Budapest

Budapest Parliament Buildings at Dusk

After our visit to Esztergom is our 48 km drive into our hotel in Budapest. We arrive before rush hour and getting settled was pretty easy. Out for a bit of a walk and a nice meal before bed we realize we are really well situated for taking in the sites.

As most already know Buda   Pest is made up of two cities with Buda being the west city (older) and Pest the east city (newer). Buda has the old castle, St Matthias Church

St Matthias at Dusk

and the Fishermans Bastion.

Parliament from Fishermans Bastion

Pest has more modern hotels, restaurants etc.

From our experience now, we would say Pest is much busier, noisier, with Buda being more congested, and slower.

Shoes on the Danube Jewish Memorial

The best treat of our stay was a small restaurant called the Hungarian Bistro. It was so good the first day we ate there after seeing the “Shoes on the Danube”,

about 4 blocks away, that we made a special trip back there a second day . The first day we had Duck, and the 2^nd time Goulash soup, and then an appetizer of Hungarian Gnocchi with sour cream and fried bacon bits. This place was outstanding! And they even give away in a nice folder, a copy of the soup recipe.

From our hotel/apt. we visited the chain Bridge, St Matthias Church, the Bastion, the old Castle, and used the vantage point for taking pictures of the Parliament buildings, the most common picture in Budapest.

Parliament Buildings by Day

Then back over the Chain bridge to the Shoes on the Danube, another reminder of the Nazi era where they had the Jews take off their footwear since it was valuable, before they shot them and pushed them off into the Danube river.

That evening we retraced our steps again to see the city at night and enjoy the night lights and activity.

Chain Bridge at Night

Our 2^nd full day saw us attend the Market hall where we bought spicy paprika and a jar of very hot sauce made from paprika. This was after having sampled it at the Hungarian Bistro. From there after lunch we hiked out to Heroes Square. Originally we were going to go out to the Baths there as well but learned that the outdoor baths had closed the day before. Even though the weather was 25-27C each day we were there the outdoor baths were now considered closed for the winter.

St Matthias at Night

After 3 nights we headed back out toward Esztergom and to cross back into Slovakia to follow the Danube for a while on its way upstream to Bratislava. This was a Saturday morning and everyone in Budapest was heading out there was well. The 48 km drive was bumper to bumper most of the way, but after Esztergom on the Slovakian side it was a nice drive into Bratislava.

Bratislava

String Orchestra in Bratislava playing "Let It Be"

Bratislava is a Slavic city only 60 kms from Vienna, but a world apart culturally. When I worked in the International Security arena, I spoke frequently to a Czechoslovakian woman, from the former Soviet state, who escaped across the border into Austria, and she told me about her final call to her mother when she got cold feet and wasn’t going to go through with it. Her mother told her to stay strong and go, and, afterwards she realized how fortunate she was to escape at that time. She never did see her mother alive again unfortunately.

One girl lost her way and wondering "Are we Done yet?"

We got into our hotel early in the afternoon, checked in, tram tickets bought and we were on our way to the old town. 20 mins later we were in the town centre where we toured the old castle/palace, the old town and most fortunately on a gorgeous sunny hot afternoon took in a free concert in the old town square just in front of their Opera house. Our highlight of the day was this 65-70 strong, string orchestra , accompany a rock musician in a rendition of the Beatles, Let it Be.  https://youtu.be/xFqKiZKa6F0

Bratislava has a vibrant arts community as well and that comes out with all the modern sculptures and brass works that can be seen around town. And we ate at our Son and daughter-in-law’s recommended pub, The House of Beers.

Us at the Opera House listening to them play

It was always at this point that we had said our plan was going to be fluid, we wanted to see Zermatt and the Matterhorn, but it really was weather dependent, so we were considering routes since the weather forecast was good.

Why are all the Soldiers Head-less?

Man at Work

Esztergom

Esztergom Hungary Basilica From Slovakia
Difficult to gauge magnitude until you realize how big the Cruise ship is

 Esztergom you say? Never heard of it. Well I hadn’t either until I had started watching the CBC TV series “X Company”. I learned from the background to the show that Esztergom was substituted for Paris in the WWII series drama. 

When I searched it out online I found out that Esztergom has the 3^rd largest church in Europe, sits on the Danube, was the original capital of Hungary and where King Stephens,

Crowning of King Stephen 1000 AD

later St Stephens was crowned Hungary’s first king on Christmas day 1000 AD. If driving up to Spis HRad was awe inspiring so was approaching this mammoth cathedral on a promontory bend on the Danube River.

We enjoyed the hike up to the church and took the additional hike up nearly 400 steps to the Dumo 

where you get an amazing view of the Danube some 800 feet up and look back over some of Slovakia. 

Old Soviet Erector Set apartments falling into decay

View down from Dumo, those people look likes Ants!

Sandra making Sandwiches at Lunch

Us 800 ft in the Air on the Dumo

After our touring around the town we head out for Budapest and run across a large Suzuki vehicle manufacturing facility just on the outskirts of Esztergom. For more information on what they make there here is a link to the site information. 

http://www.suzuki.hu/files/attachments/31/magyar_suzuki_company_profile_2015_en.pdf

Esztergom

Esztergom Hingary Basilica From Slovakia
Difficult to gauge magnitude until you realize how big the Cruise ship is

 Esztergom you say? Never heard of it. Well I hadn’t either until I had started watching the CBC TV series “X Company”. I learned from the background to the show that Esztergom was substituted for Paris in the WWII series drama. 

When I searched it out online I found out that Esztergom has the 3^rd largest church in Europe, sits on the Danube, was the original capital of Hungary and where King Stephens,

Crowning of King Stephen 1000 AD

later St Stephens was crowned Hungary’s first king on Christmas day 1000 AD. If driving up to Spis HRad was awe inspiring so was approaching this mammoth cathedral on a promontory bend on the Danube River.

We enjoyed the hike up to the church and took the additional hike up nearly 400 steps to the Dumo 

where you get an amazing view of the Danube some 800 feet up and look back over some of Slovakia. 

Old Soviet Erector Set apartments falling into decay

View down from Dumo, those people look likes Ants!

Sandra making Sandwiches at Lunch

Us 800 ft in the Air on the Dumo

Slovakia

 

Spis Castle when you first see it

After some visiting with family in eastern Poland just off the Ukraine border we head for the Dukla pass. This pass separates Poland from Slovakia and was a strategic stronghold since if you could hold this pass you could keep the Russian from advancing on the Germans in Slovakia. An observation tower,

Observation Tower Dukla Pass

and open air WWII museum are in the vicinity.

Open Air Museum Piece

Sandra showing Magnitude of Roadway

Wooden Churches in Slovakia

As well this area of Slovakia, like much of it bears a lot of similarity with Romania, in particular the wooden churches. However these are not adorned with paintings like the Orthodox churches of Romania. Our day ends in Bardejov, 

Beautiful Bardejov Walls

the old town is a WHS site because of its castle walls. After a walk around town we retire to the Zornicka Penzion located in Bardejov Kupele, a recuperative location 5 kms outside of town where health spas are located.

Praying Hands Bardejov

The Zornicka has a “Fabulous” rating and is again one of those “don’t judge a book by its cover” type places. From the outside it looks like Soviet barrack housing, inside it is a nice place and we get upgraded to a suite room for 4E more and we are the only ones in the place. Erie! After a fantastic breakfast we head out for a day of sightseeing some of the high mountains of Slovakia.

We head next for Spis Hrad, a famous WHS castle which is stunning to see from a distance as we come out of the mountains. We hike up to it and take a look around.

Spis Castle Inside Ruins

Cerveny Klastor and Tatra Mtns

Rafting - No life Jackets

Then onto Cerveny Klastor, and Dunajec gorge in the Tatra mountain region. While there we see people rafting on the river and the weather has turned absolutely gorgeous. We then drive up into a ski town in the High Tatra mountains but the weather looks threatening so we drive onto Banska Bystrica, a town I had read about. We stayed at the Penzion Expo and walked into the old town for supper where we had a very upscale meal of duck breast and dumplings on a bed of beetroot which was fabulous. The town square there was beautiful in the evening as well. Like always our most informative time is talking with the locals and in this case the person spoke very good English, and had been to North America for education. She explained exactly what we had seen, a poor country still trying to figure itself out after separating from the Czech Republic. While a part of the EU it is still a country of remnants of its Soviet past, with a problem of Romas as their homeless. It looks like strong leadership is needed to help define the country’s strengths, which includes recreational opportunities galore, and carve its own path.

The next day we head from Banska to Sturovo and then cross into Hungary at Esztergom.

Warsaw

Warsaw Uprising Museum

Canister Contents

The next day we moved on to Warsaw specifically to see the Warsaw uprising museum. Our hotel the Villa Amfora was perfectly situated to allow us off the Autobahn and into town in no time flat, plus a 1 ½ block walk to the Warsaw train. Two stops later and you are at the Museum for the Warsaw uprising !

WWII Supply Plane Dropped canisters

Parachute Drop Zones

This museum highlights the uprising of the Polish people during WWII, the betrayals from the Allies and the Russians, the Occupation by the Russians until 1989 and now how Poland has developed a military capable of defending itself.

I was unaware that the French foreign minister (Georges Bonnet) at the outset of WWII talked the Allies out of taking any action against Germany when they invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. He was later proven to be a Nazi sympathizer. Later between 1942 & '44 Pierre Laval was the French Foreign Minister of the Vichy regime in France who collaborated with the Germans who occupied France. An excellent series called "A French Village", with English subtitles is well worth watching to see the struggles and betrayals that occurred during WWII.

Strange Bedfellows who betrayed the Poles

I was aware that Stalin and Hitler negotiated a deal in August 1939 that had a hidden clause which partitioned Poland off to both the Germans and Russians. 15 days after Hitler invaded Poland from the west, Stalin invaded Poland from the east forcing them to surrender without the Allies intervening. This was something that affected the region of Poland that my grandparents came from (Janov) earlier to Canada and later under Soviet rule became part of Ukraine. Our post titled "Magic" from 2011 detailed our exploring our roots in that region. Also in 2011 we met a surviving member of the Rising, the grandfather of our daughter-in-law who toured us through the village and countryside of where they lived 6 kms as the crow flies from the Ukraine border. 

The Tehran Agreement 1943

When the Warsaw uprising took place none of the Allies came to the aid of Poland, and Churchill betrayed Poland by not supporting the uprising, and was a party to the Tehran Pact that in 1943 permitted Poland to be partitioned off to the Soviets as their reward for switching sides and fighting with the Allies. Something else that rings true today as well. The Soviets refused to allow the allies to use their airbases during the war, and, they did do supply drops, but without parachutes so the Poles would get damaged guns etc that they couldn't use against the Russians later.

Example of Bunker Life

A Deadly self planting Mine Robot called 'Goliath'

George Orwell was a reporter during WWII and
 did not agree with the politics of the day.

Warsaw today, the Samsung Tower

Malbork Castle and Torun

Malbork Castle

Grand Masters

 Malbork castle was the HQ for the Teutonic Knights, a semi religious group of knights that were to repel Moor invasions into central Europe. They were originally Catholic in nature, but the Grand Master at one point converted to Protestant, banished the Jesuits who lived there as well and later even became somewhat mercenary in nature. It is reported to be the largest brick castle in the world and saw nearly 50% of its fortifications being destroyed during WWII by the Russians fighting the Nazis.

Cross in Chapel

Secret Passageway

During the early days of the Nazi invasion of Poland, Hitler visited the castle to determine its usefulness to the cause. However since it’s restoration and rebuilding; stars such as Sophia Loren have spent time here as well. It is a very large and impressive castle located some 50 kms SE of Gdansk.  Make sure you leave enough time to see it. Expect at least 4 hrs. to take the excellent audio tour.

Torun

Torun Town Square at Night

Later that same day we moved on to Torun, and WHS located about 150 kms south of Malbork castle. It is the home to Copernicus the astronomer. 

Copernicus

Torun has a very nice old town, and we had a great meal at the Metropolis restaurant. Our late evening wandering took us past the Old town prison still in operation.

Torun Town Prison still in Sue and limit up in Old Town