Run For The Hill

Whilst in Budapest, we made a spur of the moment decision to take a run to the top of Gellért Hill, a large mound sitting right next to the Danube. The highest point in Budapest, the hill is named after a bishop, Saint Gerard, who had a run in about 1000 years ago with some pagans that stuffed him in a barrel and threw him down the hill. This is a large eight-photo panorama of Buda and Pest (pronounced 'pesht'), the two cities that now are one, taken from the hill. In this picture, Buda is on the left, and Pest is on the right of the river. Double-click to get a better view. Our hotel is near the right hand side of the bridge you can see in the middle of the shot.

There is a monument to Gellért on the side of the hill. It is visible from much of the city and portrays Gellért with a cross in one hand that is out-stretched towards the city. A pagan begs for salvation at his feet. A natural spring feeds a waterfall that forms the backdrop of the site.

The top of the hill now houses a hotel, restaurants, and more than enough tourist trap vendors and attractions -- most of which is inside the Citadella. The Citadel was a fortress built using forced Hungarian labor by the ruling Austrians to intimidate the city below. They kept cannons pointed at the city in case the locals ever revolted. It later served as a Soviet military post during WWII, from which the Soviets could fire into the city.

We ate lunch on top, in the aptly named Citadel Restaurant. I think we may have been the only customers but the food was very good if only a bit expensive. I had veal paprika (braised veal in a savoury paprika sauce) with small dumplings (like German spaetzle) that were tossed with egg (2). The missus had veal tenderloin with a sour cream-based dill and caper sauce (2) -- garlic mashed potatoes on the side. Like a lot of the main courses here, it was all very filling! From here, we decided to walk all the way down and then up the next hill over, Castle Hill (in the wide shot up top, you can see Castle Hill -- it holds the giant buildings middle left), to burn off some of the lunch. Whew.

Cheers!