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Our Overall Impressions of Budapest
We certainly enjoyed our week in Budapest, which included a full day trip to Bratislava in Slovakia. Although the weather didn’t always cooperate, we managed to adjust our schedules to account for the rain and definitely made the most of our time. Budapest is a beautiful city in Hungary with a lot of wonderful architecture and unique features that can be found throughout the old town areas. Sitting on the shore of the Danube River, it has been flooded and rebuilt over time, but there are many buildings that are centuries old and represent many different architectural styles. We found the historic districts to be extremely walkable, but there is an excellent public transportation system, at least within the city itself.
After traveling 20 hours, including layovers, and arriving early on a Sunday morning, we got settled into our hotel and headed out to get acquainted to the area. Unfortunately, after asking the concierge for directions, we misunderstood which way to go. When we reached the main street, one of the ringed streets that circle the city and denote historical borders of the city throughout its history, we turned the wrong direction and headed away from the river and the Inner City district. Since we thought that we were heading the right direction, we were surprised to see that the buildings were not historic and beautiful, but rather very utilitarian as one would expect from a country that was occupied by the Soviet Union. When we reached the main train station, we were pretty confident that we’d gone the wrong way. We managed to find a good restaurant for lunch and then walked back towards our hotel and to our intended destination.
The city is broken up into several districts and there are certain ones that must be on your list to see during your time in Budapest. Without a doubt the Castle District with the Royal Palace should be high on your list of places to visit. It is important to understand that Budapest is actually made up of two regions that are separated by the Danube. The side with the Castle District resides in Buda and the Parliament and Inner City are in Pest. They were distinct cities until the Chain Bridge was built and the cities were combined to make the single city of Budapest. There are important sights to see on both sides of the river, so we crossed the bridges several times during our stay.
To understand the culture of Hungary, it is important to understand its history, which hasn’t always been pleasant. They have been conquered many times and also chose to side with Germany in both World Wars, which didn’t work out well for them. They also used to be one of the largest and most powerful countries in Europe and their borders and influence have been drastically reduced after the losses in the World Wars. They were also absorbed by the Soviet Union after the war, which was another tragic period in their history. There is definitely a sense of pride and optimism with their inclusion in the EU, but they don’t shy away from their history, including the role that the holocaust played within the country.
All in all, our initial impression of Budapest is that of a historic city with a complex history and culture. From the Hungarians initial migration from Asia to the Carpathian region, their ability to withstand multiple occupations, and the decisions that led them to be on the wrong side of history, there is much more to understand than just the typical palaces, castles, and cathedrals that dominate most visits to cities in Europe. In some ways, the fact that it rained a couple of days during our trip added to our impression of the city and its somewhat dark history. We look forward to providing details about each of the important sites to visit over the coming weeks.
Buying Alabaster in Luxor, Egypt
One of the things that Luxor, and Egypt in general, is known for is alabaster and our guide made sure to take to one of the alabaster factories. At the factory, you can find two types of products, those that are machine-made and those that are hand-made. The differences are fairly obvious as the machine-made products are thinner, lighter, and don’t have tool markings on them while the hand-made are heavier and have distinct tool marks. Alabaster comes in three colors, dark green, tannish-yellow, and white. One of the reasons that alabaster is prized is due to its translucence and the effect of the light passing through the soft stone.
Before going into the store with all of the various products made out of alabaster, we were treated to a demonstration of how the artisans made vases from the stones. It is a three or four step process depending on the product being created. In the first step, the stone is chiseled into the basic shape of the design of the object being created. Next, if it is to be a vase or candle holder, a kind of drill is used to hollow out the stone. Afterwards, the outside of the stone is filed and sanded to make it completely smooth to the touch. Finally, if the artisan desires, images are carved into the surface such as hieroglyphs, scarabs, or an ankh.
Once the workers demonstrated the tools to us, it was our turn to take a turn chiseling and drilling into the alabaster. Although not complicated, it was actually tiring work, so one could only imagine spending a full day of shaping the alabaster. After spending time learning about the process, we went into the store to decide if we wanted to purchase any of the alabaster products. Having seen the process, we focused on those that were hand-made and eventually chose a couple of alabaster vases that we now put on display, lighting candles inside of them to show off their color and semi-transparency.
Going to an alabaster factory while in Egypt is definitely worthwhile and certainly a must if you are in Luxor. There is certainly nothing wrong with getting a machine-made alabaster product as they are uniformly shaped, extremely smooth, and sometimes allow more light to pass through. Every time we see our hand-made alabaster vases, we are reminded of our day in Luxor.
