We began with two days in Budapest. It is a lovely city and would make a good place for a short city break. Unfortunately it is also full of tourists and we did rather feel we were part of the mass tourist industry.
I cannot bear my photos being full of people's heads so I tended to concentrate on taking shots of details. The Matthias church on top of the hill in Buda has been totally rebuilt following war damage and now contains some really good painted walls and wall paintings.
The pillars also had very interesting painted decoration:
I was quite proud of taking these photos with no flash, just by increasing the ISO, taking a deep breath and leaning against something if possible.
The outside of the church is highly decorated and has some interesting tile patterns on the roof.
We had a half day coach tour of the main tourist spots but we were free for the rest of the two days. Unfortunately I am now finding steps and staircases a bit problematic so I was not able to go to some places that I fancied such as the Ethnographic Museum. This is situated in an old house so there are lots of steps up to the entrance and I have to be very careful about falling down steps. So I walked around the area where the hotel was situated and if you look hard, you can find all sorts of interesting architectural features.
These sails were the roof of a paved area in the park across the road. They have distinctive gratings in the pavement which tell you what services are below. This one is electricity
and this one is the postal service.
In the park opposite the hotel I found a 'sculpture' of padlocks. I am not sure what it was but the padlocks have wonderful potential for design.
It has taken me ages to edit my photos so Day 2 of Budapest will be in the next posting.
