Budapest World heritage sites

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/budapest.html


I visited Budapest in May 2011, and was mesmerised by the city and its beautiful architecture .Both the Buda and Pest have their very own distinctive style of architecture.We could see the Palace ,the Chain bridge and the Danube lit up,stunningly beautiful at night ,from our hotel room.

Buda palace at night

The walk on the banks of Danube is delightful ,with old women sitting on benches selling Hand embroidered tablecloth and runners.Walked up to the" shoes "on the banks of Danube ,then up to chain bridge ,crossed over to Buda side and had a view of the Funicular or the single compartment train which takes one up to Buda castle .Did not take it though but walked up to the palace. The castle is splendid ,and saw preparations for the horse show being arranged there. Walked onwards on the cobblestone streets to Trinity square , Mathias Church with its lovely Rococco roof which can be seen from our hotel too,then on to Fisherman's Bastion

Fisherman's Bastion

and stood there to get an absolutely magnificent view of the River and The Pest side of the city.

Pest from Buda

The next evening we walked in the opposite direction passing the statue of the little boy ,(or is it princess?) crossed the Danube at the Elizebeth Bridge(named for the most popular Queen Sisi ) to reach Gellert hill ,trekked up to the Liberation Monument and The Citadel a fortress from which we got another panoramic view of the city .
But before the walk to Gellert hill,we had had a tour of Buda in the morning ,walking down the Danube to The magnificent Parliament building and St Stephen's Cathedral . We were taken along the Andrassy Avenue to Heroes square , passing the House of Terror enroute.
Of course Budapest has more to see,the Hungarian Agriculture Museum and its statue of Anonymus,the City Park , the Szechenyi bath ,though we did not have time to go there ,The Farmers market and the long exclusive shopping promenade "Vaci Utca" .

Call of the Wild

There was excitement as we started for the bus ride which would take us to Murchison Falls national park , the largest national park in Uganda. For most of us it was the first safari and a first experience of the African wildlife. It is about 300 km from Kampala ,taking around 5 hours . The bus drove past interesting villages,markets,farms and at one point we stopped for a spot of breather. The ladies also wanted a place to relieve themselves but the lush green made us hesitant to go behind a tree.Luckily we spotted a number of schoolgirls standing outside a building.It turned out to be a school and two of the girls guided us to a place at the back where a woman's toilet was built.Four walls,an aluminum frame door and a hole in the ground . We started talking to the girls and one of them told us about how she wanted to become a doctor when she grew up. Curiously I glanced through a notebook she was carrying to find the formula for moment,momentum,Laws of Newton smiling back at me ! But sadly when I asked whether she knew where India was,she nodded her head in a no. Maybe her geography lessons are not so good as the Physics one !

At around 2 we reached Masindi a small town about 30 minutes  short of the National park. Our lunch was arranged at the Masindi Hotel ,Uganda's oldest hotel set up in 1923. Smiles greeted us as we made our way to this historic hotel.Having once hosted Ernest Hemingway ,it had  a lovely  old world charm. Predictably they have named the bar  Hemingway bar  had a lovely feel about it . Llunch was served in an outside patio sort of place and I had a swing at a rope swing on a tree nearby.

But we had to catch the ferry and get across the Nile to the lodge where we would stay and so no lingering in the Masindi hotel and we made our way forward to the national; park. At the entry was a small souvenir shop where we bargained and bought an ebony mask. And then we drove in to the park with almost no traffic to give us company. In the distance we could sometimes imagine we saw the river but it took us a good one hour to reach the place. The bus and vehicles were loaded on to the ferry and we were crossing the river Nile. Its a huge river and one could spot hippos cooling off .

On the other side, the Paraa lodge is a luxurious place ,welcoming all guests with a drink and a wet towel. The whole place has been made to reflect the jungle safari look and we climbed up the stairs to our rooms , overlooking the swimming pool and the river beyond. An evening drink at the Explorer's bar  and dinner at the quaintly  named Captain's table finished off our first day . But the night was mesmerizing with the river flowing by and standing on the balcony I could  imagine the wild cats roaming the forest and grasslands beyond.

Day 2 was scheduled for both the safari and a boat trip . An early breakfast and then off to the bus with the safari guides for the high point of the visit. Murchison falls national park is Uganda's  largest protected area. We had our tryst with the  Huge African elephant just 2 mins inside the park when a group decided to cross the road just in front of us.The bus stopped to give them the right of way and it took them a good while to lumber across the road. But it is definitely bad manners to pass them by and move to  the  proximity to these mighty animals and we wisely waited. As we moved ahead the Savannah grasslands and the forests then started revealing their treasures .The sun was hot but I moved forward and sat in the seat next to the drivers'to get a good view. Deer and warthog ,(Pumba,pumba  ala the Lion King ...!)  ran across the huge expanse . Then came the Giraffe,their necks seemingly touching the sky,comfortably chewing off the top leaves of the tree. At first we were really enthusiastic to have spotted a giraffe,but then there were plenty of them ahead,in groups,mostly lazing around ,some even giving us a pose to click .

We would request our guide to stop and let us admire the animals,the  bushbucks, reedbuck, duikers, kobs, warthog,oribi  ,hartebeest,all introduced  to us by the ranger and forgotten soon after . We wanted to photograph,stand ,stare and photograph. He wanted to move forward so that we could catch a glimpse of the most lion before they retreated for the afternoon siesta. He was right because by the time we reached the grasslands with scattered bushes it was almost 10 AM and the mighty beasts had had their breakfast and had found the shade of bush to rest. Our bus went off the track and the guide peered inside each bush to catch a glimpse.Asw e move a little further another returning bus told us the exact location where they had spotted a lion and sure enough we found him there hidden deep inside ,his eyes shining .We were enthralled ,and took a number of photographs ,none of which could catch him as he was well hidden.We were lucky that day , because some time later we were given directions to another bush where a lioness was resting. This time she was not deep inside the bush and we could only stare at her in awe ,the tawny coat and the majestic posture. Disdainfully, she did not pay much attention to us ,now that she was not hungry ! We did not of course dare to get off the bus ,but saw her fascinatingly  from the window . 

We thought this was the end of the safari,but we moved towards the Lake Albert where the Victoria Nile meets it at the Delta Point   and becomes the Albert Nile. There were hippos in the water but we were advised not to wander off ,for crocodiles are found here . It was time to go back and prepare for the next leg ,the most beautiful sight in Uganda of the Murchison falls .

Out of Africa

It was a remote possibility that we would plan a trip to an African country , given our stereotype of a 'phoren' holiday being Europe or now Thailand,Malaysia,Singapore. So when an opportunity came our way we were delighted to be a part of a group going to Uganda.Uganda is associated in our minds with Idi Amin and more delightfully with the Madhwani family one of whom married our very sexy Mumtaz .
The trip to Kampala was via Dubai and I must say Dubai is not the place for me .Buildings each higher than the next,malls each bigger than the one before.....no its not up my street. So we had half a day in this unique city but I was glad to get out of it and board Emirates for Kampala. As one looks down from the plane,huge Lake Victoria and green is what sooths the eyes. We disembarked at the Entebbe airport on the banks of Victoria and went to a delightful resort ,the Speke resort , in Munyono on the outskirts of Kampala .A half hour drive from Entebbe to Kampala gave us a taste of the traffic in the city ,heavy and apparently jams are quite commonplace there .
The Speke resort built during the CHOGM meet of 2007 is a wonderful place to stay. Absolutely divine landscaping greeted us with lush green trees and an almost bewildering variety of trees and flowers. I felt like a child wanting to run and see all the vegetation and went clickety click with my camera. Hats off to the horticulture team for an absolutely lovely place and great maintenance. The place is on the shore of the Lake Victoria and predictably an early morning ,next day led me to take a walk around the place. The sun rose brightly and its rays fell playfully but powerfully on the waters.A lone boatman rowed his boat towards this ray of light and I was delighted when I captured him beautifully. The amazing diversity of plants and flowers kept me enthralled that morning from the Lantanas to huge hibiscus to flowers I did not know  about.
Uganda has  a very large Indian population so the food served was good old home food. The breakfast buffet had poori sabzi alongwith the usual cornflakes ,hashbrown potatoes, etc that one is served in such places.

We were moving out to the Murchison falls the next day so had a time crunch in Kampala. A look at the city's more poular places could not be arranged but we did vist a handicraft centre on the lines of Delhi's own Dilli Haat. Small stalls gave us a lovely experience of shopping and bargaining for typical Ugandan handicrafts mostly made of ebony . Figurines,hats,stools,.it was an absolute treasure trove . It was rather difficult for us to count in thousands of Ugandan shillings because 1 dollar would give about 2300 ushillings.and stuff would be for nothing less than 10000 ush and multiples thereof. The crafts village lay in the National Theatre compound just across the road from Parliament where the swearing in of ministers was taking place that day .Funnily our bus parked on the side of the street was locked for wrong parking and I saw a couple of more cars whose wheel was locked by a right angled iron brace.

The next day was the Nile,Masindi and the Savannah grasslands.

Playing with the waves at Radhanagar

The five and a half day holiday to Andaman was full of fun and great nature interactions.The sea was everywhere as were the forests .The coasts devastated by Tsunami were a reminder of nature's untamed force.The USP of the Andaman visit is not the forest,not the sea ,not the pristine beaches,it is the coral reefs one can see either  snorkeling or in a glass bottom boat . The North bay island was our first stop to this end and the boatmen  who took us there very strongly sold us the idea of doing some underwater viewing of the wonderful animals. A twenty minute boat ride  took us to the island .On the boat itself the crew asked us to pay up 500 Rs per person for those who would do snorkeling .The North bay island appears to be the property of Andaman Forest department and the Vanilla,betel nut are and mango ginger are sold there. It was a small but busy beach with small shops for tea,biscuits coconut,Cold drinks. A little to the side was a ramshackle changing room  with cloth curtains merrily flying in the breeze . Enterprising people had opened a rent- a- dress  stall for those of us who had come unprepared for the trip. The sea was calm and the guide gave us gear to wear ,teaching us the basics of snorkeling. Not knowing swimming,I felt a bit apprehensive but all of us had to hold hands ,and form a chain with the guide leading the last of us .Clutching his hand I went with the others to discover the visions of the sea. One could see Brownish colored Coral reefs near the shore but as we moved deeper we could spot coloured ones in many different shapes and sizes ,There some lovely fish too , but we came back after 5 minutes or so ,not going too far or too deep.Apparently in 500 Rs we had seen 7 reefs ! The disappointment was that we couldn't take our cameras with us to take some photographs. After much frolicking near the sea shore we changed and there was a bucket of fresh water 10 Rs apiece to wash off the saltiness of the sea . We ventured in to the private property behind the beach and bought some vanilla sticks too.
 But everyone says North Bay was just a trailer to more visual treats that Andaman seas have for us. The best of the best was the visit to Havelock,Jolly buoy Island and the sentimental visit to the Cellular jail.. We had tried to get a stay arranged at Havelock and see its famed beaches but we were a little late and we did not get an overnight accommodation there. Though its a 2 hour one way boat ride to the island we decided we'd go there even if was just a touch and come back. This time we had to be at the Phoenix bay jetty ,just behind our circuit house. There are private cruise vessels and a government one too. We got the tickets for the MV Markruz ,an AC luxury vessel . We got the tickets for the upper deck and trooped up to find it carpeted and a lovely view from the windows. They played a documentary by the Tourism division and I had a good mind to buy it from Port Blair but forgot about it when we were back. The trip landed us at Havelock at around 11 am .Since we had to be back the same day and the last vessel would leave at 4 ,on which our tickets were already booked we had no time to saunter around. We were immediately taken to Elephant beach by a boat powered by a motor.It was really great to sit and watch the boat streaking its way across the waters, sometimes spraying a jet on us. The ride was worth the dilemma in our minds of whether it had been the right decision to go to Havelock for just  3 or 4 hrs.
Once on Elephant beach we were taken snorkelling by the guide.Again there was a small shanty in the name of changing rooms . As with all islands the sea beach is a strip and the forests start a few metres from it. We had already seen the corals at North Bay earlier and had been told that it was just a glimpse of what we would see in Havelock and later at Jolly buoy. The experience was definitely far better and by the time we had visited Jolly buoy we were wiser .We would advice people to miss North bay and go straight to Jolly buoy .But more on that later . The snorkeling gear seems unhygienic with the breathing apparatus used by one tourist being merely rinsed in sea water and given to the next.Good thing would be to carry one's own or buy it at Port Blair.
Played around in the sea ,which was a frequent time pass , had coconut water and then waited for our boat to take us back to Havelock and then on to Radhanagar. In about 30 mins we reached Radhanagar ,through villages,resorts ,forests. There was more civilisation here and we could see paddy fields, flower beds . Our vehicle  literally danced around the trees in a path made so as not to have to cut any trees . There is the government Dolphin resort ,but we went on to have lunch at Barefoot resort. A simple veg\non veg thali sufficed for we were keen to spend more time on the beach . For a change and pleasantly so, there were proper changing rooms and washrooms here .They charged us some 10 rs each but it was a relief not to have the sand in your feet while changing and not to worry about someone barging in !
As we ran down to the beach ,it was a beautiful sight that was in front of us. A lovely blue-sea,clear water, no crowd at all, a couple here and there at a distance. It was maddeningly joyful and the swimmers jumped in to the sea for a swim,while I stayed near the shore.But I could wade in to quite some distance with the bed still under my feet . very bravely I went ahead till the water was just near me neck. As one wave came crashing down on us ,it was fun to wait for it and then duck our heads to let it overwhelm us ! Bliss to play with the waves. A small one would have us shout in disappointment and a huge was met by gleeful yells !
The beach deserves all the places it has on Asia's best list. It was quiet, save for the sea ,treas nearby, a lovely sun..... a perfect setting . There is nothing more to be added to this trip to Havelock except we would have given every single rupee for a place to stay back for a whole day . Maybe just a Havelock holiday .
We came out reluctantly to catch the ferry back as our tickets were for the last one going back to Port Blair.That too was a lovely sight,the sea at night ,the waters now a deep menacing blue , the stars visible in the sky above . 
And then onward to Jolly buoy ,another day  !

Ross Island ,Andamans

There is no worse time to plan for travel in India than the cold December -January months and there is no better to time to travel than these. The summer months are best , either go to the mountains or sit before your AC comfortably at home.But come winter and the weather is just right for travelling ,either in and around the plains of North India or to the South to escape the cold. But the fog plays havoc with your travel plans,as it did for us. The flight to Chennai on which we had booked our tickets in September ,inexplicably, told us at the very last of minutes ,in the queue to get the boarding card , flight was fully  booked and we would have to change our plans. However they had already given 3 people of the family boarding passes and failed to board the rest. After much running around,nail biting, arguing  and almost watching our well planned tour going to waste ,we did get to board the next flight at 8.30 pm ,to reach Chennai at midnight.Our plane to Port Blair was at 5.50 next morning ,which we caught comfortably  and after 2 hours we were in a warm sunny island .
After the Delhi chill it was lovely . No dilly dallying, after a lunch at the circuit house in Haddo we set off on exploring a place which got progressively greener and greener.  The nearest place to visit is the Ross Island which one can see from the Aberdeen Jetty . We were aboard a ferry at around 1 pm and in 10 minutes arrived at this former headquarter of the Andamans. To be greeted by a Japanese bunker ,albeit repainted , built during WW II ,   immediately tells you that history lessons are going to begin. The Indian Navy has taken over the island and charged us Rs 20 for entering its INS Jarawa . Once inside it was all forests and ruins of a once bustling town. The ruins of the magnificent Protestant church stood high ,up a flight of steps  but the Chief commissioners bungalow is now only walls held together by Banyan roots which have embraced all the ruins .

FERAR BEACH

We wandered through the ruins of the island passing through a power house,water distillation plant, bakery ,press,swimming pool and a small photo and memorabilia gallery in a building called the   Farzand Ali store .The Navy has set up a small museum which was closed that day . There is a small cemetery near the church with some headstones still intact telling tales of those who died there . As we went behind the church a flight of steps invitingly took us to the beach below. Ferar Beach is just a seashore with periliously overhanging tree trunks and a quiet hidden away ambience to it. The steps ended   and we slithered  down to reach the beach . The sea was calm but it must be deceptive because a notice pinned to a tree forbade us from swimming ! A photo session and some antics on the tree trunk later it was time to head back to Port Blair. As you walk around the place ,you see herds of  deer wandering around. They are shy and will keep their distance,looking at you with curiosity and running away if you take a step forward. But when we reached the park near the place where we had alighted,some people were offering biscuits and they came and ate them off the hand .

Waiting for the return ferry  at Ross Island Jetty

Since we had started a little late in the afternoon ,we had only an hour and a half to enjoy the place .But the ruins,the forests and the history demands more time than that . Maybe next time I can wander around ,getting to know the ghosts who haunt the forests ,the tortured  spirits of the convicts of the penal settlement who were forced to construct the beautiful island town, once even called the Paris of the East .