Hospital in the Rock

 The hill underneath Buda Castle is riddled with caves and tunnels. While the Labyrinth under the Castle is open for tours in the summer, it was closed for the off season, so we were unable to visit them. However, a portion of this cave network was transformed into an underground hospital prior to World War II, and is now operated as a museum, which was open. Known as the "Hospital in the Rock", it was recommended to us by a friend, so after we finished our visit to the synagogue on our last day in Budapest, we walked across the Chain Bridge and up Castle Hill to check out the museum.

Our visit to the museum included a guided tour of the facility. Because it was built inside an existing cave system, the layout is a bit of maze, and it definitely didn't feel like any other hospital I'd ever been in. The facility was only used as a hospital twice. The first time was during the Soviet siege of the city in 1944-45. Because the hospital was operating under the authority of the International Red Cross, they treated both civilians and soldiers, regardless of which side they were on. Designed to treat a maximum of 60-70 patients, the high casualties of the siege left the hospital overwhelmed with an order of magnitude more patients. Patients were placed two or more to a bed, and treated on stretchers in hallways, or even on the floor. Because the facility had its own generators, it never lost power during the siege, and remained in operation throughout the siege.

After the war, the facility was upgraded and expanded to provide a higher capacity. But it was only used as a hospital one more time, during the 1956 uprising against the communist regime. After the Soviet army put down the uprising, the hospital was closed again. With the threat of nuclear war looming during the Cold War, it was decided to convert the hospital into a nuclear bunker, and the complex was further expanded and modified for that purpose. These portions of the complex include decontamination showers and storage for food and water supplies. The portions of the tour in this section included displays on the power and impact of nuclear weapons with decidedly anti-nuclear weapon messaging.

The entire tour took about an hour and was a fascinating glimpse into the measures taken to provided high quality medical care under less than ideal circumstances. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the museum, so I don't have any images to share from the tour, but it was enlightening, and definitely something we would recommend to other visitors.

The rest of Budapest

With only three full days in Budapest, there was so much we didn't get to see. We didn't visit any of the museums, and we didn't go inside the Parliament building. We didn't ride a tram (although we did ride the Metro). But we did visit the Central Market Hall, which, to my eye, looked more like a train station. Inside, we wandered through the rows of stalls offering meat, produce, wine, and spices. The sights and sounds were similar to other market halls we've visited, but we had a mission here...paprika. I have been told many times that American paprika can't be compared to Hungarian paprika, and I wanted to bring some authentic Hungarian paprika home with us. We had seen it in other shops, but the prices here were better, and so we stocked up. We also got some cured sausages to snack on and lángos, a fried flatbread that is popular street food here.

We also visited the Basilica of St. Stephen. This church is dedicated to King St. Stephen I, who Christianized Hungary. It is a relatively modern church, built in the 19th Century, but is quite ornate and striking inside. Behind the main altar is a statue of King St. Stephen (there seem to be statues of him everywhere in the city), and a proudly displayed reliquary holds a mummified right hand alleged to be that of St. Stephen. The church was still decorated for Christmas, with Christmas trees and a nativity scene still set up. During our tour earlier in the day, our tour guide recited the amount of gold leaf used in the construction of the Parliament building, but didn't mention how much was used in the church, but it was clearly a significant amount.

  

On our way back to our hotel from the basilica, members of our group wanted to stop at the opera house. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to take a tour of the building, but the lobby itself was beautiful, and worth taking a few minutes to stop in and see.

On our final day, we walked across the Danube on the Chain Bridge. Like all of the bridges in Budapest, it was rebuilt after World War II, bu like most of them it is a reproduction of the original bridge, and it is very striking. Flanked by lions, it definitely makes an impression.

 

Finally, after visiting the Hospital in the Rock, we went inside the Matthias Church before we left Castle Hill. The interior of the church was surprisingly intimate compared to the impressive appearance outside. Somehow it felt smaller, almost cozy, and it is difficult to envision how crowded it must have been as the coronation church for Hungary's Kings. They also had a small museum up in the galleries, with a collection of religious artifacts from the church's history.

With so much left to see and do here, it was hard to say goodbye to this beautiful city. I suppose that just means we will have to return someday to see more.

The things you see along the way

The scenery you encounter on a road trip in Europe is utterly unlike anything you will see in the US (and the reverse is also, by and large, true as well). Our transfer from Budapest to Crans-Montana began with a flight from Budapest to Zürich, followed by a three and a half hour bus transfer to our hotel at the ski resort. This gave us plenty of opportunities to enjoy the views of the Swiss countryside. The first part of the drive was through the farmlands of northern Switzerland, from Zürich to the capital city of Bern. We then headed south, past Lac de la Guyère to the shores of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva, in English). We then followed the Rhône River up into the Alps to our destination. As we neared our exit from the motorway, we saw the ruins of a castle and an old abbey on a nearby hill, with the mountains reaching up behind them. This was the Basilique de Valère and the Château de Tourbillon, in Sion. These were built in the middle ages as the home for the Prince-Bishops of Sion, who ruled this area. It is the sudden appearance of old castles and churches like this on random hilltops that has come to define the scenery that we have seen driving through Europe. The history here is soo much older and deeper than ours, and there are traces of it almost everywhere you look.