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Heading south from Szentharomsag ter towards Buda Palace, you'll come to the intriguing Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum ( Arany Sas Patikamuzeum ; Tues-Sun 10.30am-6.30pm; 100Ft) at Tarnok utca 18. The first pharmacy in Buda, established after the expulsion of the Turks, its original furnishings lend authenticity to dubious nostrums including the skull of a mummy used to make "Mumia" powder to treat epilepsy, and a reconstruction of an alchemist's laboratory, complete with dried bats and crocodiles. The Tarnok coffee house, next door but one, occupies one of the few buildings on the hill to have kept its Renaissance sgraffiti - a red and orange chequerboard pattern covering the facade. A weirder attraction is the Labyrinth of Buda Castle ( Budavari Labirintus ), better known as the Varbarlang (Castle caves). Cavities created by hot springs and cellars dug since medieval times form 10km of galleries, which were converted into an air-raid shelter in the 1930s and used as such in World War II. Having remained in military hands till the 1980s, it is now marketed as a New Age experience of shamanism and history. One section features copies of the cave paintings of Lascaux, while masked figures and a giant head sunken into the floor enliven other dank chambers. Guided tours leave every half hour from the main entrance at Uri utca 9 (daily 9.30am-7.30pm; 25min; 900Ft), with a cup of tea at the end. There's another entrance beyond the castle walls at Lovas ut 4, which is accessible by wheelchair for some of the way; contact labirint@elender.hu for details. Both Tarnok utca and Uri utca end in Disz ter (Parade Square), where the mournful Honved memorial presages the ramparts and gateways controlling access to the palace grounds. Ahead lies the scarred hulk of the old Ministry of Defence , while to your left is the Castle Theatre ( Varszinhaz ), where the first-ever play in Hungarian was staged in 1790 and Beethoven performed in 1808. The last building in the row is the Sandor Palace ( Sandor Palota ), formerly the prime minister's residence, where Premier Teleki shot himself in protest at Hungary joining the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia. It is currently being restored. Next door, the upper terminal of the Siklo funicular is separated from the terrace of Buda Palace by a stately gateway and the ferocious-looking Turul statue , a giant bronze eagle clasping a sword in its talons. In Magyar mythology the Turul sired the first dynasty of Hungarian kings by raping the grandmother of Prince Arpad, who led the tribes into Europe. During the nineteenth century it became a symbol of Hungarian identity in the face of Austrian culture, but wound up being co-opted by the Habsburgs, and has today been adopted as an emblem by Hungary's skinheads. From here, you can descend a staircase to the terrace of the palace, commanding a sweeping view of Pest. Beyond the souvenir stalls prances an equestrian statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy , the liberator of Buda. The bronze statues nearby represent Csongor and Tunde , the lovers in Vorosmarty's drama of the same name.
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