Calculated risk worth taking

This is my goulash.  A risky meal I'll admit under my recent circumstances but well worth it.

Tentatively made my way around the castle district this morning after a light breakfast.  Never straying far from home base.  The quaint medieval buildings are quaint.  St Matthias' church is well worth a look and I went to the National Art gallery in the palace.  Most of the interesting stuff was from the early part of the 20th century I thought.  The views over the Danube and Pest from the Castle are spectacular.

                                              View of Parliament from the Castle

Grabbed a bite to eat, a pretzel and can of coke, and came back to hotel for a rest.  After lunch caught a train across the river to Pest.  The subway is old compared to most places but reliable.  The cars and roads and buildings seem the same.  Just a little older and down market from more southern and western Europe. Checked out where my Danube ferry leaves from then went to the National Museum.  This was arranged in periods of history from the 11th century on, and was interesting.  After that walked to the old Synagogue which is the biggest in Europe and of course the site of great tragedies in the 1930s and 40s.  There are touching memorials there and guides tell some of the story.  The visit fits in with the theme from Israel's Holocaust museum, to be extended in Poland.

After the synagogue I caught the metro on the oldest subway line in Europe to a park and walked back along Andrassy Avenue which is World Heritage listed. At the top end of the avenue is heroes square, which is very impressive.  Far too much for one photo on my camera.

                                               Part of Hero Square


Then went to St Stephen's (the founder king/saint).  Very impressive, they have a lot of king saints in Hungary.  Consumate politicians the cynics would say.  The churches are quite dark in their decorations, deep reds and browns for a lot of it.  It is also quite common on the older buildings to have decorative patterns on the roof tiles.  Unlike I have seen anywhere else.

                                               Chapel icon inside St Matthias


Then in amongst the old and beautiful you get these communist era flats.  Really shows why they are called a block of flats.

Communist era flats, NO they are not built on their sides, it is just the photo! This one has been gussied up.

By the time I got back to the hotel around 7, I was definitely feeling hungary (sorry) and decided to have some goulash to try.  It was good.