Templom Virágok

"Templom Virágok" means Church of Flowers in Hungarian!

 

(Happy New Year!  Sorry I've been gone all December! Lots to catch up on!)

 

For Thanksgiving we went to Budapest, Hungary.  Something you should know about Budapest is that there are two parts to the city.  There is the Buda side and the Pest side.  (No, I'm serious...)  One is on each side of the Danube River.

 

 

Cross with me now to the Buda side.

 

Leaves!  It was still Fall when we went!

 

Once you cross the bridge, you can climb up this hill to the top where this palace is.

 

They have all the standard palacy stuff...strange statue water features...

 

A statue of a guy on a horse...

 

A pay telescope that no one ever uses except to take dramatic pictures...

 

And vines.

 

They were actually really super cool vines.

 

From the top of the Buda hill, you have a pretty good view of Pest.

Ta-da!

 

There is a famous church in Buda.  (Of course.)  This is called the Matthias church.

 

It has a cool tile roof.

 

This church was really unique from a lot of the other churches we've seen because the whole inside was painted with floral designs.

 

Every archway or niche had a different design.

 

They had some pretty cool stained glass windows, too.

 

Here are some close-ups of the floral designs...

 

 

More stained glass...

 

See how the entire church is covered in flowers? 

 

 

Like really...the whole thing!

 

It's even dramatic in black and white!

 

This is called the Halászbástya, or in English, the "Fisherman's Bastion."  It has seven towers to represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in Hungary. 

 

Did you know that Hungarians are different from the rest of Europe because they came from East Asian tribes?  They even give their last name first, just like many Asian cultures.

 

A dramatic reflection of the Fisherman's Bastion.

 

Anything can be dramatic in black and white - even Kieran punching the Black Knight. "It's only a flesh wound!"

 

In medieval times it was the fisherman's guild who protected this stretch of the river.  Hey, look at those medieval fishermen protecting the bastion...

 

Don't mess with this fisherman...

 

Here you can see King Steven I of Hungary.  Guess what?  He's the guy on a horse.

 

And now, a sneak peek at Pest.

 

Next time we'll get closer to the Parliament Building on the Pest side.

 

Do you like how I made it all dramatic?

 

See you next time when we cross the bridge back to Pest...

Hrad

"Hrad" means "Castle" in Slovak.

 

We were crossing through Slovakia on our way home from Hungary.  We stopped at this castle called Devin Castle, right outside Bratislava, the capitol city. 

 

 

They had SHEEP!

 

The castle dates back to around the year 860.

 

We were the only ones there.

 

Dramatic, right?

 

That's the Danube River right there.

 

Yes, that's a window carved into the side of the mountain.

 

Why you would want to carve a window into the side of a mountain, I don't know, but they must have felt the need to.

 

Help  We're stuck down in the deep wall thing.... 

 

 

Okay, we made it out.

 

This is called the Maiden's Tower.

 

There used to be part of the castle that connected to it so you didn't have to climb up it like Rapunzel.

 

See?  Here's what it used to look like.

 

And now - for the question of the day....WHAT is THIS????

 

(A person standing in a wooden spaceship with a squirrel coming out in a little space bubble.  Yeah - you figure it out.  Slovak art is weird.) 

 

Join me next time in Budapest, Hungary!!!