Budapest, day 7: my turn as guide

My husband and a couple of his friends were free after lunch, so we decided to do some sightseeing together. The weather was lovely, and after all the eating and sitting they'd done all week, they were ready to walk. Earlier in the week I'd asked the concierge how to walk or take public transportation to the Citadel. I could see it on the next hill, so I figured it couldn't take more than an hour to walk there. Unfortunately he said it would take 3 buses to get there, and when I suggested walking, he responded like I was crazy. He said it would take hours and suggested I take a taxi. After waiting a few minutes for the taxi in miserable weather, I'd decided to postpone the trip, but now was the perfect occasion. With four of us, splitting a taxi was reasonable.

The reason I wanted to go to the Citadel was to see the series of photos showing Budapest every decade between 1850 and 1950. These were interesting, and the view was fantastic. For guys who hadn't seen much of Budapest during the daylight, this was a good place for them to start. This place had been a fortress in one form or another since Roman times, and they had some anti-aircraft guns on display. Also at the Citadel was the Lady Liberty statue which was given to the people of Budapest by the Soviets to celebrate their liberation from the Germans. When the communist era ended, the statue was wrapped in a white sheet, splashed with red paint, and thus re-purposed.

One of the guys had to go back to the hotel, but we had plenty of time, so we walked back from the Citadel. It took only 35 minutes to walk to the base of the Castle District, and even with all those stairs, it couldn't have taken him more than 15 minutes more to get back to the hotel. The rest of us crossed the chain bridge (the guys admiring the engineering) to Pest.

We were thirsty, and it was getting to be snack time, so I suggested finding the famous Cafe Gerbeaud. Most of the many coffee houses in Budapest had been closed during the communist era since coffee houses were where people went to conspire, but this one remained for the benefit of the tourists from Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe. This one truly was amazing. The ambiance was fantastic, and the cake was to die for. The thing that drove me crazy was the water. I don't particularly like mineral water, and the stuff in Budapest really tasted like wet rocks even if it didn't have bubbles, so I ordered ordinary water. Once again, it was served in a shot glass! I asked for more water, and I was given another shot glass of water with a dirty look from the waitress.

I took the guys for a walk around Pest, recapping much of what I'd seen on my walking tours. My husband noticed some interesting architectural details that I hadn't paid much attention to. The neoclassical relief images on the sides of buildings all glorified the hard-working proletariat instead of Greek or Roman decadence. After a light dinner at an outdoor cafe in front of the cathedral, we headed back to the hotel. They guys walked, but since I still had my transit pass, I took the metro and a bus. I was surprised that the guys made it back to the hotel only 10 minutes after me.