R U Hungry?

Leaving Poland

Ok! I admit it.. I am a geek! but hot damn.. the Polish Aeronautical Museum rocks! They have the only surviving Polish fighter from 1939. Dim did get a little bored.. erm well... it was fun and allot less depressing than Auschwitz which we by passed on our way outta town. By the way Polish highways suck big time.

ODO on leaving Poland
4212km
Hay stacks

The Polish country side is dominated by farming, but seems to be on a small scale. Of interest were the methods employed in hay making. No square bales are produced at all, instead they stack the hay by hand, forking it into piles as high as a man. Beneath the hay lies a wooden frame. The characteristic cloumns can be seen everywhere. The hay was done in a similar way in Slovakia as well, but they use a tent shape rather than the column. Ok, you city slickers are obviously not excited, but the simple country bumkins might!

We left the pretty lands of Poland and drove south at a furious rate.. ermm well as fast as the narrow congested roads would take us. Destination Budapest Hungry.

On the way we passed through Slovakia, very beautiful rolling countryside .. erm.... anyway onto Hungry.

BUDAPEST

Budapest is actually two citys facing each other on the mighty Danube river. Buda has the mountainous east bank, impressive castle, fernicular railway, citadel etc etc. Whilst Pest has the flat west bank, with many pedestrian malls and pretty facades. Much in the style of Prauge. I would say that the city is actually more beautiful than Prague. The Hungarians are not afraid to have the odd ugly building to give some context to the pretty ones. First stop Statue Park!

Statue Park

Here lie the remains of the many communist era statues. They even have pidded music and radio from communist the era days. Heart felt songs of national praise about building tractors and tanks. So tempting to buy a cd to share the experience. Dim and I had a ball running and playing with the bronxe monoliths. Now into town.

Chain bridge

Of the many bridges spanning the wide river, the chain bridge is the most scenic. Rebuilt after being sunk in world war two, it comes complete with large stone lions. Certainly an excellent back drop for having a beer. Whilst crossing the bridge we met a wonderful man from Transylvania. He should have done all the marketing for the area, we wish we had time to visit his mountain home, but alas, we will peservere till another world tour is forth coming.

The city is a little expensive and well engineered to eat up all your tourist dollars. No shortage of eateries, booze halls and museums. We spent a whole day just walking around gaulking at the sights. From the impressive statues of Hero Square to the spiral minarets in the castle district. We must have walked a good 20kms.

The House of Terror

Budapest has survived fire, flood, pestilence, half a dozen wars and still stands. But its populace have suffered mightly. Of the 10 million Hungarians that populate this country, 10 percent live in Budapest. 700,000 perished in the second world war and another 700,000 disapeared or surcomed during the communist era. They were brutaly opressed by their own home grown version of the Natzis. Many were quick to change their uniform and continue the job for the Russians. The House of Terror was built on the local of the dreaded organisation that terrorised Hungarians till 1991.

Built with extensive use of multimedia, it is a museum of the horrors and a history of anguish. Ominous strains of music fill the rooms and dramatic lighting and videos call to you. The entrance hall is filled with the impressive visage of a Soviet tank. Its treads imersed in a dank pool, its liquid seeping over the edges to drain into the basement of the building. The liquid is a slick oil that leaves the edges gleaming wet. Illuminmation comes from the names of the victims streching to the ceiling three stories above.

The rooms cry out to you with the voices of the families and victims, with videos and telephones. A recreation of the cells in the basement left us feeling more than a little woozey. Engraved pannels dictating the number of lives lost here, the people transported to the gulags. The residents uprising in 56, and the viscous put down two weeks later. (same time as the Melbourne olympics). the Museum was both dreadful and fantastic, we spent far more time there than expected.

Other sites

Many of the museums and art galleries are free, and we took time to see the collection oposite heroes square. The statues in the square of heroes were spectacular as well. It includes 6 works by my favorite spanish mannerist: El Greco. We skimmed the rest of the collection, but kept comming back to gaze at the stunning dramatic sky skapes, and sinuous figures.


Budapest is easily one of the higlights of the tour. Well worth a second visit. Even better than prague. Next our trip south begins, onward to the lands of those Croatians.
Current ODO reading:
4810 km