Destination: the top of the Jánoshegy ("Mount John". I don't know which John it's named after. You are free to use your imagination, especially since Budapest now has an Elvis Presley Square) in the Buda Hills, at 538 meters the highest point in Budapest, about a 400 meter climb from the Danube. Of course, we've wandered up around there many times, but never hiked up from the base, much less all the way from home. But we will be on holiday in Croatia shortly, and there is a certain mountain there that I plan to climb. So we need a bit of training.
We saddle up Folti and off we go. First crossing Erszébetváros - Elizabeth-town - our own District VII, which will get its own blog entry at some point. There is an Elizabeth theme running in this one though. They are all the same Elizabeth, nicknamed Sisi, Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary, wife of Franz Josef (why is usually only half his name anglicized in English?). Hungarians like naming stuff after her because after the 1848 revolution it was her affection for Hungary that restored us to the good Imperial graces, thereby resulting in the dual monarchy of 1867 (i.e., that’s when we start to talk about an Austro-Hungarian empire, rather than simply an Austrian Empire with Hungary as one of the constituent kingdoms), leading to a period of wealth, prosperity and cosmopolitan urban culture that is still visible in the architecture of Budapest and other Hungarian cities from the period. But the dual monarchy also ultimately led Hungary, as a co-belligerent of the Central Powers in WWI, even though we didn't control our own foreign policy, to the castigation of the victors and Trianon and the dismemberment of the country. Which makes us sad. But we don't blame Sisi.
And across the Elizabeth Bridge and the Elizabeth Statue (shown here together), which is for some reason in Döbrentei Square and not Elizabeth Square. And passing through a little valley between the Gellert Hill and the Castle Hill, and up the Sun Hill (or maybe Day Hill, it's the same word), the first little bump of a residential hill, where all the streets are named after ferocious animals—Panther Street, Tiger Street, Fox Street, etc–we are officially in the Buda hills. (We’ll have to pass close to that TV tower at the top of the hill in the background below, and then turn right for a couple miles to get to the lookout tower).
I’ve lived in Budapest for a good while now, but the Buda Hills still seem exotic to me. With its crooked streets and hidden gardens, there’s still a whiff of Oriental mystery up there that’s hard to put a finger on, as if the Turkish occupation hadn’t quite ended yet. In fact, I’ve met people who have lived there up all their lives and still think it’s exotic. A funny thing about Budapest people, including us blow-ins, is that we almost invariably divide ourselves, at some deep level of the personality and identity, into Buda people and Pest people, a phenomenon that often occurs to newcomers almost immediately. In my own case, even though I rationally know that Buda is basically nicer and more distinctive than Pest, I still got drawn into the vibe and bustle of Pest-ness early on and even though I worked in Buda for five years (a flat part of Buda with only the merest sprinkling of Ottoman intrigue in the area), I always felt like I was travelling to a different city each day, and I’m not sure how I would adapt to moving there to live.
It’s a nice place to visit, though. The bulk of our climb took us through the wealthiest parts of the town, whose inhabitants, some of whom might have come about their fortunes through entirely legitimate means, had thoughtfully abandoned the capital for weekends at the Balaton or longer holidays elsewhere, so we didn’t have to dodge lots of black Mercedes and Audis hurtling around the corners on their way to whatever it is rich people are always doing urgently.
And at the top we come out in the middle of a turn-of-the century rural village, complete with Hungarian Art Nouveau school building, right in the middle of Budapest. Well, not right in the middle, but certainly a good way from the city line, which runs through fields and forests in some areas. If you live around here, you can commute to work on the cog-wheel train, which I bet never loses its thrill.
Now we are on the main ridgeline of the Buda hills, given over to parkland. Folti is relieved of her leash and we tromp through the Norma wood, so named because of a famous outdoor performance of Bellini’s Norma that was once made up her long ago.
This little strudel stand is revered by many Budapesters, especially for its cabbage-stuffed offerings (I'm not just making that up). Móni wanted a lángos though, which is a kind of a deep-fried pizza dough with toppings of your choice – garlic and sour cream being typical – that you should really only eat after climbing a big hill.
Our quarry is in site. It's that little dot on the top of the bump:
And here it is:
And here we are at the Elizabeth Lookout. It’s named after Elizabeth because she used to hang out up here when in town to enjoy the breeze and view, and after her death (by a completely pointless assassination, poor thing) her many admirers erected a tower in her name for the good people of Budapest to enjoy forever after.
Here is the view from the top in roughly the four cardinal directions. This is what I mean about when I talk about the lack of urban sprawl here. To the East we see the downtown area. See if you can pick out where I live!
Wow, the earth really is round. But to South, West, and North respectively, there's a noticeable lack of strip malls and subdivisions:
Which is how cities should be. But just in case I've given the impression that Budapest is perfect, here is a picture, taken after scrambling down and starting tolook for a nice terrace restaurant to eat schnitzels in (the waiter even brought Folti some beef scraps), of one of our new well-conceived bike paths.
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