Last bits of the Castle District and the Citadel

Surrounding the Bastion is a few more things to see so I wandered around the streets for a bit. I found a military museum that had these cannons just hanging out on a display. You didn't even need to go into the museum to see them. More museums need to follow this business plan.

And I found another church, but it was sort of boarded up. I mean I couldn't get in and by the looks of it no one else has gotten in for a little bit.

Then I stopped by a tourist info center to ask for some directions and saw a pamphlet for some labyrinths underneath the palace. I had heard about these and other caves beneath the castle area and figured this must be them and they were just down the street. I got a student price ticket and entered, expecting to get a neat little lesson under the castle. Instead I found myself here.

No explanations. Just dark corridors which someone painted some "ancient" pictographs on. Every now and then you would find stone guards.

Or sculptures, like this one of a guy and the one horse that "gets" him.

Or this one which they used to try and lure Peter Jackson to Budapest to shoot the Helm's Deep scenes. Good thing it didn't work.

One area smelled really funky and I couldn't understand why until I turned the corner and found the king's secret winery. Still flowing after all these years.

And it all ended with an exhibit of "new" artifacts that they recently uncovered of a different civilization. It had finds like this:

Thats right, a civilization of ancient giants that loved caffeinated soft drinks. Actually it was an exhibit trying to ask the question "What will future explorers and historians find from our civilization?". It was sort of a little shot at consumerism. I still don't know where the giant cokes come from or where to find them. At this point I was seriously questioning the scientific and historic credentials of this place. At least it was nice and cool. I finished up here by taking on the "Labyrinth of Courage" which was a dark room that challenged you to make your way to a small spot of light at the far end. You had to hold onto a small rope to get there. It is advised that if you are claustrophobic or pregnant that you don't go inside so its the real deal. I totally made it and in record time I think. After exiting the labyrinth I found out this whole place is more geared towards kids. Unbelievable. I signed the guest book with "Not sure what I just saw, but thanks!" It appears that even by yourself you are not immune to tourist traps.

After hanging around all this for awhile I decided to head down the hill and see what the rest of Buda had to offer me. I took off down some of the local streets, put my map away, and walked with purpose, blending right in.

At the bottom of the hill was a small plaza with a pretty big church, named St. Anna I think. It reminds me of every church next to the main city plaza of every Argentine town I stepped foot in.

And just down the road from it was a smaller church.

If I had to pick one of these 2 churches to attend and all I was going on was looks I would go with this second one. It is smaller and certainly more unique in my opinion. Plus there was a nice lady outside it playing fetch with her German Shepherd which probably weighed more than she did.

From here I got on a tram and looked for a bus to take me up the hill on the far side to the Citadel. This is some sort of fort right on the top of the hill. It offers some great views of the city.

It has a nice park on one side.

And newer cannons surrounding the fort.

At the end of the fort, right on the edge of the hill is what someone told me or I read is the Hungarian Statue of Liberty. It is quite a bit smaller than ours.

It is at the top of a small pillar and really promotes a quality of liberty. It is accompanied on the left and right side by more statues. On its right is this peaceful one.

And on its left...

HOLY COW!!! That guy is pummeling a hydra with his fists! All this on "Liberty Hill". I would have had those other 2 statues step aside and just have all the attention on Hercules here.

I returned back towards my hotel on the Chain bridge which was set up now for a festival.

The bridge was lined with little arts and craft stands with stages set up on both sides of the bridge and right in the middle of the bridge were these 2 guys.

I thought they only had bagpipes in Scotland, but the one on the left is playing some sort of leather bagpipe. The other is playing a super hurdy gurdy, the envy of your typical hurdy gurdy.

Also on both sides of the bridge they had large food booths set up.

Everything was being cooked in these huge frying pans. I had some of the stuff that was in that left pan. It eventually had some tomatoes and peppers added to it. It was pretty good.

And that was it for me in the Castle District. My conference was starting that night so I needed to head back, but getting back to my hotel from here is an entirely different story best left for another day. Stay tuned.