Visegrád

Yesterday we made a trip to Videgrád, a small town a couple of hours north of Budapest. This is the historical site of the original royal castle, and later a royal palace. It took us 3 hours to get there. Mainly because Meike told us to get off the bus 2 stops too early. So we ended up spending some time sunbathing in this nice little village:


We watched the boats on the river and the weather was nice, so it wasn't too bad. After some 50 minutes we caught the next bus and finally arrived in Viségrad and immediately started the climb up to the castle. The town is really nice, but unfortunately this is the only picture I have:


The first part of the path had these stone reliefs along it:


The path is very steep, and was quite hot, so it wasn't all to inspiring to have the last day of Jesus' life paraded in front of you. Eventually we came to the top of what turned out to be a rather small hill (even though it felt like climbing a mountain), and there stood a single wooden cross:


And then another stone:


And finally a small shrine, presumably dedicated to the resurrection of Christ:


After another 40 minutes of walking up the mountain we finally arrived, drenched in sweat, at the castle and a fantastic view. This picture does not even nearly describe how beautiful this place is!


In the castle, that lay mostly in ruins, there is an exhibition about the medieval Hungary. I can upload the pictures to my MediaFire account if you want. Walking down the mountain did not produce as much sweat, but a fair amount of adrenalin. Imagine walking down a steep path covered in acorns! On the way down we passed a mostly reconstructed tower:


From the left you can see Scott, Jeremy, Mareike and Lena. Meike is standing behind me. Unfortunately we did not have time to eat at the restaurants by the river, because we had to catch the last ferry to Budapest.


Finally we arrived in Buda, opposite the Parliament at 7 pm, very tired and very hungry.


On the whole a very successful trip, I'd say. The price for the whole trip, including the boat trip and entrance fee at the castle (and double bustickets, due to the misnavigation): 90 kr... We will go back some other day though, because we did not to get to see the palace.