Hungarian Parliament, Matthias Church and the Buda Castle District

Today we toured Pest with a morning visit to the Hungarian Parliament, a neb-gothic masterpiece. The cost if this building was so astronomical that a city of 50,000 could have been built for the same amount. The entire interior is covered in 24 karat gold leaf. The structure is enormous. After Parliament we climbed the stairs to walk around the Buda Castle district, where we admired the frescoes and stained glass windows inside the Mathias Church. In this church the final two Hungarian Kings were crowned. We also saw the neb-romanesque Fisherman's Bastion overlooking the Danube. This is the oldest section of Buda, containing the original Main Street where Roman soldiers once walked. We returned along the river and ate a magnificent meal at Gerbaud Cafe.