakness, old style lamps.Mercury, the Roman God of commerce, travel and trickery, can be see running on top of a commercial building from this back road that included a number of restaurants.Also along the street (which I think I read was the oldest road in the city) was a kissy fishy mural where the fish were swimming around in a girl’s hair that she was blow drying.I thought this lamp situated on the side of a building in obvious need of attention made an interesting photo.Back on the Main Street, balloons were being sold. Choices ranged from cats and dogs, to a pink pig, to ponies, to chipmunks, a baby Yoda and more— topped off by marauding sharks.As always on our tours, there were major city buildings to explore. This was the Bishop’s Palace of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Backa. An eparchy is the equivalent of a Catholic diocese and the bishop is an eparch, in case you were curious. The Cathedral Church of the Holy Great-Martyr George looms behind the Bishop’s Palace. The American Orthodox Church knows him as the Greatmartyr, Victory- Bearer, and Wonderworker George. Either way, George lost his head and gained sainthood.We went inside the church. A whole wall was dedicated to 33 paintings of various saints and other religious icons important to the Serbian people. Such a wall, known as an iconostasis, is common in orthodox churches.The Name of Mary Catholic Church is a couple of blocks away, dominating Liberty Square.Looking up at the church.A side view of the church with its red and green roof. We liked it.Inside the church, looking toward the altar.Novi Sad’s attractive City Hall stood just opposite the Name of Mary Catholic Church across Liberty Square. A surprisingly few people occupied the Square. That was about to change.
One month to the day after we visited Novi Sad, the new canopy of the city’s railway station collapsed killing 15 people and seriously injuring 3 others. Sloppy workmanship seemed to be the cause. A student led coalition demanded details and wanted the people who did it held responsible. Combined with a growing concern over the repressive tactics of the country’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, a series of nationwide protests involving 10s of thousands of people with support ranging from judges to farmers to medical workers to civil engineers to arts groups and more has been going on since. Several cars have been driven into the protesters, while masked men carrying baseball bats have attacked others.
Liberty Square has been one of the centers of protest. I doubt that we would have been touring the city had we arrived on November 1 or any day since.High school students hold a protest filling Liberty Square. In opposing student participation in the protests, a high ranking member of Aleksandar Vucic’s political party stated that students were a property of the state until they reached their age of majority (18). You can imagine how that went over. (Balkan news photo)
And now on to our next post: It’s back to Hawaii and volcanoes. KC of Seaview, Hawaii (shown here with her Chihuahua Pomeranian (Reni Roo) and me), watched as lava shot 300 feet into the air in 2018 from nearby Fissure 8 and wondered if the house she was building would soon be buried under lava. Our next post will focus on the 2018 volcanic eruption on the Big Island of Hawaii plus other worries that Hawaiians occasionally face: Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and floods. Hey, let’s party. Life’s short. I’ll drink to that (especially a week from today when I turn 82).
Peggy and I have been to a number of botanical gardens over the years. They have all been special, each offering something unique. The Hawaii Botanical Tropical Garden we visited two weeks ago is one of the best. Every few feet we screeched to a halt to admire yet another plant. Beautiful flowers, out of this world leaves, unique trees, vines galore, waterfalls and even an ancient Hawaiian God— the garden has it all. Today we are bringing the best of what we saw to you with minimal commentary. Happy Valentine’s Day. (Say it with flowers. Grin.)
In the middle of large leaves, a single flower.It didn’t matter where we looked. There was beauty. And green.Pretty enough to eat. Grin.A bit strange.Striking.Looking up.Varieties of orchids from throughout the world were in the dozens.Elephant like?Did you know that there are between 25 and 30,000 varieties in the world?They come in many colors…And shapes.This is only a portion of the ones we photographed.As I noted, everywhere we turned, there was something interesting to photograph.Half of the time, what we saw was new to us.This flower made Peggy hungry for corn on the cob.There was a small multi-tiered waterfall.Quiet pools.Green, moss-covered rocks.And KU, a major Hawaiian God. (There will be more on KU when we do a post on the ancient Hawaiians.)Bamboo shaded KU.Leaves and vines were hanging everywhere, in profusion.Palm trees and fronds are a natural for the tropical garden.Leaves were almost as varied as the flowers.Green, yes. But not necessarily in a form we are used to. We thought the contrast created by the shadows was dramatic.Similar. And yet…Pin stripes?Not green.Likewise.A gecko caught Peggy’s attention. The Hawaiians call it Mo’o.Spider webs caught mine.We will close with a few more flowers. Some of them were even familiar to us. Note the ‘some’ word.Like this one.Orange and white.Red.Great buds, assuming they belong together.Pretty in pink.Look at me!Another old friend.And another.And this red beauty for Valentine’s Day to close our post.
I just counted the photos that Peggy and I included in today’s blog. It struck me that we could have probably turned this into a month’s worth of posts doing one everyday. Or a small book. I hope it downloads. But we have so darned many things to blog about. Tough, I know. Our next post will find us floating down the Danube River again…
Meet Draco Aethiopicus. Ulisse Aldrovandi chose to include him in his 1640 book Serpentum et Draconium Historiae, a natural history of snakes and dragons. I think Draco looks pretty good, considering the age of the book. It’s one of 130,000 volumes found in the Cathedral Library of Kalocsa. Started in medieval times, most of the books were lost during the 150 year Turkish occupation of Hungary. Efforts to rebuild the library collection were initiated in the 1700s. The content of the books, in addition to religious materials, include medical, judicial, scientific and historical works.
One of the sources for Aldrovandi’s book was Claudius Aelianus (175 – 235 CE), a Roman author who wrote 17 books on the nature of animals. He, in turn, relied upon earlier accounts. Here’s the translation of what he said about Draco: “The land of Aithiopia (Ethiopia)–the place where the gods bathe, celebrated by Homer under the name of Okeanos (Oceanus), is an excellent and desirable neighbour–this land, I say, is the mother of the very largest Drakones (Dragon-Serpents). For, you must know, they attain to a length of one hundred and eighty feet, and they are not called by the name of any species, but people say that they kill elephants, and these Drakones rival the longest-lived animals.” Works for me. Except I like elephants.
Peggy and I wandered around enjoying the collection and the illustrations on display.
An early edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematic.A scenic anatomy lesson. My first thought was Biblical where the really old dudes got really young wives. Several of them— not counting concubines. My second thought was hairy. His and hers. It could be that the older man is the father of the young woman.Some of the oldest books in the library. Members of our group check out the illustrations provided in the library.The rather attractive Assumption Cathedral dominates the skyline of Kolocsa and the surrounding country.The Virgin Mary, St. Paul, and St. Peter are perched on top of the church, which led to an irreverent thought (not my first): Peter, Paul and Mary. And what were they singing? Puff the Magic Dragon, naturally, in line with this post.Outside the church, all of the buildings in the Holy Trinity Square were painted yellow. We found it attractive but wondered why one color. Turns out it was Queen Maria Theresa’s favorite. Best to keep the Queen happy.The altar inside the Church of the Assumption displays a large painting of the Virgin Mary being Assumed. (The Catholic Church’s words, not mine.) For my part, I’ll assume she made it, but I know that’s an assumption.The golden, pink and white colors inside the church made for an interesting look.The church’s organ.We found the stuccos on the ceiling of the church to be particularly impressive.Outside I found two rather impressive beasties. This lion…And an eagle. Check out the talons! There may be some kind of record here. That’s a wrap on Kalocsa, or, in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “That’s all folks.” In our next post Peggy and I are returning to the Big Island of Hawaii, where we will take you to the beautiful Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, which is almost out of this world.
When Peggy and I visited Hawaii’s youngest and most active volcano, Kīlauea, on January 17, we took this photo of lava erupting 200 feet into the air in the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater.The location of where we are staying for the month in Sea View, Hawaii at the Starlit Skies of Kalapana VRBO rental (Very nice). To provide perspective Hilo is 32 miles north of us via road and the Kīlauea Volcano is 46 miles to the west.
The Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire, Pele, is said to live up in the Kilauea Volcano. She’s been restless since we arrived, spewing lava into the air and covering the floor of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater.
A painting in the park’s headquarters showed an artist’s conception of Pele. You might say ‘she’s hot,’ too hot to handle in fact. The temperature of lava when it erupts is somewhere between between 1,300 to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Early Polynesians who arrived by boat between 1000-1200 CE, have a myth describing how Pele ended up on Hawaii: she was escaping from her sister, Nāmakaokahai, goddess of the ocean. In one version of the myth, Nāmakaokahai was jealous of Pele’s beauty and strength; in another, Pele had seduced her husband. (Before you ask, the egg contains Pele’s younger sister and companion, Hi’iaka),
Scientists have a different theory of what makes Hawaii one of the most active volcano sites in the world. It is sitting on top of a hot spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where lava is rising up from the earth’s mantle. The island is making its way over the hotspot as the Pacific Tectonic Plate moves in a northwest direction at a speedy 2-4 inches per year. With the exception of Maui, the other islands have moved beyond the hotspot and their volcanoes are extinct. A new island named Loihi Seamount is currently being created about 20-30 miles southeast of where we are. You can expect to see it rise above the ocean— if you are around— in about a hundred thousand years or so.
Most people think of the Hawaiian Islands as being the green ones on the lower right. There are actually 132 islands, atolls and undersea volcanoes included in the chain that extends over 2600 miles toward Alaska’s Aleutian Islands! They all originated over the hot spot that the Big Island now occupies. The area within the dotted line is the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Reserve (Pronounced Pa-pa-hah-now-mo-koo-ah-keh-ah in Hawaiian.) You will be quizzed on the name and its pronunciation later. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map.)Peggy and I standing in front of the Kīlauea Crater as the volcano does what active volcanoes do. The last time this particular section of the volcano erupted was almost 50 years ago. I was on the island at the time. The National Park had built a walkway out to the crater so visitors could look down into its seething mass.This time we were at least a mile away. Fortunately, we both have excellent telephoto lens.We could look into the heart of the crater. This is a close up of the lava spewing out.Two vents were blasting away. Note the lava flowing out of the vent on the right as it covered the crater floor.A view of the vents and a portion of the floor.A plume rose from the volcano and played hide and seek with the sun. (This is how far away the volcano looked without our telephoto lenses.)The plume led to a photo op, and an observation…At one point, the plume looked almost like a mushroom cloud created by an atomic bomb. It wasn’t, of course, but it did serve as a reminder that volcanoes are more than tourist attractions. They are dangerous, sometimes extremely so. Even the cloud carried a risk: Vog. Think smog but worse. When we were there, the National Park had posted a health advisory alert. We were also told to be on the lookout for Pele’s Hair. One could only ask, “what?” The National Park provided a photo…Looks like hair to me, but who knew Pele was a blond? Actually it is volcanic glass produced from lava stretched into thin strands and transported by air. Touching is not advised. It can break into small splinters and enter your skin.What we saw had already been broken into small pieces. I didn’t try to pick up one. Of much greater concern than the vog or Pele’s Hair is what magma decides to do when it erupts as lava. It depends on the type of lava. All magma holds gas that is highly compressed under intense pressure in the earth’s mantle. As the lava approaches the surface, the gas expands and has to escape in one way or another. Thicker lava, like that found along the Pacific Rim where the Pacific Plate is plunging under continental plates, holds the gas, not allowing it to escape. The result is violent explosions that lead to the creation of steep, conical shaped, composite mountains like California’s Mt. Shasta shown below.A photo of Mt. Shasta I took while I was hiking down the Pacific Crest Trail. The devastation created by these explosions can be extensive. I flew over Mt. St. Helens a couple of weeks after it erupted in 1980 and thousands of trees had been blown down by the eruption.This photo by Jim Hughes of the US Forest Service shows what I saw. Between asphyxiation and burns, 57 people lost their lives because of the eruption.
The lava flowing out of the volcanoes on Hawaii is much thinner. The gas can escape in bubbles. It doesn’t have to explode and is much ‘kinder,’ so to speak— if you don’t mind seeing your homes and roads burn and disappear under thick layers of lava. No one was killed in the major 2018 eruption that took place near where Peggy and I are staying. People could walk faster than the lava was flowing. The eruption will be the subject of our next post on Hawaii.
But first, as promised, we will return to our fall journey down the Danube River and the historic town of Kalocsa, Hungary where we visit a library featuring thousands of illustrated books that are hundreds of years old. I found this Adam and Eve illustration humorous. Is Adam holding a duck? (The words underneath are mine.)“Eat the apple,” Snake urges. “God made it. What could possibly go wrong?”
What’s more Hungarian than paprika? This delightful, elderly woman with her wonderful smile was stringing paprika peppers to hang at the Bakod Horse Farm near Kolocsa , Hungary.Peggy likes to sprinkle paprika on deviled eggs that disappear almost as quickly as she can make them. The spice comes in small tins and bottles and is sold almost anywhere one can buy spices. I didn’t know that the spice came in red peppers that originated in Central and South America and arrived in Hungary via Turkey. They range from mild to hot depending on the type of pepper used. The Kalocsa region is one of the world’s primary paprika growing areas.Another smile.The woman’s face in black and white. Strings of paprika peppers hung to dry.Folk dancing is an important part of Hungarian culture, right up there with eating paprika it seems. This young couple in their 20s came to the Bakod Farm to demonstrate the Csárdás, Hungary’s most popular folk dance. They were quite good. Anita is carrying a handkerchief with her name on it. Soon, she would be waving it about as she danced. I was equally impressed with their traditional Hungarian costumes. Note the bead covered head piece on Anita and the detailed embroidery on her dress.Details of the bead work.And the detailed, beautiful embroidery.Anita displayed her pleated dress, embroidered apron and some of the 8 petticoats that held her dress out. There was also a small pillow.Another Hungarian woman sat off to the side working on the embroidery for another costume.At first the couple danced together.And then they moved off on their own, almost seeming to fly. That’s it. We leave the Bakod Farm with its wonderful horses and Csikos and paprika and folk dancing today. My next post, I am going to take a detour to Hawaii and Volcano-land. After that we will visit Kalocsa before continuing our journey down the Danube and many more adventures.You may not remember the dramatic media coverage of lava spouting out of Hawaii’s East Rift Zone and slowly making its way to the sea, destroying homes and blocking roads as it went 7 years ago in 2018. We do. It was around 10 miles away from where we are staying on the Big Island. Peggy and I drove out to the ‘end go the road’ that passes by our rental on Monday. As Kilauea continues to erupt this week, 20 miles away, it’s hard not to remember 2018.
88 miles south of Budapest, we came to the Hungarian town of Kolaska. We’ll have a post relating to the town but, first, I’m going to feature the Bakod Horse Farm located near the town and its incredible horsemen, the Csikos, along with their handsome and well-trained horses. This particular display of horsemanship is called a Hungarian post.
We left Budapest feeling as we always do when we leave a new area: There was so much more that we could have done. Still, we had an introduction to the city’s beauty, culture and history, which was 100% more than we had before. No regrets. Plus, new adventures awaited us. Our next day down the Danube River would bring us to the historic town of Kolaska where we would explore the town and visit a farm that featured folk dancing, paprika, and horses. While I am not a horse fan per-se and the last time I had did folk/square dancing was in 1966, I do use paprika. Peggy who loves horses and dancing, and— on occasion— wishes I loved them more, was excited. Okay, I thought, I can do this.
I have a confession: I found the paprika interesting, enjoyed the folk dancing, and was blown away by the horse show. It’s up first.
Any discussion of the Csikós and their horses needs to start with Hungary’s Puszta, a vast open plain which is a section of the Great Hungarian Plain. It covers some 19,000 square miles and is made up of saline steppes, low, wet forests, and freshwater marshes. The region has a pastoral history that goes back thousands of years and is associated with several breeds of Hungary’s domestic animals which includes the Nonius horses and Hungarian Grey cattle that are featured today. I’m not sure what the breed of the white horses used in the Hungarian post is.But they were handsome, if a bit muddy.A head on view of the Hungarian post at the Bakod Horse Farm. The Csikos rider is balanced on two horses controlling eight horses in front of him.This provides a good side view of the Hungarian post.Here’s how the Csikos rider places his feet on the two horses he rides.The Csikos horsemen had their beginning on the Puszta with its large horse and cattle herds. Unlike the famed cowboys of the Old West, however, their job was to work with the horse herds while shepherds handled the cattle and other domestic animals. That’s a whip over his shoulder.The go-to horse for the Csikos is the Nonius breed, which dates back to 1813 when Napoleon was defeated and the Hungarians helped themselves to one of his stud horses, Nonius, and rode him back to Hungary. Nonius was then introduced to the Hungarian State Stud Farm where he provided his services (happily, I assume) up to 1832— making numerous babies with cooperative mares and giving the breed its name.The Nonius horse has a strong, large-framed body which makes it excellent for pulling carts. Good natured and easily trainable, they also make great riding horses.The hat and blue riding clothes are traditionally clothing for the Csikos horsemen. I’m not sure about the feather in his cap. This is not a Nonius horse. The rider is sitting on his ass. You might say he is backasswards. Leading up to World War I, the last time warhorses were used in fighting, Csikos were hired to train them. The whip isn’t being used on the horse. It sounds like someone firing a rifle and was used to acclimate the horse to the sound and not panic when in battle. The object on the right is the horse’s saddle.The horses were also taught to lie down so they could hide when necessary.Here, the rider stands on his horse while cracking his whip. The highlight of the show, at least for me, was the horse sitting. I suspect that image will be sharp in my head long after the others have faded. The Csikos rider continued to crack his whip. Actually, they are quite skilled with their whips and put on demonstrations using it. Here, donkey-man cracks his whip while riding. The other riders were cracking their whips in unison. A bit like syncronized swimming, eh. (Peggy used to do that….without the whip!)The Csikos also demonstrated the use of Hungarian Grey cattle to haul a cart. These cattle with their massive pointed horns are native to the Puszta. Note that the horn tips are covered. For good reason.A closer look at the Hungarian Grays, complete with their nose rings.The Csikos finished off the horse show by giving us a ride out onto the Puszta. Next up, Peggy and I will do a post on the folk dancing and paprika. But first…
Aloha! Peggy and I had to fly out to Sacramento to a Celebration of Life for a very close friend. Since we were over half way to Hawaii, we decided why not go there as well. It makes perfect sense, right. What’s another 2300 miles. Anyway, here we are on the Big Island for a month about a mile away from the ocean and 30 miles away from Volcanoes National Park where the Hawaiian Goddess Pele is putting on quite a show in the Kilauea Caldera. We drove up to see it on Friday. Incredible!
We will try to slip in a couple of posts on the Big Island in between our Danube River posts over the next few weeks.
Today, Peggy and I are going to feature a variety of photos we took as we wandered through Budapest by both boat and bus. Here we are looking toward the Liberty Bridge and Budapest’s classic Gellert Hotel from the Amadeus. The bridge connects the Buda side of the Danube River with the Pest side. The hotel is presently being remodeled by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel chain with plans to reopen it in 2027 as the Mandarin Oriental Gellert Hotel. That seems a like a strange name for a historic hotel in Budapest, but no stranger than one being named the Hilton. Or something like Trump Tower.Looking at the Gellert Hotel from the front. The hotel is named after St. Gellert. He was passing through Budapest as an abbot from Venice in the 11th Century on his way to the Holy Land when King Stephens asked him to stay for awhile to educate his son and help convert the pagan Magyars to Christianity, which he did. At least until after Stephens died and a rebel group of Magyars decided they preferred their paganism. Gellert was shoved into a barrel, nails were driven into it, and he was rolled off the mountain and into the Danube, thus gaining instant sainthood.The Liberty statue, which represent freedom from Communist rule, stands on top of Gellert Hill.The monument is presently under renovation. I thought that the scaffolding created a unique, almost artistic look. Hungary’s flag is on the right.Another view of our boat. The cold, cloudy, fall day explains the lack of people on the sundeck.It didn’t deter Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances from having their photo taken on the deck, however. Sunshine was teasing us by lighting up buildings in the background.We took a photo encourage it.We’ve already included several pictures from Fisherman’s Bastion in our previous two posts, but here are a couple more we liked. An early morning view of the Pest side of the river complete with a ferris wheel.Later, the sun allowed us the catch colorful roofs beneath the Fisherman’s Bastion on the Buda side of the river.Our trip to and from Hero’s Square (featured in our last post) allowed us to see several other buildings that caught our attention. This happens to be Budapest’s Great Synagogue. As always, taking pictures from a moving bus is tricky! Trees, power lines, and even windows get in the way, not to mention odd angles. But what the heck, such obstacles just makes the photo more interesting and more real.A slightly better photo. The Great Synagogue earns its name. It is the largest synagogue in Europe and has one room that can hold 3,000 people. The building suffered severe damage under Nazi and Communist rule. It was renovated in the 1990s with a $5 million contribution from the Hungarian government and a $20 million dollar gift from the Jewish Americans Tony Curtis and Estee Lauder.A random building photo from the bus’s window. The Comedy Theater of Budapest provided another opportunity for a bus window shot. We took a lot more photos like this (there is a reason why my photo library is now at 97,919 pictures— grin), but now it’s time for us to return to the Amadeus for an evening tour of Budapest.Taking photos from a moving bus is a piece of cake compared to night photography without a tripod on a moving boat. I’ll just label this one art. It’s Buda Palace.We were actually able to catch a good photo of Buda Palace so I will quit while I am ahead and use it to wrap up our three blogs on Budapest. Next up on our Danube River trip: A lesson on how to persuade a horse to sit.
Good morning and Happy New Year everyone. Here’s hoping you had a great holiday with family and friends. Peggy and I enjoyed our family time and consumed far too many calories. Now it’s back to work, so to speak. There are blogs to write, trips to plan, and left over holiday goodies to eat. Peggy just tempted me with one of our daughter’s brownies. My resistance was zero. I followed it with a second.
I’m starting today with where I left off before Christmas. The photo above is of the Hungary/Budapest Parliament Building, which happens to be one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Budapest. For good reason. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. This photo was taken when we arrived in Budapest and were still on the Danube. The early morning light was responsible for its fuzzy, ethereal, greenish-blue look.
An early morning view from the Danube River of our arrival in the Budapest. Shortly after docking, we journeyed up to Matthias Church where we had great views from the Fisherman’s Bastion overlooking the Parliament Building.
By the time we finished visiting Matthias’s Church, the sun was beginning to light up the Parliament Building. Unfortunately, a church steeple was busy photo bombing us, making it impossible to get a clear shot of the whole building.
We were able to minimize the steeple but our best solution was to photograph the building by sections.
The Parliament Building was inaugurated in 1896 in recognition of of the nation’s 1,000th anniversary and the 1873 uniting of three cities: Buda, Pest, and Obuda. Forty million bricks went into its construction, or so they say. Whatever, it was a lot of bricks. Approximately half of the building is used for today’s Hungarian unicameral legislature, while the other half is used for a variety of purposes including offices, conferences, ceremonies— and tours. If you feel the building bears a strong resemblance to Britain’s Westminster Place, you’d be right. Hungary wanted to emphasize its close relationship to Western Europe and England at the time.
Buda Palace, once the home of kings, provided another early morning view from the Danube River. Originally dating back to 1265 and later destroyed, much of what you see above was built in the mid 1700s. That, in turn was severely damaged during WW II and then rebuilt during the Communist era. The buildings in front add a nice dash of color.
A closer look.
Our favorite view of the palace. Like Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion, Buda Palace is located on Castle Hill.
Our drive into Pest from Matthias Church provided a final view of the Palace. Shortly after this, we were crossing one of the bridges across the Danube and on our way to Hero’s Square, which, in addition to providing recognition for a number of Hungary’s heroes, also features an art museum and a castle.
Our first view was the Palace of Art. We didn’t have to guess which building it was. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to explore it. One of the disadvantages of most organized tours is that there is rarely time for any more that a cursory exploration of what you are seeing.
On the other hand, many of the things we see don’t require a lot of time. For example, this monument representing the seven Magyar chieftains who led the Hungarian people into the Carpathian Basin in 896 was hidden behind scaffolding.
I found the two matching colonnades behind the Magyar Chieftains to be of more interest. The figures on top represented important aspects of Hungarian life and virtues. The bottom statues were of important historical figures.
Here, the man with the scythe and the woman sowing seeds represented labor and wealth. As to why a man would choose to go out into a field of grain and whip around a large, sharp object while being totally naked is a total mystery to me.
That this represents war makes more sense. But wait! His whip is a large snake. Various coats of arm and the ever present naked cherubs are on the pedestal.
Facing war on the opposite colonnade is Peace with a palm frond and a billowing robe. We missed Wisdom and Glory. Darn.
There were too many statues of Hungarian nobility and heroes to include in this post so I chose Gabriel Bethlem to represent them. He’s up there because he concluded an important treaty with Bohemia for Hungary. I didn’t choose him for that, however. I chose him for his mustache and hat.
I couldn’t resist.
Vajdahunyad Castle is located in the City Park of Budapest just behind Heroes’ Square. It certainly looks like one of the historical castles we’ve featured from time to time in our posts. But looks can be deceiving, right? Originally it was made of cardboard and wood as part of the 1896 Millennium Celebration of the foundation of Hungary. It was so popular however, the stick and cardboard castle was torn down and replaced with real stones. It was designed to feature elements of several prominent castles from the region and illustrates Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles.
Two more views. This one…
And this, which concludes today’s post. Next we will be featuring miscellaneous photographs we took while exploring Budapest by bus and river boat.
A night shot of Buda Palace taken while on an evening cruise.
Show up on your doorstep late Christmas Eve, they may have something important to say. You will have to listen carefully.
They are the Goats of Christmas Past.
Their message may be baaaa’d.
This is the Christmas Card I created for 2024 that Peggy and I have sent out to family and friends and are now sharing with our blogging family. Thanks so much for joining us in our adventures this previous year as we traveled from the Florida Everglades, to the Pacific Coast and National Parks of America, to the Danube River of Europe. We are looking forward to having you along in 2025. May you have a great holiday season and a peaceful and Happy New Year! Curt and Peggy
Wandering through Time and Place 