Budapest, del 7 al 10 de desembre de 2017: descobrint nous llocs per Budapest (9 de desembre de 2017; dia 3) (VIII)

Sobre el mercat central, a viquipèdia es conta el següent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Market_Hall_(Budapest); https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercado_Central_de_Budapest ):” The Great Market Hall or Central Market Hall (Hungarian "Nagyvásárcsarnok") is the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest, Hungary. The idea of building such large market hall arose from the first mayor of Budapest, Károly Kamermayer, and it was his largest investment. He retired in 1896 so when the building was completed, he participated in the opening ceremony as a citizen.

It is located at the end of the famous pedestrian shopping street Váci utca and on the Pest side of the Liberty bridge at Fővám square.

The building was designed and built by Samu Pecz around 1897.  The market offers a huge variety of stalls on three floors. The entrance gate has a neogothic touch. A distinctive architectural feature is the roof which was restored to have colourful Zsolnay tiling from Pécs. The area size of the building is 10,000 square meters, which is covered by steel structure. During the World Wars it was completely damaged and then closed for some years. Throughout the 1990s restoration works brought back the market to its ancient splendour. The building was awarded with FIABCI Prix d’Excellence in 1999. The Central Market Hall is one of the most popular tourist attractions of the city.^[2]

Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices, and spirits such as paprika, Tokaji, Túró Rudi, and caviar. The second floor has mainly eateries and souvenirs. The basement contains butcher shops, fish market, and picked vegetables including the traditional cucumber pickles, as well as cauliflower, cabbage, beets, tomatoes, and garlic.

The market is closed on Sunday, opens at 6am on other days, and closes at 5pm Monday, 6pm Tue-Fri and 3pm Saturday”.

Després de la fugaç visita, tot i que ja és gairebé fosc a fora, anem a buscar un lloc per dinar. El trobem quan un senyor ens commina a entrar; hi accedim, ja que per l’hora que és, molts establiments ja tenen la cuina tancada. Entrem al restaurant Casablanca (https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g274887-d1314213-r155955377-Casablanca_Club-Budapest_Central_Hungary.html#photos;geo=274887&detail=1314213&ff=233732385&albumViewMode=hero&aggregationId=101&albumid=101&baseMediaId=233732385&thumbnailMinWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7&autoplay= ). Som colla i l’espera es fa eterna. El restaurant està ple i més d’una persona marxa sense haver estat servida. Ens queixem, i ja quan estem a punt de marxar ens serveixen. Cal reconèixer que els plats vegetarians són bons, però l’espera s’ha fet eterna i hem acabat perdent molta estona.

Sortim que ja és ben negra nit; ens dividim. Mentre uns ja marxen per anar a l’òpera, els altres anirem a cremar calories tot pujant a l’estàtua de la llibertat de Budapest. Per tal de fer-ho creuem un dels ponts, el d’Elisabeth (http://www.bridgesofbudapest.com/bridge/elizabeth_bridge ) i passem per davant d’una de les termes més conegudes de la ciutat, la de Géllert (http://www.gellertbath.com/ ). Passant per damunt del Danubi l’aire és tant fred que costa de respirar!

Sobre el pont d’Elisabeth, s’explica el següent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bridge_(Budapest) ):” Elisabeth Bridge (Hungarian: Erzsébet híd) is the third newest bridge of Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pestacross the River Danube. The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. It is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, a popular queen and empress of Austria-Hungary, who was assassinated in 1898. Today, her large bronze statue sits by the bridge's Buda side connection in the middle of a small garden.

Its two ends are:

·         March 15 Square (with the oldest church in Pest, Inner City Parish Church, built in the 13th century) and the famous Mátyás Pince restaurant

·         Döbrentei Square in Buda with the monument of Saint Gellért on the Gellért Hill, a sculpture of Queen Elisabeth and the Rácz Baths and Rudas Baths nearby. A luxury spa hotel is currently being built in the area.

·         he original permanent crossing, a decorative suspension bridge of chains, was built between 1897 and 1903, amid a corruption scandal. The Buda end of Erzsébet bridge runs directly into the massive foot of Gellért Hill, necessitating a complicated arrangement of roads to connect to the bridge. The bridge was designed in such a way because a wealthy nobleman, a member of the City Council owned the particular area of the riverbank. He wanted to make a fortune by selling the piece of land for bridge construction purposes, bribing the other councilmen and engineers on purpose. He managed to sell the land at greatly inflated prices. In the era of horse-drawn carriages the geometry issue was not considered significant and the resulting cost overruns were covered up, therefore no prosecution took place. In recent decades, many motorists have been permanently injured or killed in the sharp turn that immediately follows the bridgehead. After an accident in 2004, which killed a family, a speed limit of 40 km/h was posted for the west-bound lanes.^{[3] [4] [5]}

·         The original Erzsébet Bridge, along with many other bridges all over the country, was blown up at the end of World War IIby retreating Wehrmacht sappers. This is the only bridge in Budapest which could not be rebuilt in its original form. Pictures and some salvaged elements from the old bridge can be seen on the grass in front of the Museum of Transport in City Park.

·         The currently standing slender white cable bridge was built on the very same location between 1961–1964, because the government could not afford to construct entirely new foundations for the bridge. The main spar cables of the bridge are hexagonal in cross section, composed of thousands of elementary steel wires of seven different diameters, partly because early computers were unable to provide solution for a circular cross section main cable batch.

·         The novel design, designed by Pál Sávoly, was a first in Central Europe and not without weaknesses. Tram traffic and its heavy tracks had to be removed from the bridge in 1973 after signs of cracks appeared in the structure.

·         The special lighting for Elisabeth Bridge has been created by renowned Japanese lighting designer Motoko Ishii and Japan contributed 120 million forints (EUR 450,000) to the costs. The Budapest City Council has paid 150 million forints for the project. 2009 marks the 140th anniversary of establishing diplomatic links between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Japan, and the 50th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic links between Japan and Hungary.” (Continuarà)

(La fotografia és una panoràmica sobre el Danubi i els seus ponts, des de la zona de l'estàtua de la llibertat)