Back in Budapest ten years after the end of the communism.. Trip to Hungary
Return to Budapest after 10 years, I hardly recognize the city I had met in 1989 just months before the Wall came down, numb and tired.
Now Budapest is one of the most beautiful European capitals with a unique architectural restyling. Five days is enough only to see it: home to two UNESCO World heritage sites belong, is the only capital in the world, in which one hundred thermal springs and 12 spas.
Budapest was essentially built in the last third of the nineteenth and early Novencento American rhythms. Nell'archittetura the dominant style of this period of peace until 1914 was the style of Art Nouveau. This style, came from foreign countries then had a great Hungarian master also recognized in Europe in the person of Odon Lechner (1845-1914), "the Hungarian Gaudí".
Budapest boasts two world heritage sites that are in a unique itinerary
online: Buda side of the Chain Bridge (Adam Clark Square), the Palace of the University of Engineering, the Gellert Baths, Gellért Hill with the Statue of Liberty, the Citadel and the buildings of Buda Castle lies the picturesque Bastion Fishermen with an exceptional view over the city. On the Pest side of the Parliament are under protection (a masterpiece of exceptional beauty), in front of the Chain Bridge, the Roosevelt Square and the palace of the Reduced and the 4 bridges on this side (the Margit Bridge, the Chain Bridge, Elizabeth Bridge The Liberty Bridge ).... and then the baths. We have granted a day at the spa bathroom more beautiful Gellert in Budapest, where he was the original Art Nouveau furnishings with colorful mosaics, marble columns, stained glass and statues. But the choice can range into the thermal baths Szechenyl or Rudas, or Luckacs or Kiraly to mention the most known.
From Budapest we took a flight to Krakow, another beautiful city capital of Poland until the sixteenth century when it was moved to Warsaw. Cultural capital of the country boasts a famous university and in fact is full of young people. The old town is a jewel to be recognized as a World Heritage Site: the splendid Piazza del Mercato, the largest medieval square in Europe, a square 200 meters on each side (Rynek Glowny), around which stand beautiful palaces seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, some of which mark the Venetian, the civic tower of City Hall, the big market of Fabrics (Sukiennice) and especially the Church of Santa Maria with the wooden altar of Veit Stoss (wonderful work of art) and 'high tower from which every hour is played the famous "called upon". Other old town to visit one on the hill of Wawel Castle, the Cathedral and further down the baroque Church of St. Peter and Paul. Disappointing for us but the Jewish quarter Kazimierz. Last grains: the Czartoryski Museum that we visited especially to see the painting Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. Krakow also impressed us very positively.
But no less beautiful to throw away, Warsaw. We expected, after the city was almost completely destroyed by the Germans in 1944 and its current center is the result of careful reconstruction true to its original state ... but still false. Were still lovingly reconstructed the old forms in the Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) and rectangular Market Square (Rynek), now surrounded by multicolored houses that are home to restaurants, bookstores, bakeries, museums, cafes, especially lively in the summer by sellers , painters and tourists.
The city tour can not overlook the Citadel, a fortress prison erected by Tsar Nicholas in 1832, with a path that runs along the Vistula, the district Muranow, with the monument to the heroes of the ghetto (the Jews were exterminated in Warsaw 350 000) and the actual route, from the Castle to the park in Lazienki, palaces, churches and monuments. Lazienki Park is the largest city (the green reigns in Warsaw) is located inside the Palace on the Water (Palac na Wodzie) and the neo-classical theater built on an island. The park is very large and surrounded by woods, lakes, streams, there are many colorful birds, squirrels and the inevitable tribute to Chopin, a distinguished citizen.
A very well organized trip that allowed us to see the king split several of our Eastern Europe.