Today Daniel and I set off on a 12-day road trip. We've planned a vague circle-like route that will take in parts of Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
This morning we left Máriapócs at about 10am (not quite the 8am start we were hoping for) and made our way into Budapest. Of course we've both been to Budapest before but I really wanted to stop and check out Heroes Square (Hősök tere). It seems that every single time we drive through Budapest, we drive right past this impressive place, but we'd never actually stopped to see it properly...so today we were determined to do things differently.
Hősök tere is a massive public square located at one end of Budapest. It was built in 1896 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar people arriving in present-day Hungary. In the centre of the square the seven leaders of the Magyar tribes are depicted on horseback. They surround a large column which is topped by the archangel Gabriel holding two important national symbols - the Hungarian crown and a double cross. Behind this centrepiece are two curved colonnades, each home to statues of seven important Hungarian historical figures (all male, hmpf). Daniel and I know the names of most of these figures as every second street in Hungary seems to be named in their honor.
Behind Heroes Square is Városliget (City Park), a large area full of parkland and public buildings. Like the square, City Park also played an important role in Hungary's millenium celebrations and one of its most beautiful buildings, Vajdahunyad Castle, was actually built especially for the event. The original castle seems to have been intended as a temporary addition to the park as it was made from cardboard and wood, but it was soon rebuilt in stronger materials owing to its immense popularity. This afternoon there were lots of people rowing boats around the castle's moat, and checking out the weird objects floating in the water. That looked like fun but I'm more excited about coming back in Wintertime to try iceskating when the lake is frozen!
Unfortunately when Daniel and I arrived back at our car we discovered that we had received a parking ticket. We were pretty bewildered by the ticket, so we approached a nearby parking inspector to ask what the problem was. He advised that we were in a no parking zone and pointed about 50 metres down the road to a small sign depicting an outline of a red circle on a white background (kind of like a speed limit sign minus the number in the middle). Neither Daniel or I had ever seen that type of sign anywhere else in Hungary before so we were pretty confused. I then motioned to the approximately 200 cars that were parked in the same area as our car and asked if they were all parked illegally too...and the parking inspector said YES! So it seems likely that every single day many, many hundreds of people get fined because they don't see, or don't understand, ONE tiny sign on the side of a road in an area that completely looks as if it has been set aside for parking. Dodgy, dodgy, dodgy! Sorry about the rant, but I was seriously pissed off!
Anyway, after the excitement of Budapest, Daniel and I made our way to the south west corner of Hungary and crossed the border into Slovenia. Tonight we're staying in Maribor, the second largest city in the country. Last week, while I was researching what to do in Maribor, I kept coming up with the usual list of sights - churches, town hall, statues, etc. I love all that stuff, but I wanted to see something that was unique to Maribor. Thankfully my dedication paid off and I found out about the Old Vine.
What is the Old Vine, you ask? Well, it's a really old vine. More specifically, it's the world's oldest noble grape vine (as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records). The Old Vine has been growing in Maribor for over 400 years. And it still produces grapes! It was truly an awesome spectacle.
Day 2 of the road trip has a lot to live up to...
- Amanda
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