Category Archives: Tourism

A Few Frayed Ends

Our landlord at the Liesel/Pierre gave us lots of great visiting tips that turned out to be indispensable. In regards to sightseeing, he indicated that the old inner city was small and compact enough that we might want to avoid the numerous commercial touring schemes and set out on foot to explore.

This turned out to be great advice, but in terms of picture taking it has lent itself to a lot of this and that. So that’s how we’ll finish up our trip to Budapest, in bits and pieces with a few frayed ends.

Call Home

Meaning “satellite” or “companion” in German, the Trabants were produced in East Germany. Originally, you’d pay for the car then be put on a list and wait for as long as 6 to 8 years for delivery. This meant that used Trabants sold for more then new ones. The downside was they ran like crap, were smokey as hell and produced 10 times the pollution of conventional cars. The upside was that they were manufactured, almost entirely, from recycled materials. The Trabant was regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the extinct former East Germany and the fall of the Eastern bloc.

The Trabant

I have absolutely no idea what any of these people are selling.

Public baths were introduced by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and are a huge part of popular culture. They are great facilities that have swimming pools (with three different temperatures), saunas, thermals, restaurants, cabins and anything you might need to have a great day. Two of the most popular are the Gellert Baths at the luxurious Hotel Gellert and the Szechenyl Baths at the city park. We spent the day at Szechenyl.

Szechenyl Baths

This pool is 98.6 F. A little like floating in an embryonic sack.

Hotel Gellert

The Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe.

The Great Synagogue

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a bronze sculpture that honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. It depicts one of the saddest stories in modern Hungarian history.

Riding the Rails

Market Mania

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Quick Currency Conversion

My wife is flea market crazy. I don’t mean that she likes or is slightly interested in flea markets. Oh no, she’s completely and totally bonkers, nuts, out of her ever lovin’ skull, just can’t get enough of, crazy about flea markets. She has dragged me to the most God awful, disgusting, trashy yard sales, jumble sales, boot sales, garage sales and impromptu street markets in broken down Grange Halls, dilapidated industrial sites, abandoned warehouses, trash strewn vacant lots, very scary dead end streets and deserted parking garages in every city we have ever visited just so I can have the immense pleasure of gazing upon and fondling acres of other people’s useless and discarded junk.

Budapest has proven to be an exception to this otherwise nightmare scenario. Wendi has coerced me into two flea markets here and, I have to admit, they are terrific. Big, sprawling old school Markets, untouched by the tidal wave of cheap third world tshirts and trinkets. These are Markets were you can still find hidden gems and long forgotten items for a bygone era. Exactly the kind of Markets that made them popular to begin with.

Our first stop was at the Szechenyl Market is the middle of the large city park. The smaller of the two, Szechenyl has a bit of a yard sale feel but was still really interesting.

Will you hurry up!

Have to get one of these.

Our last visit was at the Ecseri Market and it is the pièce de résistance. Located in the suburbs southwest of Budapest, getting there required two Metro transfers and a 20 minute bus ride, but was well worth the effort. A truly terrific treasure trove.

Ecseri Market

Wash Station

Better hurry, this kind of market is rapidly disappearing.

The Secessionists

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Take my word for it, Secessionist Art is really cool. It was one of the Art Nouveau disciplines that was popular between 1890 and 1910 and slightly predates Art Deco and was huge in Budapest. This modernist artist group included the likes of Gustav Klimt and Karoly Lotz, They were renegades who separated from the support of official academic art and its administrations during this period.

The Kiss – Gustav Klimt

Woman Bathing – Karoly Lotz

Budapest, like both Berlin and Vienna, was a hot bed for this new and exciting art movement. Some of the country’s most famous architects designed buildings in this style. Some of them were inspired by traditional Hungarian decorative designs, Transylvanian traditions, or Far East (Indian or Syrian) styles.

One of our favorites is the Museum of Applied Arts, designed by Odon Lechner and Gyula Partos from 1893 – 1896. It is the third oldest applied arts museum in the world. It is currently showing a very exciting exhibit of Hungarian Posters from the 1920s called Bolder Than Painting.

More Art Nouveau Architecture

The Cold War

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25 years ago this poster would have landed you in prison.

For most Americans, unless of course you happened to work for the CIA or were unfortunate enough to have friends or relatives behind the Iron Curtain, the Cold War always remained a sort of conceptual notion, like the Boogie Man hiding in the closet that could burst forth at any moment and annihilate us all with hundreds of unseen thermonuclear devices, more of a threat then something real and tangible.

Not so for the Hungarians. After the Soviets drove the Nazis out at the end of WWII, the Communists held this place in a grip that was total and absolute and lasted over 40 years. In Hungary the Iron Curtain was not some scary ethereal miasma. Here it was very real, fashioned out of guns, spies, interrogation, propaganda and fear.

Iron Curtain Sculpture

Capitalism, with all it’s pluses and minuses, is now the system du jour and virtually all signs of Soviet domination have been eradicated with a few notable exceptions. Flea markets, where the sale of Soviet era paraphernalia, i.e. coats, hats, pins, etc., is an ongoing enterprise, and two museums, the House of Terror Museum and Momento Park, stand as constant reminders of life under the Communist boot.

The House of Terror, located at Andrássy útca 60, is a memorial to the victims of the fascist and communist dictatorial regimes who were detained, interrogated, tortured or killed in this building.

The House of Terror

Pictures of victims stretch the length of the building.

The Nazi’s took possession of this very fashionable location during WWII. When the Soviets and Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party took over, they expanded it to include almost the entire block and converted the basement into a labyrinth of cells and interrogation rooms.

Iron Curtain Sculpture

Memento Park is an open air museum about 20 minutes southeast of Budapest. It is filled with monumental statues from Hungary’s Communist period (1949–1989).

Main Entrance

Cubist monument of Marx and Engels.

Onward Comrades

Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Memorial

Together we will dominate the world.

Monument to the Martyrs of the Counter-Revolution

Break Free of Imperialist Tyranny.

The Republic of Councils Monument

The Republic of Councils Monument

The Hungarian Fighters in the Spanish International Brigades Memorial.

Red Army Soldier

Lenin Relief

Soviet Heroic Memorial

Soviet Heroic Memorial

Most notably absent are any statues of Stalin. Apparently all of them were destroyed after the Soviets fled in 1989. All that remains are Papa Joe’s boots.

Stalin’s Boots

And finally, just for scale.

Wendi is unintimidated.

Budapest – Our First Look Around

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Budapest is a great big, busy and exciting city. It’s the capital and largest city in Hungary, and one of the largest cities in the European Union, with a metropolitan population of 3.3 million.

View of Pest from the Dome on the National Gallery.

Budapest is a very beautiful place that is ranked as the most liveable Central and Eastern European city on EIU‘s quality of life index, “the world’s second best city” by Condé Nast Traveler, “Europe’s 7th most idyllic place to live” by Forbes, and the 9th most beautiful city in the world by UCityGuides.

View of Pest from the Dome on the National Gallery.

The Chain Bridge

We’ve rented a great little apartment, Liesel/Pierre, in a historic building at Szervita ter 5 in the center of downtown Budapest.

Szervita ter 5

Through here.

Across the courtyard.

We’re on the top floor.

Top floor.

And we’re there.

Come In To The Liesel/Pierre.

Now a walk around the neighborhood.

Parizsi Utca

Egyetemi Templom

Szervita ter 9

Szerb Utca

Vaci Utca

Veres Palne Utca

Eizsebet ter

Karpatia at Ferenciek tere 3-5

Deák Ferenc tér

Piarista Koz

Petofi Sandor Utca

Chocolate Shop

Fat Mo’s Speakeasy

The Central Market is one of Budapest’s great institutions. It’s cavernous and bustling and filled with food, clothes, gifts, wine, a great lunch and all things Hungarian.

The Central Market

The Wendi Files – Spanish Edition

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Everyone seems to enjoy peeking in on what Wendi’s up to and I guess that includes me, seeing I’m her resident stalker and personal paparazzi. So here’s the Spanish Edition, not quite as quirky as Holland and certainly not as inebriated as Ireland, but wacky nonetheless.

Benicassim Train Station

Right this way to Morella Castle.

Madrid.

At the Mercado Gin & Bar in Benicassim.

Nice tomatoes.

At the Puerta Sol in Madrid.

Santillana del Mar

With the Giants in Morella.

The Alhambra

Got to have those salt & vinegar chips.

Moving fast in Cordoba

Hey, down here.

At the winery in El Ceigo

Posing at the Monastery.

There’s wine on the way in Valencia.

Making new friends at the Parade.

Waiting for me at IVAM.

Her favorite house in Monstrol.

Bargain hunting at the Market.

Hard at work at the Rondo in Valencia.

Dress shop window.

See the blisters

Lunch at the Alhambra.

Our Spanish adventure is done. We’re off to Budapest tomorrow. See you there.

Morella Castle

Benicassim

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Benicassim Train Stop

The name, Benicassim, is derived from the Banu Qasim tribe, a segment of the Kutama Berbers, that settled the area during the 8th century Moorish conquest of Spain, although none of the original history survives. With a population of 18,098, the town is a beach resort who’s main economic activity comes from tourism. Benicassim has some of the most important artificial beaches in Europe and is famous for the music festivals FIB and Rototom SunSplash, which flood the town with thousands of visitors in July and August.

Vormar Beach

East of Benicassim

Benicassim has 6km of white sand beaches and a great promenade.

Grass Umbrellas

Things

The eastern end of the promenade is lined with villas from the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Villa Victoria. Renowned photographer Cartier Bresson is reputed to have spent a summer here.

Villa Pons

Villa Paquita

Villa Amparo

A little more thought might have gone into the placement of this tree?

The western end of the beach is dominated by high rise buildings from the 60s and 70s.

Edificio Helena

The Rambla

The ”Vía Verde” is a 5.5 km cyclist and walking coastal route that shows a natural rugged coast with beautiful coves and cliffs between the resort towns of Benicassim and Oropesa.

Vía Verde

This is clearly a Catholic nation. The saints seem to peek at you around every corner. Almost all the heritage sites have their roots in the church one way or another.

Santa Agueda

La Purisima Concepcion

Roadside Altar

That been said, we only bumped into one festival. We noticed on Saturday that the police had stopped all street parking downtown and barricaded off all the side streets. By Sunday morning they were covered with palm frond designs.

By noon all the bells started to ring, they struck up a dirge and the procession began.

Lighting candles

On a lighter note, a couple odds and ends.

As De Copas Delivery Truck

Valencia

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Plaza del Ayuntamiento

Valencia is a great city. It’s very old, founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC, Valencia has grown into Spain’s third largest city with a metropolitan area population of around 2.3 million.

Although it doesn’t feel like a huge place. The historic center has a very small city vibe with wide boulevards linked together by small streets and pedestrian passageways filled with traditional cafes, tabernas and specialty shops. A lot of the sidewalks in the city center are marble and, boy howdy, they feel good under foot.

City Hall and Plaza del Ayuntamiento

City Hall

Plaza de la Riena and the Miguelete, the Cathedral Bell Tower.

Santa Catalina

Street Band

Even the underside of the balconies are tiled.

At the end of the 15th century the Silk Exchange (Llotja de la Seda) or La Lonja was erected as the city became a commercial emporium that attracted merchants from all over Europe.

La Lonja

La Lonja’s vaulted ceiling.

La Lonja’s guilded ceiling.

La Lonja’s gothic windows.

La Lonja

La Lonja’s courtyard

Estacion del Norte is the city’s main train station. Fast, easy and filled with some great tile work.

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Estacion del Norte

Plaza Redonda is a lovely circular market traditionally used to sell lace, fabric and millinery goods.

Plaza Redonda

Plaza Redonda

Plaza Redonda

Just a few loose ends.

This translates to “particular pitch”?

Filiberto Leon’s Watches

Main Post Office Mail Slots

And finally, this is Manolo Montoliu standing proudly outside the Plaza de Toros, Valencia’s Bullring.

Manolo Montoliu

Manolo was a bullfighter and flagman who was killed on May 1, 1992 by the bull Cabatisto in the bullring of the Royal Cavalry of Seville. You know what they say about messing with the bull… See for yourself.

Bullfighting is still very popular in Spain and people line up here to purchase tickets for upcoming spectacles.

BruceWPeterson Photography

Explore The World

Category Archives: Tourism

A Few Frayed Ends

Riding the Rails

Market Mania

The Secessionists

The Cold War

Budapest – Our First Look Around

The Wendi Files – Spanish Edition

Morella Castle

Benicassim

Valencia