Hungary: Szabadsag!

Szia!

Szabadsag means liberty and this posts celebrates me walking across the 2nd of Budapest's 7 bridges across the Danube.

Last Monday I walked to Central Market for the first time and also crossed the Liberty Bridge, also known as Szabadsag Hid.

Because there is a cool market in Hunyadi ter, near my house, I have never gone shopping at Central Market because everything I need is right next door. I decided after awhile, however, that I needed to see the biggest, most famous market in Budapest. The building is really cool. The inside is cool too but a little touristy. Here are some shots of the outside.

Central Market Building

Central Market

The inside has two stories. The bottom story is filled with meat, produce, and spice booths of all kinds. You see rows of chicken breast (csireke mel), rows of Hungarian sausages and Hungarian salami, stands selling Hungary's version of Jagermeister, Unicum, stands selling the famous Hungarian dessert wine Tokaji, and stand after stand selling hot and sweet paprika, Hungarian saffron, little wooden scoops, and hot pistou paste made from red paprika peppers. Not to mention the strings of dried paprika peppers strung together.

The second story has a restaurant. I'm going to eat some goulash there sometime. It also has stands selling every piece of touristy junk a person could possibly want, from outfits, to t-shirts, to Hungarian embroidery, to snow globes, magnets, postcards, you name it.

If you venture into the basement you can see the stands selling game and seafood. The game stands are uninteresting---just cuts of meat---but the seafood stands are creepy. Huge tanks for 8-foot long catfish with their whiskers twitching and gaping mouths sucking, and all kinds of other mud-colored bottom feeders. Keep in mind Hungary is land-locked. No flounder or crabs here. I didn't even see any trout.

After visting the market I crossed the bridge. Here is the little square right before the bridge and the monument commemorating the bridge.

Entrance to Liberty Bridge

Crowds Exiting Szabadsag Bridge

Liberty Bridge Monument

Here are some great pictures of the bridge while crossing it, and also shots of Pest from the bridge.

Lamp Post at Bridge Entrance

Szabadsag

Szabadsag Bridge

Here is Pest from the bridge.

Pest from Liberty Bridge

Pest from Szabadsag Bridge

Here is the Erzsebet Bridge which is the next bridge to the right when looking down the Danube from the Pest side.

Looking Down Danube Towards Castle

Erzsebet Bridge from Szabadsag Bridge

On the Buda side of the bridge is Gellert Hill and the Gellert Baths and Hotel complex.

Gellert Hotel and Baths

Gellert Hotel and Baths Closeup Shot

The Gellert complex is on the left when you exit the bridge. On the right is a hill atop of which is a monument which was erected by the Soviets commemorating the Russian soldiers killed in the Liberation of Hungary from the Germans. After the fall of Communism in Hungary this monument became the Hungarian Statue of Liberty.

Statue of Liberty from Bridge

Statue of Liberty

At the base of this hill is a cave that was home to a chapel built by the Pauline order which housed their chapel and the monks of this branch of the order. The Soviets had the chapel filled in and the head priest was executed. The monks of that order were imprisoned. It was opened and renovated in late 90's after the fall of Communism in Hungary. I think Reagan was right when he called the U.S.S.R an "Empire of Evil."