Budapest, Hungary, 2009

Hey! ^^

Finally I'm here with a post about Hungary, where I was in July 2009. As you know, I'm a big formula-1 fan, and every fan must attend at least one race. My choice was Budapest, as it's one of cheapest races and it's quite easy to get there. And also everyone who was there says the city itself is very beautiful. I spent in Budapest just 4 days (and 3 of them I spent at Hungaroring), and I haven't many photos and also didn't walk around the city very much. So my first advice for you - if you have a chance to visit Budapest, spend there at least a week to see everything :)

View from a plane

We started our trip at about 11 a.m., took a plane to Prague, and then to Budapest, so we arrived there just at the evening (by the way, almost all photos are taken at the evenings). But as it's quite easy to get to the city from Ferihegy airport, we managed also to walk around a bit.

Chain bridge, view from the Elisabeth bridge

There are many bridges in Budapest, crossing Danube river, which is second largest river in Eurasia after Volga and flows in 10 countries. To get to our hotel, we had to cross Elisabeth bridge.

Elisabeth bridge & St. Stephen's Basilica

It's a nice view on Buda castle (which looked great in sunset that evening) and also we saw St. Stephen's Basilica. It's named for the first King of Hungary, and nowadays it's third largest and most important church building in Hungary. Looks really impressive and beautiful.

St. Stephen's Basilica

On Friday we woke up at 6 a.m. and went to Hungaroring (near little village called Mogyorod) to see F1, but that's not the main idea of this post (it's so hard for me not to talk about F1 :D), maybe sometimes I'll write another one about F1 and how to get there :)

Mark Webber, free practice 2.

At the evening we walked around the city again. Saw Gresham Palace (I didn't put a photo here) and, of course, walked near the river. Also we crossed the Chain bridge that evening. It was the first permanent bridge across the Danube, and it's designed by the same man and looks almost the same as Marlow bridge in England - it's just bigger. And looks beautiful.

Chain bridge and Buda castle

View from the Chain bridge, you can see Hungarian Parliament

Saturday also started with a bus trip to Hungaroring, but at the evening we got to the city earlier (as we had a bus exactly to the hotel) and decided to spend evening in Buda castle - historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings. We got there by Budapest Castle Hill funicular, but it's also possible to get there by climbing the stairs.

View on the city from the castle

Me :)

That day there was an event called Hungaroringfest, which is related to F1. There were many different cars and it was possible to taste Hungarian wines and national food. But we also walked around to see the castle - it's definitely one of things you have to see if you're visiting Budapest.

Raven with a ring at Buda Castle

On Sunday after the race we had a chance to walk around the city again. One more thing we saw that day (unfortunately from the bus) was another bridge across Danube river - Liberty bridge. It's located at the southern end of city centre.

Liberty bridge

Later we visited one more place that you definitely have to visit if you're in Budapest - Heroes' Square (Hősök tere in Hungarian). It's a bit away from the city centre, but still it's easy to get there. Also many important buildings are located around the square.

Heroes' Square

There are many sculptures there - Archangel Gabriel on top of the column, statues of 7 Hungarian chieftains led by prince Árpád on the basement of column and many others. I loved the horses ^^

The horse

Last day was finally free from F1, so we could spend almost all of it, walking around Budapest. First thing we did was climbing up Gellert Hill. It was hard (as the hill is a bit high and I'm not doing sports quite often :D), but totally worth it, it's one more thing you definitely must do in Budapest! At the top of the hill is Liberty statue.

Liberty statue

And the view on Budapest is simply amazing! You can see all bridges crossing the river, Margaret island, Hungarian Parliament building and many other things, and then walk around the citadel, see the cannons diplayed there.

Hungarian Parliament building

View from the Gellert hill

And the last thing I did in Budapest was... of course, visiting a zoo! Budapest zoo and Botanical garden is the oldest zoo in Hungary and one of the oldest in the world, as it was opened in 1866. And it's, I guess, biggest zoo I've ever visited. Of course, I loved it very much and spent all time I could afford there without getting bored (actually I ran around like crazy to finish it in 4 hours). So, some cute animal photos ^^

A rhino ^^ We don't have rhinos in our zoo, so I loved this one so much. And there was also a rhino-baby ^^

Red pandas

He's so fat and lazy ^^

This crocodile wasn't even 1 month old ^^ By the way, all 4 days in Budapest I was singing `Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil`. And finally I found him ^^

It was possible to feed camels

Hippos ^^

And finally - do you know that Budapest is city of elephants? ^^ In 2009 there was a charity art exhibition dedicated to homeless people, and many elephants, differently coloured, were on the streets. In central Budapest it was 50 of them, together they were 140. I collected more than 20 ^^ But I don't know are they still there.

It's cute, right? ^^

To conclude, Budapest is the city you really have to visit sometimes, especially if you like churches, old, massive buildings, bridges and stuff like that. I really hope I'll visit it in future once again (of course, there's no chance I'll miss F1 action in Hungary, so I will have to combine F1 and seeing the city again) and I'll have more time to walk around.
Have a nice evening, my dear readers! ^___^