Buda - I

As mentioned before, is Buda situated on the left side of Danube and is a more relaxed part of the city than Pest. The district immediately at the west bank of Danube, where all the major attractions are is simply called district I. The largest landmark is the Royal Castle and its surroundings, some church spires and the Citadel, with its Freedom statue. It has more of a small town feeling than the busy Pest side. We didn't visit the Buda side until the last half of our second day, since the most tempting attractions were on the Pest side.
Immediately when we reached the Buda side, large clouds covered the whole city and it started to rain despite it was sunny when we went to a museum earlier. That was very annoying since it was very cloudy all the time until it was dark, but I think the clouds look really cool on some photos.

View of Buda from the Pest side with Chain bridge, Danube and the Buda Castle. This pictures was taken earlier the same day, before the clouds appeared.

Gellért Square (Gellért tér) is probably the most famous square in Budapest, probably because the famous spa Hotel Géllert is located there. The square is situated right by the Danube and is a major hub for trams and buses.

In Hotel Géllert you can find the Gellért Baths, that has made Budapest famous for its Turkish baths. Note the fountain in front of the hotel.

Gellért Hill Cave, also called St Ivan's Cave, is located within the hill, on the opposite side of Hotel Gellért. There is a chapel inside this cave with a glass entrance. Note the cross and the Freedom Statue to the left on the hill.

The cross looks special with this menacing sky, I got a feeling of an oil painting from the 19th century.

When it started to rain we went inside a café store. The first parts we saw of Buda after crossing the Elizabeth Bridge, just looked like a common city district.

Gellért Hill:

Gellért Hill (Gellérthegy) is a 235m high hill overlooking the square. It was named after St Gerard who was thrown from the hill and died.

As we walked upwards on Gellért Hill , we could see old beautiful buildings mixed with modernist residential buildings.

The Castle District, also called Várnegyed (or just Var), is the quarters on Castle Hill around the Royal Buda Castle.

The Royal Castle is called Buda Castle nowadays, since Hungary is a republic. However, many guides and maps still refer to it as the Royal Castle or palace.
Budapest History Museum is located in the southern wing of the palace.

The oldest part of the current palace was built by Prince Stephen, Duke of Slavonia in the 14th century. Buda Castle is together with the parliament and St Stephens Basilica the most famous symbols of Budapest. The castle is the only of them that is situated on the Buda side.

The beautiful walls that surround the palace.

Details of the statue to the left.

View from the castle towards Danube and the parliament on the Pest side. More of the views can be seen in the skylines section.

View from the castle towards the Freedom statue on Géllert Hill.

Várnegyed (the castle district) is famous for its medieval, Baroque and 19th century buildings that houses restaurants and residences.

This district is probably the most "touristy" place to be in Budapest, you can find tons of tourists, but not so many Budapest citizens. Fortunately, the weather made some of the tourists stay away.

Matthias Church (Mátyás-templom), offiicially named Church of Our Lady, is one of the most famous churches in Budapest. Several coronations of kings took place in the church and it is an important part of the Hungarian history.This late Gothic church was built in the 14th century. Unfortunately it was under renovation during our visit. It was also renovated in the 19th century. The tallest spire is 80m tall.

This is Fisherman's Bastion, a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style that I really looked forward to see. I expected it to be larger, but I still think it has a nice architecture. It consists of 7 towers and was completed in 1902 after a design by Frigyes Schulek, a man who is said to have lively fantasy, that explains the shape of the structure. Each tower represent one of the 7 Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896.

This is a bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary, the country's first king.

Inside there is a panorama terrace and a restaurant with live musicians.

This steeple is the remainings of a church that was bombed during World War II.

The Castle District is very small and takes just minutes to walk around it.

Leaving the castle district, walking down a hill to a residential area. Note the spruces. They are common
in both Hungary and Poland. In Sweden for example, it is rare to see them in the streetscapes.

A really nice neighbourhood.

At the foot of the hill we got this big surprise; a really exciting cave building in stone, glass and tiles. It looks very old and modern at the same time.

The view from the entrance of the "cave building". Behind the facade there are offices and residences.

There is a restaurant inside the "cave".

The next surprise was to find this huge shopping mall with about 140 stores that opened in 1998 at Szena tér at the foot of the hill. It is called Mammut and is Budapest's most successful shopping mall together with its nearby Mammut II. Glass escalators running through the atrium filled with expensive (even with international standard) brand stores.

While walking in this area around Moskva tér, we heard a rock concert on a pub were someone made
a Metallica cover and an outdoor concert with Balkan folk music.

St Anne´s Church at Batthany tér.

Looking towards Buda Castle while walking on the Buda side of Danube after dark.

The second time we visited the Buda side we went for a stroll to the parliament, over the famous Chain Bridge, walked at the Danube side of Buda and then back to Pest side again via Elizabeth Bridge. So we actually walked in a square around the bridges.

Buda Palace seen from the Pest side. The weather was very cloudy this day, the last of our 2,5 days in Budapest.

The Citadel is the fortress on the top of Gellért Hill. We saw it many times, but didn't visit it. It was built by the Hapsburg authorities in 1854 to control the city.
After the Austrian troops left the fortress, the city of Budapest bought it. During the 1944-45 the Nazi Germans used the Citadel to keep the city under gunfire.
Today it serves as a panorama terrace and has a restaurant. In the front is Elizabeth Bridge.

The Statue of Liberty (Szabadság Szobor) on the top of Gellért Hill and is part of The Citadel. The 40 m tall (including the pedestal ) freedom statue was erected in 1947 in remembrance of Soviet's liberation of Hungary from the Nazis.

The original inscription "Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes" has been changed to "To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary" due to the fall of communism in 1989.

The statue of Queen Elizabeth with Elizabeth Bridge in the background.

A rock at the side of Gellért Hill with Liberty Bridge in the background.

St Gellért Monument. The statue of the Venetian missionary bishop St. Gerard (Gellért) that stands on the hillside of Gellért Hill. In the 11th century he died a martyr's death when he was thrown from the top of the hill at this spot by pagan Hungarians rebelling against Christianity. A beautiful waterfall and a bridge is located underneath the monument.


Leaving Buda side via Elizabeth Bridge. A yellow tram, Statue of Liberty on Gellért Hill, Danube and Liberty Bridge can be seen on the picture.