[WanderLex] My trips to Europe

[WanderLex]

If there’s only one thing you can see in Budapest, let it be Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd). Definitely the most famous bridge in Hungarian capital for a good reason, and it’s my favourite structure in Budapest besides the Parliament Building. The Chain Bridge looks awesome all day long but its magical charm goes up by another notch when night falls.

That’s when the surrounding buildings and streets light up along with it…simply awesome! Everywhere I turned was good photo opportunities which motivated me to soldier on the very windy and freaking cold night. Now, if only I can capture great photos like the pros…oh well…

#61: Széchenyi Chain Bridge

#62: Széchenyi Chain Bridge from far

#63: Széchenyi Chain Bridge from Buda Castle

 

[WanderLex]

The beautiful St. Stephen’s Basilica looks impressive from any angle. It was originally designed in neo-classical style but ended up in neo-renaissance style upon completion, due to the change of architects. Exactly the same as Budapest Parliament Building at 96 meters, symbolizes the balance between religion and state. And because of that, no structure in Budapest is allowed to be built taller than the two. The admission is free but there’s a donation box by the entrance.

#64: Side view of St. Stephen’s Basilica

#65: St. Stephen’s Basilica

#66: Floor patterns

#67: Altar of St. Stephen's Basilica

#68: Dome of St. Stephen's Basilica

 

[WanderLex]

Once you make it to the observation deck, it will reward you with a 360 degree view of Budapest. I totally dig that, seeing the city from above is one of my favourite things when traveling. So I spent quite a bit of time up here and walked around the deck several times to enjoy the beautiful panorama.

#69: Great view from St. Stephen's Basilica

#70: View from St. Stephen's Basilica observation deck

 

[WanderLex]

Freedom Square (Szabadság tér) is a rather interesting place to me where seemingly, the duels between Communism VS Democracy are fought in silence, or rather, with concrete and bronze. Taking centre stage at Freedom Square is a Soviet monument, possibly the very few remaining ones in Budapest that occupies such prominent place.

#71: Around Freedom Square

#72: Red Army Monument

The intentions to take down the monument were unfruitful after Russia protested about the soldiers buried under it. And that’s when other contrary-meaning monuments were built, perhaps to alter the obelisk’s meaning. One of them is a bronze statue of former American President Ronald Reagan. The statue looks to be walking towards the obelisk or the American Embassy Building behind it. Whichever the case, the Soviet monument is now flanked by the former President and the Embassy. Not that subtle huh?

#73: Ronald Reagan statue

Another one is a statue of Imre Nagy, a national hero during Hungary’s anti-Soviet 1956 uprising. With his back against the Soviet monument, he gazes towards Hungary’s democracy symbol – the Hungarian Parliament building.

#74: Statue of Imre Nagy

#75: Imre Nagy and the bridge

Read more: http://www.wanderlex.com/hungarian-parliament-building/

 

[WanderLex]

Just in front of the Parliament building is the huge Kossuth Lajos Square (Kossuth Lajos tér). The well maintained grassy square is surrounded by nice looking buildings and well placed monuments.

#76: Kossuth Lajos Square

#77: Museum of Ethnography

But of course, the star here is Hungarian Parliament building. Standing neck to neck with St. Stephen Basilica at 96 meters as the joint tallest structures in Budapest. Construction began in 1885 with intention to commemorate Hungary’s millennium in 1896 but it wasn’t completed until 1904. Upon completion, the sheer magnitude of this magnificent building has dominate the Budapest’s skyline ever since.

#78: Attila Jozse statue

#79: Hungarian Parliament building

 

[WanderLex]

More shots on Hungarian Parliament House

#80: Hungarian Parliament House blue hour

#81: Hungarian Parliament House at night

#82: Hungarian Parliament House and Chain Bridge

 

[WanderLex]

Along the edge of promenade, not far from the Parliament building is the memorial made up of sixty pairs of rusty-looking shoes. It serves to remind the brutality of Arrow Cross militiamen towards Hungarian Jews. Victims were brought here to face the river and forced to remove their shoes by militiamen, before being shot in the back and washed away by the freezing Danube…

There are shoes of men, women and even children…such brutality is inhumane and yet it happened…what world are we living in? I was near tears after seeing those tiny shoes and all I can offer is a prayer…

#83: The Shoes and Parliament Building

#84: Women Shoes on the Danube

#85: Shoes on the Danube

 

[WanderLex]

The Children’s Railway (Gyermekvasút) which operates at Buda Hill is run mainly by children aged 10-14 under the supervision of adult railway workers. Besides engine being driven by adults, children handle jobs like tickets sales, traffic management and various other railway operations.

The world’s longest railway of its kind has been running since 1940’s and was initiated by the Soviet for children to learn about railway operations as an extracurricular activity. The communists wanted children to have a taste for responsibility and perhaps also meant to be an avenue for propaganda as well. But I think it’s laudable for the Hungarians to keep the heritage railways running after the fall of Iron Curtain.

#86: Children’s Railways ticket counter

#87: Young workers

#88: Ticket conductor

#89: Working at Children's Railways

#90: The handsome one

 

[shouyi]

Agree with you that the buildings there are awesome!

I noticed you shot lots of wide angle. I just pick up one wide zoom myself and trying to pick up some skills using it. Mind sharing the gear that you brought for your trip?

 

[WanderLex]

Agree with you that the buildings there are awesome!

I noticed you shot lots of wide angle. I just pick up one wide zoom myself and trying to pick up some skills using it. Mind sharing the gear that you brought for your trip?

Sorry for the late reply. Yes...most of my shots will be wide angle...not enough courage to capture people/street...sigh

The gears during this trip were Pentax K5 and DA 12-24/F4.0

 

[Justintime]

Wow Budapest. Lovely list of countries. Please post more! The architecture there is beautiful. Hungarian Parliament House looks amazing.

Hmm did you managed to get any blue hour or golden shots ? Would looked great !

 

[WanderLex]

Wow Budapest. Lovely list of countries. Please post more! The architecture there is beautiful. Hungarian Parliament House looks amazing.

Hmm did you managed to get any blue hour or golden shots ? Would looked great !

Thanks Justintime! Only managed to get this...

More shots on Hungarian Parliament House

#80: Hungarian Parliament House blue hour

 

[WanderLex]

Heroes’ Square (Hősök tere) also known as Millennium Monument because of the Corinthian column at the square which was erected to mark the thousandth anniversary of Hungary. Standing atop of the imposing column is a statue of Archangel Gabriel holding St. Stephen’s Crown and a two-barred apostolic cross. Encircling the column below are the statues of seven Magyar tribes’ leaders.

#91: Statue of Archangel Gabriel

Whereas flanking both sides of the column are colonnades with statues of notable people in Hungarian history.

#92: Both sides of the column

But what attracted me the most is the geometric patterns on the ground, which I thought was brilliantly designed. Because the geometric patterns give a different perspectives depending on how you frame the shot.

#93: Geometric patterns 1

#94: Geometric patterns 2

 

[WanderLex]

I also witnessed the most beautiful sunset during my time in Budapest here.

#95: Sunset at Millennium Monument

#96: Sunset at Heroes Square

#97: Gorgeous sunset at Millennium Monument

#98: Gorgeous sunset at Heroes Square

 

[WanderLex]

Located at the heart of City Park, Vajdahunyad castle was built for Hungary’s millennium exhibition. However, the initial castle structure was actually made up of just wooden planks and cardboard! The Dracula’s Transylvania inspired castle was only reconstructed with permanent materials later, all thanks to its popularity.

#99: Vajdahunyad Castle

#100: Entrance to Vajdahunyad Castle

The artificial lake around Vajdahunyad Castle is used for boating in the summer and ice skating rink in the winter.

#101: Ice skating rink

 

[WanderLex]

Upon entering, the various architectural styles found inside the castle compound left me confused. It’s like a big melting pot with unusual combination of Gothic, Renaissance, Romanesque and Baroque all coming as one. This architectural fusion doesn’t really work for me…

#102: Gothic Vajdahunyad Castle

#103: Romanesque Church

#104: Baroque museum

In the courtyard sits the statue of Anonymous.

#105: Statue of Anonymous

Maybe it’s me but the empty castle is a little spooky after sunset, so I quickly moved to check out the neo-Baroque styled Széchenyi Baths within the City Park. And no, I didn't try the bath, it's just not my thing...

It's also my last night in Budapest and I will definitely miss it.

#106: Széchenyi Baths

 

[WanderLex]

The scheduled time from Budapest to Belgrade reads departure at 22:29 and arrival at 06:06. Next phase of my solo travel begins upon boarding the train. Unlike the excitement that filled me when I arrived in Budapest, the departure was total opposite – anxiety ruled the night. On hindsight, perhaps I was being paranoid but a simple google research will tells about many negative experiences of travellers who took the infamous overnight train between Budapest to Belgrade.

The train has a shady reputation where stories of useless door locks, stolen luggage, missing passports, corrupt border officials, robbers, money scams are common. Even travel forummers advised me to board the day train instead. But somehow, the little adventurer in me wanted it and I really don’t want to spend 8 hours on the train during daytime.

#107: Budapest Keleti railway station

#108: Departing from Budapest to Belgrade

The train definitely has seen better days and was nowhere near modern. My train conductor was a friendly old man who speaks some English and he showed me my compartment in the dimly lighted old train.

#109: Inside the train to Belgrade

And that’s when I was presented to my 1st Class single Bedder compartment. Ok, well… it’s not too bad though it was kinda dirty. The middle bed partition was folded up to convert into a single compartment. There wasn’t any electricity until much later of the journey. The toilet is forgettable – it was plain horrible. It’s also hard to rest well on the not-so-comfortable makeshift bed. For the price I paid, it’s really expensive but I will just take this as an experience.

#110: Single Bed compartment

Read more: http://www.wanderlex.com/overnight-train-from-budapest-to-belgrade/#ixzz3yDkLnMMQ

 

[WanderLex]

It’s barely 6 am when the train slowed down as it approaches Belgrade Glavna station (Beograd Glavna Železnička Stanica). With that meant I have survived the infamous overnight train from Budapest to Belgrade with a tired body and nothing more, yeah!

#111: Arriving at Belgrade Glavna station

#112: Train display at Glavna station

I’m eager to check out the white city which was once the capital of Yugoslavia. The larger country of Yugoslavia has since parted way and become countries that we know today like Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. It’s a rather complicated past if you read about their war-torn history but everyone seems good now except for Serbia and Kosovo. For me, I just can’t wait to find out more about the present Belgrade.

Yet, I waited almost an hour for the station’s money changer to open, while trying to shake off the image of the train’s horrible toilet.

#113: Belgrade Glavna station

Bus and tram stops near the railway station seem to be rather busy, with Serbians going through their typical work day.

#114: Tram at Beograd

After loading up with Serbian dinar, breakfast was at an old-school-looking Restoran Romanija near to the station. The waiter, an elderly gentleman who speaks some English recommended ham omelette, saying that’s the common local’s breakfast.

#115: Breakfast at Restoran Romanija

Read more: http://www.wanderlex.com/what-about-belgrade/#ixzz3yDnAB5Bn

 

[WanderLex]

What I didn’t expect was a dramatic sight of two particular building ruins while walking towards St Sava, something which I have not seen anywhere else in Europe. Both are definitely not war memorial or museum – else they would have been mentioned in the official Belgrade Tourist Map (which I gotten at the railway station).

A quick check with Google later on explained those were former government buildings for Defence Ministry of Yugoslavia. The damages were inflicted during the bombing of Belgrade by NATO forces back in 1999 and have been left standing since.

#116: Former government building ruins

Unmistakably, there were a few soldiers patrolling around the building ruins. One of them saw me taking photo and tried crossing the busy street towards my direction. Thank goodness for the peak hour traffic, I quickly walked away and the solider didn’t pursue…I heaved a sigh of relief. But I sneaked back later to take a couple more pictures – behind the trees. I guess discreet is the word, since the soldiers don’t seem to like people taking photo of the bombed buildings, whatever the reason.

#117: Former government building ruins

#118: Former government building ruins

#119: Former government building ruins

#120: Former government building ruins

Read more: http://www.wanderlex.com/what-about-belgrade/#ixzz3yDrQzt2g

 

[WanderLex]

Besides being a well-known shopping street in Belgrade, Knez Mihailova Street or Prince Mihailo Street is also regarded as a landmark with great cultural importance. Named after Mihailo Obrenovic III, the lively street is a great place to feel the city’s pulse, people watch or laze at one of the many cafés.

#121: Knez Mihailova Street

#122: Along Knez Mihailova Street

#123: Mobile Ads

#124: Art exhibition 1

#125: Art exhibition 2

Read more: http://www.wanderlex.com/the-street-of-knez-mihailova/#ixzz3zqT4X98a