Budai Vár

I saw the former Ministry of Defence building, which is full of gunshot wounds and has been left like that as a reminder of the violence of war. I also saw Mária Magdolna torony - the remaining tower of the Church of Mary Magdalene.

I wandered around the Budai Vár (Buda Castle) complex, staring up at faces, many tourists, and statues, such as the Mátyás-kút (Matthias Fountain), the Horseherd, a raven (at Corvinus Gate), and Prince Eugene of Savoy.

I searched for the Turul birds, folklore encrusted bronze birds, that at times it feels almost like the city cowers under, and I craned my neck to try to peer up at them and their big wings, sinister somehow.

Although they both sounded potentially interesting, I didn't visit the Telephone Museum (the inventor of the telephone exchange, Tivadar Puskás, was Hungarian) or the Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum (my guidebook told me of the fascinating confusion between mumiya (bitumen) and mummies. See Mummy medicine for an explanation).

Door