A walk in the park

Last Sunday evening (12th June) my husband & I were visiting my son in Budapest and we decided to go for a walk in the Városliget (City Park).
The Hôsök tere (Hero Square) which is situated at the end of Andrássy út, forms a grand entrance to the Városliget which is a beautiful, peaceful, green oasis in the centre of a busy city. It is Budapest’s largest park and is certainly one of my favourites.

A giant rusty wheel

We parked the car in the large car park to the right of Hôsök tere, near to what I always thought was a large, rusty, metal wheel. I had only viewed it from a distance and as I could see no purpose for it being there just saw it as a piece of useless modern sculpture which I didn’t give a second glance.
Imagine my surprise when I approached it and discovered that it was not made of metal but of a dull brown granite inset with glass panels through which I could see a pile of sand. My first impression was that it was a giant hour glass but I could not imagine why anyone would want such a large one.
There was a plaque mounted alongside it and by now I was getting curious as to what it really was. I was fascinated when I read the plaque (it was in English as well as Hungarian) which told me that it was a giant time glass. Apparently it is turned a half circle at the beginning of each year and sand trickles out over the following twelve months. I looked through the glass panels and at first I couldn’t see anything but the pile of sand but after staring at it for a few moments I realised that there was the faintest trickle of sand coming from the top section. It was indeed a fantastic fete of engineering and design.

Just a glass or two

After leaving the wheel we walked through the park. There were a few people enjoying the warm evening – people walking, biking and even a couple of joggers but nothing out of the ordinary. We wandered along the paths enjoying the peace and quiet although we did think we could hear the faint sound of distant music.
We rounded a bend in the path and suddenly in front of us were hundreds of people sitting at long tables drinking wine they were buying from rows upon rows of small wooden kiosks. We had stumbled across the 5th Pannon Wine Festival & Market – an event which is held each June in Budapest.

Knights and days

This is what is so exciting about this park. Throughout the year a whole host of events are held. I have been into it several times when different events are being held. Once it was a medieval event with men on horseback, jousting with lances, sword fights between people dressed as foot soldiers and the use of crossbows being demonstrated.
There was also a huge market selling all sorts of arts and crafts and where you could purchase your own medieval weaponry.
Another time it was National Children’s day and a huge area of the park was set up with an assortment entertainment especially for the children from stage shows to bouncy castles. The market that had been set up along the winding paths was also mainly for children, selling everything from toys, clothes and sweets.

Duck Soup

In summer you can hire a boat to row around the large pond that is in the park and in winter it becomes Europe’s largest outdoor ice rink.
The park is home to the Szechenyi Medicinal baths and swimming pool and the overflow of warm water from the baths is pumped into the pond. There are many ducks swimming in the pond and in the winter steam is created as the air temperature drops. It gives the impression that the ducks are swimming in hot water and not one person approaches the pond without putting in a hand to see just how hot it is.
The Városliget is also home to the Budapest Zoo and Botanical garden which, besides housing a large collection of animals, also runs a conservation and research centre as well as many breeding programmes. The iron elephant and palm house was designed by Eiffel (the guy who was responsible for the tower in Paris). There is also a fun fair and a circus – the animals from which are kept in the zoo when not performing.
For a slightly different sort of entertainment there is a Transport museum, an Aviation museum and an Agricultural Museum and the famous Grundel restaurant.

Fairy Castles

Finally, a most fascinating feature in the park is Vajdahunyad castle – a building that looks as if it came straight out of a children’s fairy tale. It is a reproduction of a Transylvanian castle that was constructed between 1896 and 1902 for the Millenium exhibition which celebrated the 1000 year anniversary of the presence of Magyars in the region.
Városliget offers such a wide range of entertainment that most people can find something that will suit them. It is truly a remarkable place and one not to miss if you are in Budapest.

Links
Information about the wine festival & market can be found at this site.
http://www.pannonbor.hu/koszonto/
It is in Hungarian but if you don’t speak the language there are photographs of the event on several previous years.

This site is all about the Zoo –
http://www.zoobudapest.com

Just one page in English.
http://www.zoobudapest.com/en/index.html

The next two links are about the circus – one in Hungarian and one in English.
http://www.maciva.hu/hun/mac_main.html
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/budapest/A25912.html

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