Blogger: Stephanie Lynch
OnTheQT paid a visit to Budapest recently and we came across some amazing gems throughout our trip. The Hungarian capital was formed when two cities, Buda and Pest merged. Buda and Pest lie on opposite shores of the Danube and became one, Budapest. From what we could tell, Buda seemed to be an old style of town, while Pest had a more modern feel to it. One of the gems we came across was a unique cable car with and view and the changing of the guards in front of the Hungarian Presidential Palace. It was something we didn’t plan but just happened to stumble upon. Firstly, we got a type of cable car up to the Buda Castle. (48 degree track of two cable railways). This was a wonderful experience. Something a little different with marvelous, spectacular views all around. (Little QT tip: this is something the kids would love and it would save their little feet from getting too tired with all the steps).
When we think of the changing of the guards, we automatically think of London but this was a completely different atmosphere. In Buda, a small crowd gathered and not much hype was surrounding the event. If we are honest, we just stumbled upon the event and never realised what was happening until we saw the guard begin the change with a turn of their rifle. The guards were protecting the castle and without notice, we saw the whole thing, the spectacular change of arms. Turning of the rifles, saluting, marching throughout the square, drums. Choreographed to perfection. We were surprised with the amazing routine displayed and were told by a local that the performance can be influenced by visitors to the palace to see the Hungarian President. We guess someone very special was coming on this day because the display was unbelievable. The guards change places with guards on duty inside or even with guards just coming on duty.
At the end of the changing of the guards, the soldiers who were on duty previously go back into the palace of the president. The change over is clean, quick as one guard stepped out the other one took over(Little QT tip: Any little boy will be amazed at this change). A great experience gained out of a bit of luck by stumbling upon them. As you can see the views from Buda of the city are just out of this world.
