Castle Hill

Hello Everyone! 

It's our final day exploring Budapest and it seems like we saved the best for last. Today we hopped over the river again to explore Castle Hill, which is a World Heritage Site. This is the oldest part of the capital from 1247 onwards, except during occupation. Even today the State's Presidential Office is still here, along with the National Gallery and Buda Castlee.

First, we went to Matthias Church, which was the second largest church of medieval Buda and even briefly became a mosque during the Ottoman empire occupation. Matthias Corvinus was a military king, and he seemed to be the star of the show in this district. Often we'd find sculptures of ravens holding rings that represented him. Apparently there's a famous legend that Matthais' mother sent a raven with a ring when he became king. The raven flew nonstop from Translyvania to Prague to notify him. Afterwards the symbol of a raven with a ring then became their family crest and Matthais was crowned King of the Ravens. It became a fun game to try and find the ravens around the district. 

Mom and I really enjoyed walking around the entire district, even the government buildings like the ones below were beautiful. If I basically went to a castle every day for work I just might work a government job too lol.

Then we stopped for some coffee and cake. My barista even made a bird (possibly a raven?) in my cappuccino. The cake was another traditional Hungarian torte, but this time it was spiced, almost like a Christmas cake but not quite. 

We had panoramic views of the city for most of our walk which was amazing. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos inside the National Gallery, so you'll just have to view the outside. But, if you ever look up their art, you'll see that their paintings are particularly dark. I thought it was because it was exposed to too much smoke, but actually, artists painted the canvases black before even beginning their painting. Hundreds of years later and the black has mixed in with the pigment on top of it making the colors very dull and dark, so now the portraits and landscapes all look quite sad and dreary. 

We then stopped for a quick snack but could only eat two things on the menu, fries and langos. Langos is fried dough topped with sour cream and cheese, it was interesting to try but not my favorite. Also, their sauce on the side was basically thousand island dressing! Isn't it so strange how cultures and communities can be so different and yet exactly the same?

Since the stables is no longer functioning the guards transport their horses onto the hill with a trailer. Then they proceed with the changing of the guard ceremony in front of the President's office, and then transport the horses back to the stables in a trailer. The horses have the easiest job ever!

We also passed by King Matthias' fountain on our way back to the church for our concert! 

Every morning mom and I have really been enjoying the artists that come and play at breakfast. So, after a quick google search I found out there was a small concert in Matthias Church that night. Mom and I bought tickets that morning and the show ended up being phenomenal. These musicians have traveled all around the world and the soloist has won multiple awards for his skills. They played pieces of almost twenty different famous classical songs. After having spent so many years listening to classical music with mom and playing classical instruments during my childhood, it was a new experience to listen to these pieces live knowing their background and history. The church was beautiful and the acoustics were great. Mom and I couldn't stop smiling the entire way home!

Tomorrow we'll be traveling to Vienna, I can't wait to update you then!

Lots of love, 
Carolyn