Leaving Budapest on an Unexpected Melodic Note

Capturing the sunset from Margit Bridge

Sometimes when you travel, unplanned things happen that are just serendipitous and wonderful.  That's the kind of day/evening we had.  We started out the day at a slower pace, visiting Heroes Square again and exploring a local festival in the Vajdahunya Castle.

Heroes Square

Around the base of the obelisk:  The Seven Chieftains of the Magyars

Around the colonnade:  Major figures of Hungarian history

St. Stephen

A fair at the Vajdahunya Castle in City Park

Lots of tempting goodies

Church within the castle

The Statue of Anonymous, the nameless chronicer to King Bela of Hungary

A fun way to get around--drinking and pedaling

In the afternoon, we walked through a shopping area and then went to see the Great Synagogue (our tour guide pronounced it sheena-gog), the second largest in the world next to one in New York.   The Synagogue was closed (Saturday) but we were able to peek into the garden and see the Tree of Life, a sculpture with hundreds of leaves representing Hungarian victims of the Holocaust.

The Tree of Life at the Great Synagogue

We walked around the Jewish Quarter, which also houses the "Ruin Pub" District, a collection of pubs in dilapidated buildings frequented by the young folks (we thought about going back, but...).  Here's a fun one, Szimpla Kurt:  

 

At this point we were tired, so for lunch we found our way to one of Rick Steves' recommendations, the Gerloczy Brasserie.  Very good chicken ragu and gulash soup! 

The biggest surprise treat came in the evening.  After a nap (hey, we were fading!), we headed out for a walk, looking for the sunset to photograph.  We wandered through the West part of town, and after several miles found ourselves on the Margit Bridge, one of the eight bridges to cross the Danube.  We got some good shots of the Parliament Building, and crossed over to Buda to position ourselves across the street.  We spotted a small sign for a restaurant, and entered a lovely, traditional Hungarian place complete with live piano and violin music.  They happened to have a table for us and were treated to a great meal, traditional Tokaj wine, and lovely entertainment. 

Buda from the Margit Bridge

Kacsa Etterem, our restaurant

 

Paprika instead of pepper on the table

Lovely carrot and eggplant spreads

 

The violinist was incredible, playing traditional Hungarian music along with American, French, Irish, and Italian tunes.  We had to scramble to count out our last forints to cover the meal (barely made it and had to tip with dollars), but we managed to spend every last forint!  We were transported--what a great and unexpected find and good way to end our stay in Budapest!  Tomorrow we will be traveling by bus to Prague.  Here are a few final shots of our favorite structure, the Parliament Building.