Day 8 - The tour of the Balkans commences (Saturday 20th April 2024)

As described yesterday, today is officially Day One of the the Intrepid Travel Balkans and Dalmatia tour. But that doesn’t actually happen until 6:00pm so we have another full day to explore the city.

A coffee sitting in a comfy chair by a huge window with the sunlight streaming in up on Terez Bvd started the day. A visit to our Vietnamese friend for some housekeeping items was next and then a stroll down to one of the most prominent landmarks in the city – St. Steven’s Basilica – just the shortest of walks away.

We walked through the square and past the Basilica on our walking tour on Wednesday so today’s objective was to see the interior. As is usual at attractions of this type there is a wide variety of pricing available to patrons, depending on one’s station in life. We requested two tickets from the cashier and, without any hint from us, she assumed that we were requesting Seniors (over 65yo) tickets so she sold us a pair of those. Apart from the 20% discount we received, I’m still not sure if being bracketed in the “Seniors” cohort by default is such a good thing. Oh well, you take ‘em when you can get ’em.

The interior of the church is truly amazing. Wow! was the first word that passed my lips when I gazed at the splendour before me upon entry. To be a basilica, a church must be laid out in the shape of the crucifix with a dome at the intersection point with the dome is supported by magnificent arches ion all side. St. Steven’s is technically not a basilica because it’s not laid out in a crucifix shape. It’s actually laid out like a plus (+) sign. However, a visiting Pope remarked upon his visit to the church “What a magnificent basilica you have built”. The local clergy were not about to contradict his eminence, so a basilica it became. Oh well, you take ‘em when you can get ‘em!

 

 

 

 

Kerry found a pew to sit in to admire the building and I went to find the stairs to the top of the dome. I didn’t count the steps of the marble circular stair-case which led to the base of the dome but my knees told me there were lots! Up there is a whole other world with countless rooms and passages to explore. There’s even a little museum of ancient church artefacts including magnificent gold and silver pieces that pertain to the Mass as well as exquisitely embroidered clerical garments. After that I took to the narrow iron circular stair-case to finish the climb. The view of Pest from there is unbeatable, the circular walkway providing access to 360 degree views of the city and the nearby parts of Buda on the other side of the Danube. Definitely worth the effort of the climb. I passed on the elevator ride back to ground level and took the winding stair-cases back down.

Emily had mentioned that a visit to the New York Cafe in Erzsébet St (the self-proclaimed “Most Beautiful Cafe in the World”) would be worth a visit. We had intended to do so while she was with us but, alas, time ran out. So, now was a good time to make good on that plan and file a report back to Manchester. Sitting in the square outside the Basilica I loaded a couple of 90-minute tickets in our phones and took the short walk to the Deak Ferenc station. There we found an elevator at the rear of the forecourt that went straight to the platform two floors below street level. How handy was that! We followed a young local chap down a long tunnel that led to Platform 2, a train arrived and we jumped on. Two stop later we alighted at Blaha Lujza ter station, rode the long and steep escalator to the top to be greeted by the subway ticket inspectors. The inspector advised that we had neglected to validate our tickets before we boarded the train so we were therefore in breach of the law and a heavy fine was about to be levied. Despite our protestations that we didn’t see any validation points along out somewhat obscure journey to the platform our pleas for leniency fell on deaf ears. The inspector showed us a photograph of the location of the validation point half-way along the tunnel. A little box on the side of the wall which we had completely missed. At the time we were intent on keeping up with the young chap we rode the elevator with because he clearly knew where he was going. As if trying to make us feel a bit better she said that we were lucky because our fine was less than half of what a local would have been slugged. We paid the fine by contactless card payment (how b!@@dy convenient !) and we were on our way. Not happy, Jan!!

The queue outside the cafe moved very quickly and after 15 minutes we were the next to be seated. The cafe was very busy but the little orchestra playing up on the mezzanine helped maintain an air of calm and grace. We ordered our simple tea and cake and enjoyed watching the diners dine and the waiters wait. A breakdown in communication during the ordering process saw pot of tea, a pistachio tart, a teapot with just hot water in it (no tea) and an Irish coffee arrive at our table. The Irish Coffee was not ordered by us and some tea with the hot water would be handy. The Irish Coffee was whisked away and after a few minutes a second pot if tea arrived. We enjoyed our tea while admiring the quite splendid décor and ambience of the cafe – not unlike the Library we visited yesterday. To be fair, the owners of the New York Cafe do have some reasonable grounds upon which to make their claim of being “The Most Beautiful Cafe in the World”. The head waiter erase the second pot of tea, the pot of hot water and the non-ordered Irish Coffee from our bill, which was a nice gesture and the sign of a good establishment.

With a really expensive 90-minute transport ticket to get the most out of we jumped on the next tram going past the cafe, making sure we validated our ticket before we boarded! We didn’t know or care where the tram went, we just knew were going to ride it to the end if the line. As it turned out it went up Terez Blvd past our street, over the Danube past Margaret Island (more about that tomorrow) and then around the other side of the escarpment upon which the Buda castle district sits eventually terminating adjacent to the Szell Kalman ter station near the end of the M2 subway line. We wandered around here for a short while then found a cafe the made doner kebabs so we gave into the temptation and enjoyed one sitting out in the street near the tram stop. Our 90-minute ticket was about to expire so we jumped on the next tram back to our neighbourhood.

At 6:00pm we attended our scheduled meeting with the rest of the group and our tour leader, Ivana. There are fourteen in this trip half are Australians, a couple of Americans, a Canadian, a Kiwi, a Swiss and a couple Poms. All are 50+ except for young Charlotte from Diamond Creek who’s on a round the world journey apparently. Six of the group had just finished a Central European tour with Intrepid a few days ago. After the meeting formalities were dine we gathered in the hotel lobby and walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.