Tag Archives: Szent István tér

St. Stephen’s Basilica

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On Saturday early morning we found ourselves full of energy for exploring the city and doing so many of the touristy things that people who live in a tourist town never do.

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Our initial plan was to go to the big flea market, the Ecseri flea market, which is known for being the place to find just about anything.  And I love browsing for kitcsh in the fall, so being that it was kind of an overcast day we headed over there.  Unfortunately when we got there we saw signs that it was closed for the day.  This was a bit suspicious, since it’s never closed, but as it is the largest flea market in the country, and is known for attracting some unsavories, there was probably something illegal that shut it down for the day.  Oh well.  So we formulated plan B on the fly, drove around Szechenyi Baths and then somehow meandered back downtown to have a bagel and coffee outside of St. Stephen’s Basilica.  That was when it occurred to us that we had never been inside.

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St. Stephen’s Basilica (Szent István-bazilika) was finished in 1905.  It is neoclassical and it took 54 years to complete because in 1868 the first dome collapsed and it had to be scrapped and built again.  It was built for St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary, and the man who brought Christianity to Hungary. It is also home to his szent jobb, “holy right hand”, which is his actual mummified hand and a holy relic.  The Basilica is also the largest church in Hungary, with a capacity of 8,500 people.

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The whole church was greatly damaged during World War II and it was used during that time as a military barracks but also to house important documents and art work.  Renovations and reconstruction didn’t begin until the 1980s and they took about two decades to complete.

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Since I grew up Catholic, I have a little bit of Catholic church immunity.  And what I mean is that usually I can appreciate the architecture of the bedazzled mummified body parts of saints, etc., but I don’t really have much of a reaction to the churches.  But for some reason I was really dazzled by the church.  When I was inside, looking at the detail and embellishments, the gold chandeliers, the light spilling in through the windows, I got a little teary-eyed.  And it wasn’t some kind of spiritual experience, but it was certainly a reaction to the beauty of the church.

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At ten ‘o clock you can climb the 350 or so stairs to the top of the Basilica for a magnificent view of the city.  The cost is 500 HUF (less than 2 Euros) and it’s completely worth the price.  Since we were there right at 10, we were the first ones up.

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Even though the day was a little gray and overcast, it was such an amazing way to see the city.  From the quiet Szent István tér (St. Stephen’s square) where we have had coffee or drinks countless times, to the heart of Pest, or to the hills of Buda, the view was just incredible.

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This is a great way to see some of the city (though unless you are in the best shape of your life, 18 years old, or don’t mind your leg muscles stinging for three of four days after your upward haul, I would recommend taking the elevator).  It was hard for me to list specific differences between Budapest and Prague when I visited in the spring.  But from the top view, it’s easier to see the differences.  I don’t think anywhere in the world can compete with Prague’s rooftops.  Or maybe I just have an odd fascination with rooftops.

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I have posts all week for this day, actually.  After leaving the Basilica, we went to the park, to the zoo, to lunch to an art exhibit, and to the Palinka festival.  Sigh. October’s the best.

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Now, it may surprise you to learn that Hungary (and the general vicinity of Central Europe) is not exactly a place where you will commonly find Mexican food.  In fact, it seems that most Hungarians tolerate salsa to mean a barbecue sauce peppered with a few diced tomatoes, a chopped up onion, sometimes a paprika (though don’t hold your breath) and little dip of honey.  Well, it’s usually red.  So it took some poking around the ex-pat food blogs to get word of Iguana Bar & Grille, which is a GENUINE hangout of American Mexican-food-loving expatriates.   And since I have lived in both rural Indiana and rural Georgia, two places where you are bound to find a roadside cantina on many side streets, I can affirm that Iguana comes very close to the tastes of home.

With an odd mixture of Diego Rivera prints hanging on the walls, a large bar dimly lit by colored torches, and astonishingly cheap shots of Patrón (700 HUF = a little over 4 USD), it had the old, familiar feel, which only enhanced the enjoyment of eating fresh salsa, chicken enchiladas, and Texas beef tacos.

And as a quick note, when you are scouring menus in Hungary, you are likely to find beef/steak/burgers with the modifier TEXAS.  From my limited menu reading experience here, it still seems as though TEXAS denotes that you will receive actual beef, from a cow, a cow in a field with beef on its bones.  As opposed to that mystical hybrid Hungarian cow in the field with a mixture of pork, lamb, duck, and sausage (which comes already ground together in patties) on his bones.  Either that or it’s meant to denote the size of the portion, which only sadly goes to show that everyone in the world—even in Hungary—where many women don’t even know who Oprah is—understands that IT’S BIGGER in TEXAS.

After Iguana, we went on our way to one of the best outdoor squares in Pest at Szent István tér  overlooking Szent István Bazilika.  Even though it’s not the cheapest place to have a nightcap, Café Negro still has the best leather outdoor seats in the tér.   Lit solely by the Bazilika and the low yellow hues of the square lamps, the whole experience seems to point back to an older time, a slower time where people still strolled.  Where they went somewhere without going anywhere.

[To hear the sound in this video, you need to click on the play button in the center of the screen, and then click the center of the screen AGAIN when the video starts.  You will be taken to YouTube.  I'm not sure why the sound isn't embedded.]

I took this video at the dimly lit Café Negro at St. Steven’s square. You’ll also notice that unlike at the Castle District, you hear a lot of Hungarian spoken here.  Probably a lot of people who don’t know anything about Hungary, or anyone who speaks or spoke Hungarian, assume that the language sounds like Russian or a Slavic language like Czech.  This is not the case however.  The language is extremely melodic, and native speakers have a way with syllabic emphasis that is really very beautiful.  Unlike English, it’s not a hard sounding language, as you might think. Even when Hungarians get heated and sassy (which they often do), the language can be very lulling.

By midnight, there were at least a hundred people around the square waiting for a table, and satisfied as we were that we had gotten our fill of the moon and cool air, we paid the bill and left for the hotel.

And for tomorrow:  The conclusion of the whirlwind weekend and the fascinating relationship between hangovers, maniquins, and folkart.