December 16, 2010
Budapest – Libegő chairlift, János Hill, Elizabeth Tower (Erzsébet-kilátó), House of Parliament, and Heroes Square (Hősök tere)
Final day and first thing we were off to the House of Parliament to get tickets for a tour. We arrived at about 10am only to find the line waiting for tickets stretched forever and ever. Two years ago a booth stood outside the building where you could walk up and buy tickets. Now, the ticket office has been moved inside the building, and when we got there guards were only letting a couple of people in at a time. When we got in there, we found out why – the ticket office is tiny and doesn’t fit many people. I’m not sure why they’ve changed this way of ticketing – the old way seemed to work well, whereas this one is obviously failing. Anyway, after waiting and waiting, we got our tickets for a later tour. We had a couple of hours to pass so we raced across the river (thanks Budapest metro!) and out to the Libegő. Thankfully, we’d been up Libegő before, so we knew that getting there was a bit of an effort – you catch the metro to the Buda side of the river, to Moszkva Tér. From there, you can jump on Bus #22 or #22E and get off at Kuruclesi út. From there, head into Zugligeti út – you can either wait for the #291 Bus to take you to the end of the street, or you can walk the rest of the way (a bit under a km). Near the end of the street there’s the Libegő station where you can purchase your ticket – around 500HUF single or 1000HUF return ticket. This was something else that seemed a bit more organised and commercialised than last time we visited Budapest – there was actually an organised ticket booth at the lower station (last time we just jumped on and paid at the top). Once you’ve got your ticket, follow everyone else outside and follow the instructions to hop on the next available seat. It’s always a great view out over Budapest on the way up, but even better when you’re coming back down.
Once up the top of János Hill, head up the hill further to Elizabeth Tower (Erzsébet-kilátó) which is a lookout providing amazing views out over Budapest. On a clear day you can see over to the far side of the city and it’s great to get an idea of the layout of the city. The tower gives 360 degree views so you are also able to see some of the small surrounding towns.
Budapest- Elizabeth Tower views
Once we’d come back down the Libegő, we had just a couple of minutes left to duck into the little refreshment stand next to the chairlift station (it’s an old rail car) and stop for a Lángos – a Hungarian specialty – deep fried bread-type thing topped with sour cream, garlic and grated cheese. Definitely enough oil there to stop a heart but oh-so-yum! From there it was a quick dash over to the next bus back into town, and back to the Parliament building in time for our tour.
The Parliament building was something we just hadn’t gotten around to seeing previously, but had heard good things. I was quite surprised to find that they’re perfectly happy for you to take photos through all stages of the tour. The tour takes you through several areas of the Building and is very interesting – both the history of the building, along with bits of information about various rulers, and why things were done the way they were. The building is spectacularly decorated. We also got to see the Hungarian crown jewels along with the changing of the guards who look after them. Cost of the tour is 2520HUF but if you’re interested in learning some more about Hungarian history it’s well worth it.
Budapest - Parliament 1
Budapest - Parliament 2
Our last stop for the day was Heroes Square (Hősök tere) – again something we’d missed during our previous Budapest visit. Just the metro trip to get there was interesting – it was the first time I’d been on the yellow metro line (M1) – I hadn’t realised that being the oldest metro line in Budapest, all the stations are done in older style with tiling on the walls and timber features. Very nice.
Heroes Square was I guess what I had been expecting – a large square with lots of statues. It was only once I started walking around the square that I realised some of the significance. The figures around the base of the “cenotaph” in the middle of the square represent the Magyar chieftains who are considered to have founded the Hungarian nation, and the figures around the edges of the square represent other famous figures from Hungarian history.
Budapest - Heroes Square
