|
 Like the fabled dobostorte cake, Budapest
offers layers of history marked by rich
infusions of artistic excellence. From the
Arpads in the late
12c, to the 15c Angevins, the 16c Turks
and the 18c Hapsburgs, each occupant has
contributed rich flavours to the city. The
“Little Paris of Middle Europe”,
Budapest is at once proud, hauntingly seductive
and exciting.
Under the charismatic late 15c King Matthias
Corvinus, the Royal
Palace on Buda hill was the finest in
Renaissance Europe, decorated by superb Italian
craftsmen. Together with the magnificent spire
and tiled roof of Matthias Church, and the
bizarre turrets of the Fisherman’s
Bastion, Buda is a masterpiece of composition.
Directly across the Danube, the independent
city of Pest became an important economic center during
11th–13th centuries. Fine architecture
ranges from the prickly domed Parliament House
to the Moorish Great Synagogue and the flowing
Art Nouveau Posta Bank. The two cities were
united geographically by William Clark’s
magnificent Chain Bridge in 1849, and then
politically as one city of Budapest in 1873.
The Museum of Fine Art in Budapest is seriously
under-estimated, offering discoveries of
excellent little-known works by Ghirlandaio,
Cranach, Velasquez, El Greco, Manet and Gauguin, while
the National Gallery reveals Hungary’s
poetic spirit in Munkacsy’s haunted
condemned criminal and Paal Laszlo’s
atmospheric landscapes of the Great Plain.
On the Danube, at Esztergom, a vast
Neoclassical cathedral contrasts with the
moving medieval altarpieces of Thomas de Coloswar, while at Gödöllö,
the beautifully restored pink and white Grassalkovitch Baroque
mansion balances the vivid mosaics and carved
furniture of the famous Secessionist Gödöllö
colony of artists.
|
|
Hotel
Located in the heart of Budapest, the five
star
Corinthia Hotel evokes
the grandeur of old Budapest. Beautifully
restored from the old Grand Hotel Royal, the
hotel has retained the splendour of its
original interior, fronted by a regal
historical façade. The hotel’s
majestic Royal Spa has also been restored.
Travel
Scheduled flights London/Budapest. Private
coach for transfers. There is a fair amount of
walking on this tour.
Price
£1550 members, £1590 non-members.
This includes two evening meals with wine. No
single room supplement.
Deposit
£175 per person
|
