The Polish airflines flight from Warsaw (Poland) to Budapest (Hungary) was surprisingly very nice. Very spacious seats.
We arrived at Budapest in the evening. It so happened that some of members Hungarian VISA were expiring the very day we landed. So on paper, we had few hours in Hungary!
We were all worried...But everyone was allowed entry and we all expressed Hurrah.
We had a very soft spoken Hungarian guide with us. He talked about Hungary's history and its post World War 2 experimentation with Socialism and Communism. Hungary always viewed India as a role model for being a socialist country. The guide told us how the Indian PM Nehru was very popular among the Hungarians. Hungary respected India's non aggressive approach to tackle the communist-capatilist fight.
Budapest is actually made up of 2 cities Buda & Pest. The Danube river flows between the 2 cities. We went out for dinner late evening and then requested our bus driver to drive us around Budapest in the night.
It was an extraordinary sight...Paris by night is special. But Budapest was out of the blue. The famous Chain bridge (most Indians would recogize it from the climax scene from the film "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam") looked so stunning. The cities of Buda and Pest, the parliment buildings at night beautifully lit was a sight none of the group members could forget for the entire tour. If there was one magic moment of the tour, this was it
Next morning after having our breakfast, we were waiting for our bus to arrive in our hotel to take us on a day tour of Budapest. But it did not. So the travel company arrange taxis and it was fun. Taxi drivers were very excited about an Indian group doing sightseeing in their city. They all talked about the usual topic of Hindi movies. It amazes me how much Indian cinema spans across the globe without having a marketing engine like Hollywood.
Everyone talk about one theme of Indian cinema. The emphasis on family culture and values seen. This is something which attracts Europeans strongly because this system has dissappeared in many parts of Europe
We reached the Parliament house. It is built in the 19th century. It is huge
President George Bush was supposed to arrive in Budapest just the day after we were visiting the Parliament. So the security was tight.
The views from the back side of the Parliament were magnificent. The Danube river flowed beatifully and we could see small sight seeing cruises along the river.
After that we went to see the Buda Castle located ontop of a hill
After that castle visit, we moved to the castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion, well-known for the wonderful panoramic views it provides of the city of Budapest. The castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion was built in 1905, mainly for decorative purposes. It’s located near Matthias Church in the Castle District of this interesting city.
Finally we stopped at the Chain Bridge. There was a live music concert on the Chain Bridge. Me and my friend walked along the Chain Bridge taking lot of pictures of the bridge and all the festive atmosphere.
The 1230ft long and 16 meter wide bridge was considered a superb engineering feat and was opened in 1849.
The bridge ignited the economic revival that would lead to Budapest's golden century and it was one of the factors that made the towns of Pest and Buda into a fast-growing metropolitan. In 1989 people demonstrated on the chain bridge for freedom and independence. Since then, the bridge has become a symbol of Hungarian liberty.
After that we had our lunch in an Indian restaurant nearby. The food was excellent. Yup Punjabi food in Budapest! In came all the nans, dal makhanis, raitas, papads, butter chicken ... And how can anyone not have beer! The restaurant was very popular with lots of Hungarians sitting inside enjoying Indian food.
As it happens everywhere, the Indian restaurant owners go out of the way to make Indian groups happy.
After our heavy lunch, we went back and sat idling around in the beautiful park before the entrance to the Chain Bridge. All the couples went around teasing me about my single status and asking me when I am going to dip
But Budapest was on my mind. Nothing else mattered...
What a magnificent day it was and it continued to be. Later in the day we started for the long bus journey to Vienna, Austria.
If there is a name which brings back images of being stately, refined, polished and culturally rich city with a beautiful name, it's Vienna
I was experiencing parts of the famous Austro-Hungarian empire. And now it was Austria.
We passed through many beautiful villages, passing over the Danube bend, passing many orchard farms.. As we moved closer to Austria, the countryside became very beautiful
Austria is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. A recent Hindi movie 'Yuvraaj' captures Austrian countryside very well.
This is where the movie "Sound of music" was made.
My heart and my mind carrying images of Budapest was now very much looking forward to visiting Vienna
More about Vienna in the next few posts.
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