Saturday 23rd September
Another sunny morning greets us this morning, we had expected rain and cold again today. After breakfast we decide to take another shorter stroll around, first to top up our cold medications and then to St. Stephens Basilica a major church in Budapest, out of the many to be found here. By the time we leave dark threatening clouds have moved in crowding out the sun. The nearby pharmacy is closed, but a there are plenty of shops around inviting us to continue our search. We walk through to the Joseph Nador Plaza we visited yesterday in our suitcase hunt, there are plenty of people out and about, coffee shops and restaurants with outside tables are starting to attract customers. We venture across the plaza into a flashy shopping street, nicknamed “Fashion Street” the street is filled with fashion outlets as one might expect given the name also souvenir shops and restaurants with outdoor seating. Actually the street is a cobbled stoned mall that’s easy to stroll down, look up and you see the magnificent facades of the buildings above here mostly renovated. Still no sign of a pharmacy we walk through to a main road that links up to the painted white Elizabeth bridge another that crosses the Danube to the Buda side.
We turn away from that direction and spot a pharmacy, very different than at home, we enter and queue to talk to an assistant who when our turn comes helps us select items we would just normally pull off the shelf at home. A light rain has started to fall, just a shower we hope, we put up our hoods as we didn’t bring out the umbrellas today and continue on through the back streets on our way to St Stephens. On our way we catch a glimpse of a Ferris wheel apparently a new city acquisition erected in Erzsebet/Elizabeth square just this year and standing 65 meters high, not at all tempted to ride it we continue on eventually emerging into Szent Istvan/St. Stephens Square.
This Roman Catholic church built in a neo classical style was completed in 1905 after taking fifty four years to build. It was named after Stephen the 1st a King of Hungary from 975-1038, who was canonised in 1083 for his efforts in promoting Christianity throughout the region.
The wind has whipped up and the showers although light are persistent, we head back towards the hotel just now a block away. Buildings of past grandeur sit un-renovated, alongside beautifully restored ones. At its peak this was a grand city, now the slow job of renovation continues, the task a massive one with just the sheer quantity of buildings damaged during the war.
At street level on our stroll we pass crumbling facades some still blackened from fire damage some with the evidence of bullet holes and shrapnel still clearly visible, then there are facades undergoing renovation with exquisite detail being painstakingly reproduced.
We quicken our pace as the weather is deteriorating, outside not the best place for us to be while trying to ward off our colds. We are soon back in the warmth and comfort of our hotel suite. Packing for our departure our main goal for the day, we will eat in, fortify ourselves for our departure tomorrow, a two hour flight to Helsinki then an eleven hour one to Singapore.