Back to Budapest: Castle Hill

Our walk up to Castle Hill was an easy one, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. As we climbed the cobblestone steps, I peered through the ancient stone walls at the view below, where in the distance you can see the Liberation monument and the spire of the church just beside our hotel.




(Local Name: Várhegy) Castle Hill is a limestone plateau that contains important Budapest medieval monuments and some of the city's museums. This hill is the place where Budapest was founded. It is a small, densely built rock, with the Buda Castle as the most prominent building. Saint Matthias Church is also one of its most historical structures.




This huge bird in the photo below, with a monstrous craw, perched over the city while clasping a sword in his claws gave me the shivers. It looked like a symbol of empire, military might, and I called it the rapacious eagle the whole time I was in Hungary, contrasting it in my imagination with the Lady of Liberation statue on the hillside across from Buda castle. This bird can be seen perched atop hillsides in the Hungarian countryside. We saw one as we rode the bus from Gyor back to Budapest. Hmmmm, I wondered. That's making a pretty militaristic statement. But, I found out I was wrong. This bird is not an eagle. It is the Turul, the mythological bird of the origin myth of the Magyars (Hungarian people).

According to wikipedia, the Turul is probably a large falcon, and the origin of the word is most likely Turkish (togrul or turgul means peregrine falcon). In Hungarian the word sólyom means falcon, and there are three ancient words describing different kinds of falcons: kerecsen (saker), zongor [Turkish Sungur = Gyr Falcon] (lives in the male name Zsombor) and turul.
In the legends Turul is mentioned at least twice to shape the fate of the Hungarians: the first time Emese, mother of Álmos had a dream where a Turul appeared, impregnated her and told her that her child was going to be the father of a great nation. The second time, the leader of the Hungarian tribes had a dream where eagles attacked their horses and a Turul came and saved them, to symbolise that they have to move, and when they did, the Turul helped them to show the way and led them finally to the land that became Hungary.

There were three Turul statues in Greater Hungary (before the country had its borders reconfigured by the Treaty of Trianon): one still visible on the mountain next to Tatabánya, Hungary. It is the largest bird statue in the world, and the largest bronze statue in Central Europe[1]; the wingspan of the Turul is almost 15 meters.



I decided this statue must be the goddess Diana, gathering her deer close to her. I had to fight through the hordes of tourists to click the shutter.



And over to her side are the hound dogs ready for the hunt!



The castle was completely destroyed during World War II, the German army holed up in it near the end, with bombs and all sorts of other explosives doing their destructive work. But the place has been painstakingly rebuilt according to the plans of the original castle. Amazing! The excavations of the castle over its centuries of existence are ongoing.




The new Hilton hotel has retained the remains of the medieval church at one of its entrances.



And here you can see the reflection of the periphery of the ancient templom (church) in the windows of the modern-day Hilton, which seemed like an intruder in this historical, ancient place. But, of course, Castle Hill is a huge, huge tourist attraction and the better-heeled tourists need a place to stay, don't they? Why not atop Castle Hill? Tour buses were everywhere and the press of people began to make me wonder how many human beings can continue to flock to this city without doing irreparable harm to its treasures.



I took one of my favorite photos while hanging over the edge of a balustrade, trying to get out of the way of legions of teenagers marching past. It was a Saturday, after all, the weather was gorgeous, and who could blame them for being out, doing their daredevil stunts off the Vienna Gate and elsewhere.





Needing some refreshment, we sat down briefly in this restaurant set among the arches of the old cathedral, with views of Budapest below. but the prices were astronomical! No thanks!



So, we left Castle Hill for the non-historic outdoor cafe next to our hotel, where we enjoyed a pre-lunch glass of wine and watched people stroll by with their dogs and their groceries.