russia: gatchina

The way I'd booked my train tickets, I had a day in St Petersburg but wasn't going to sleep there. My trains arrived and departed from the same train station, so I decided to leave my bag in luggage storage, and do a day trip.

Gatchina is a city of more than 90,000 residents, around 45 kilometers south of St Petersburg.

The city was first documented in 1499, when it was known as Khotchino. Then it was known as Gatchina. Then it was called Trotsk. Then it was called Krasnogcardeysk. The name was changed to Lindemannstadt when the Germans controlled the area during WW2. The name was finally changed back to Gatchina near the end of WW2.

By any standards, that is a rather long list of names for just one city. Most of the name changes occurred in the 20^th century, I wonder what those who lived through the changes think of all the names.

During the first couple centuries of documented existence, Gatchina was part of Sweden and Russia, as the two empires were fighting over the area for a loooong time.

In 1765 Catherine the Great bought the town and manor, then gave them to Count Orlov, who is said to be responsible for organizing the assassination of Tsar Peter III. 

The assassination is what made her empress of the Russian Empire, so it was basically a huge thank you gift.

Over the next twenty something years, Orlov built the huge palace (which has 600 plus rooms,) as well as the gardens surrounding the palace. After Orlov died, Catherine bought the palace/estate from the family, and passed it on to her son, the future Tsar Paul I. Paul focused his changes on developing the town from a village, giving it Imperial City status after he was crowned.

After the death of Tsar Paul I, the palace and city stayed in the possession of the royals, most of whom made at least a few changes to the palace. Some of the rulers spent more time in the palace than others, though Tsar Alexander III seems to have made it his main residence, and spent the majority of his life there. It was this tsar who introduced the modern concepts of indoor heating, telephones, electric lights, non-freezing water pipes, and a proper sewage system.

The last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II spent his childhood at Gatchina, but ended up making Tsarskoye Selo his main home.

In the early 20^th century the city was the home of one of the first airfield in the country, and was a center of aviation and engine technology, according to Wikipedia.

After the civil war, and ending of the imperial system in Russia, the palace became a museum, which was open as such until 1941. The Germans who left after controlling the area for around three years looted the palace and vandalized the gardens when they left in 1944.

When initial damage estimates were taken, much of the palace was considered irreparable.

Restoration was done in part of the palace, it took more than 60 years. Wikipedia tells me a good portion of the palace is still closed and unrestored, and this area includes the parts most important to Tsar Alexander III. The government was able to get back some of the looted artwork, though far from all of it.

I took one of the first elektrichkas from St Petersburg to Gatchina, arriving when it was still dark outside. At this time of year, even after the sun has officially risen, everything seems really dark for a few hours. Argh.

The front of the train station has a view of the street leading right to the palace, with the city itself basically behind and off to the right of the palace. I started walking, since I needed to kill a couple hours before the palace opened to tourists.

The city center of Gatchina isn't big. When I say city center I guess I mean the tourist center, which is really close to the palace and grounds. On my way to this area I passed a stelae designating Gatchina as a city of military glory. This stelae was just like most of those I've seen, with the stelae in the middle, and four cubes on four corners, with the sides of each cube showing a 'view' of what has happened in the military history of the city.

I passed a church, but there was a service taking place as I went in, so I took no photos inside. I passed multiple bakeries, most of which were just opening up. I was very tempted to buy multiple items as they all looked good, but for once in my life I used willpower not to do so. All these areas were in a pedestrian area, which was decorated for the holidays.

I took advantage of the lake of people to take a photo of myself sitting on a sled being pushed by a snowman, hee hee. I imagine many of the locals and visitors take the same  photo. 

I found another church, where another service was taking place, so I didn't even go in this one. Even though I'd been walking for a while, and the sun had officially risen, it was still so very dark and gray. This is the kind of light that shows up in photos as blue, yuck. When I looked at my watch I realized it was time to walk back toward the palace and gardens, as opening hours were coming.

I was thrilled to discover that there was no entry fee to the gardens at this time of year. Granted, everything was covered in snow or ice, and the lighting was all flat or dark gray. Sigh. Even so, I wandered around for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet. I didn't explore all of the grounds though, I would consider coming back in summer, as I assume the landscaping would be quite nice. I decided to go in the palace before seeing all of the garden area for one main reason: I was cold. It was windy and cold, and my fingers were not having a fun time with trying to take photos outside.

The entry fee to the palace was only 500 rubles, which I think is a cheaper off season price. There was no foreigner price that I could see, which made me happy. As with other royal palaces in Russia, there is a huge coat check area, I was also able to leave my snack bag there.

In general, Gatchina palace wasn't nearly as fancy as some of the others I've seen, but it was still over the top of anything I'd ever consider for my own home. I wonder what it was like before the Germans looted the place. I did like the Greek Hall, which curves around and was particularly aesthetically appealing.

I'm not sure if there is a specific route for going through the palace, to see everything. I'm pretty sure I missed some areas, as I kept coming to 'intersections' where you had to choose which way to go, and who knows if I went the 'right' way.

In the middle of the palace there is a big marble stairwell, which is quite impressive, if you're into that sort of thing. Even though this palace was less grand than what I've seen previously, there were still grand ceilings and chandeliers, as well as nifty intricate wooden floors.

If you join a tour group through the palace, I'm pretty sure your tour guide will be in fancy dress (costume.) I saw a number of groups following people dressed in period appropriate clothing, none of which looked comfortable. Despite that, they were all smiling, which is impressive in a country where people generally don't smile at strangers.

After leaving the palace, I went straight back to the train station, as I knew there was a train leaving soon. I could've stayed in town longer, but if I'd missed that train, the next one was three hours later, or something like that.

When I got back to St Petersburg I made my way (by metro and walking,) to the Transfiguration Cathedral, which is quite big. The original chuch was built in the mid 18^th century, then was destroyed by a fire in August of 1825. Only the exterior walls and a few sacred objects were saved. A rebuild was done immediately afterward, lasting four years. Further renovation took place on the facades and interior took place from 1946-1948, after WW2 affected the church.

The transfiguration Cathedral is on a short list of churches in Russia that have had religious services through their entire existence, even during the wars, and Soviet times.

This church is dark yellow on the outside, with Greek looking columns in front. Very grand, but not too complicated. Wikipedia tells me this is Empire Style.

After that I walked to another church, but this one was much smaller, and far less grand. Even so, I liked it. From there it was a walk back to the place where I'd eaten dinner the few days earlier. I knew the food was good at reasonably priced, and it was warm enough for me to kill a couple hours.

The walk from dinner back to the train station was long, dark, and windy. Thank goodness for warm clothing :) As always, I know I'll be back, it's just a question of when.

russia: pushkin and st petersburg

Most people who come to visit Russia have a limited amount of time to explore the country. Russia is so big that it is pretty much impossible to see everything, even if that's your job. (And I don't think that job exists in Russia, but I could be wrong.)

Rachel came to Russia with about a week and a half to see what she could. I know that Moscow and St Petersburg are the cliche cities of the country, but that's for good reason. They have heaps to see and do, great public transportation, and fabulous food. 

No matter how much time you spend in each city, you can always find something new.

I wrote that explanation for why Rachel and I went to St Petersburg for the weekend she was in Russia, instead of a smaller, less known town or city. We took the train of course, because that's the best transport system in the country.

For the first and only time (so far,) that I've been in Russia, the conductor in our train wagon did not come in and wake us up before arriving in St Petersburg. I woke up, and immediately checked my watch to see if I should go back to sleep.

I was shocked when I realized it was after our arrival time, and we had already arrived in St Petersburg. I had no idea how long the train was scheduled to wait in St Petersburg, but I did not want to get stuck on the train until it stopped again, not knowing when or where that would be. (The final destination was Helsinki!) I woke Rachel up and rushed us off the train, then took a big breath to calm down.

We stayed in the station for an hour or two, getting ourselves sorted out. After waiting around, we got on the metro, and rode to Pushkinskaya station, because it is right next door to Vitebsky Railway Station. 

I'd already seen this station, but I still love it as it is one of the oldest stations in St Petersburg, and has classical architecture.

Plus, this was the station from which the elektrichka train we wanted was scheduled to depart. It took us a while to figure out where to find tickets for this station, Rachel figured that out. Soon enough, we were on our way to Pushkin.

There was a manor and estate on this spot as early as 100 years before Pushkin was officially founded in 1710 as the village to support a royal palace called Tsarskoye Selo. 

The land was first ruled by the Swedes, with people being documented here all the way back to 1501. Wikipedia tells me how the name of the place changed in various languages, and how it came to be Tsarskoye Selo.

Fun fact: the first public railways in Russia started here in 1837, called Tsarskoye Selo Railways. After the October Revolution the town was renamed Detskoye Selo; then in 1937 the name was changed again to Pushkin, to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the death of the famous Russian poet.

Current population of Pushkin is around 92,000, it is 25 kilometers south of St Petersburg.

The train station in Pushkin is pretty lame, especially when you think that it was established as a place to support a royal palace. Oh well. We got off the train and started walking up the main street right in front of the station.

Even though it was only the end of September, it had been cooler weatherwise, so the trees were much further along in their anuual rainbow than in Moscow. We got to see that as we walked, and it was awesome.

The walk to get to the palace and palace grounds took us past a church. The church itself wasn't very interesting, but the landscaping around it was quite photogenic. As we walked by we didn't see an open door, which was disappointing for me. (I love looking inside churches, Rachel isn't an art fan.) Oh well.

We got to palace grounds a bit before they officially opened, but not by a long time, so it was easy to wait. The park around the palace has an entry fee, separate from the entry fee for the palace. The grounds are extensive, and we got lucky in so many ways.

The sky was grey, but not a flat grey. The trees were all sorts of colours. It was not raining. The temperature was chilly but not too cold. I write all these things to say it was a fantastic day to take photos. We went into the park as soon as we could, and wandered around with no real goals in mind.

We loved the big pond, (which is really a small lake, but I wasn't the one who came up with the name,) and the reflections it created. We found the pyramid, I'm not sure what it actually is.

There was a small Chinese bridge we did not see, since we didn't look carefully enough at the map ahead of time. We also enjoyed a small building that looked quite similar to the main palace. I don't know what it was, but I imagine there are temporary exhibitions inside from time to time.

The palace opens to independent visitos at 1200, and the queues begin about 30 minutes before then. There are two routes for going through the palace, with separate entrances for each of them. 

I don't think it's possible to pay one fee and go through both routes, but I think that's what we did, though unintentionally.

Finding the right place to queue was a bit of a guessing game, I didn't really know where we should go. We paid our fees, put our coats and bags into coat check, then started to follow the crowds.

Like every other royal palace I've seen in Russia, there was a lot of gold. A LOT OF GOLD. Many grand rooms with fantastic ceilings, beautifully placed mirrors, intricate chandeliers, etc... 

The powers that be did a good job in setting up the palace for tourists, it isn't hard to figure out where to go next. That being said, there are a lot of tourists, so it's hard to take photos without people.

Tsarskoye Selo is the palace most famous for one room: the Amber Room. There is a lot of history and mystery to the room, what you see now is not the original room. (Which disappeared during WW2, and has never been found. There are a lot of ideas about what happened, but nothing has ever been proven.)

The current Amber Room is the one place in the palace where you're not allowed to take photos or video. I'd heard about the room, and read a couple stories, and was ready to be impressed. But I wasn't, and I'm not sure why. The room isn't all that big, and amber isn't very bright. I could see that most people did like the room, I guess I'm the odd one out on that.

By the time we left the palace we were blinged out. I love palaces, but all the gold gets to you after a while. It wasn't hard to find our way back to the train station, where we didn't have to wait too long for the next train back to St Petersburg.

After arriving back in St Petersburg we hopped back on the metro to get to our hostel, a capsule hostel. Capsules are small, but they're private, and relatively cheap, so I'm a fan. After dropping off our bags we walked to one of the most recognized sights in the city: the Church on Spilled Blood.

This church is often mixed up with St Basil's in Moscow, because they both have amazing exterior decorations. Lots of colours, twisting lines, etc... The interiors of the churches couldn't be more different though. 

I tell all visitors its worth seeing the inside of the Church on Spilled Blood, but not worth going inside St Basil's.

Rachel appreciated the interior of the Church on Spilled Blood, but wasn't blown away since she doesn't love art, hee hee. There are mosaic frescoes everywhere, which can be pretty overwhelming if it isn't something you see often. Plus there are heaps of people, and bright colours.

After that I took Rachel to my favourite restaurant in St Petersburg, Namaste. Yum. Both of us crashed early that night.

Our Sunday started with packing up and checking out, then leaving our bags at the hostel. We noticed almost immediately that the weather wasn't amazing, but oh well, that's life. Our first sight of the day was another church, but since I knew Rachel was already a bit churched out after the Church on Spilled Blood from the day before, we didn't go inside this one. 

Instead, we bought tickets to climb up the spiral staircase to get to the walkway that goes around the outside of the rotunda of St Isaacs Cathedral. 

There are fantastic views over the entire city from all the way around the rotunda, and even though I'd seen these views before, I loved them just as much this time. 

The trees were already changing colours, which meant every visible park looked like a rainbow. Just like the last time, I was annoyed by some tourists as they sortof blocked off narrow walkways while trying to take the perfect photo for social media. 

A bit of walking on random streets brought us to the river, which we followed for a while.

We crossed one of the many bridges, which brought us to a small park in the middle of which we found a Solovetsky stone. The stone was brought from the Solovetsky islands, which were the sight of the first gulag camps. The stone honours and remembers everyone who was sent to one of those camps.

Just up the street from this stone is a mosque, decorated like many of those along the former Silk Road trading route. In other words, the outside is gorgeous. Rachel and I took a quick look, but did not go inside. In a future visit I hope I'm able to go inside.

Our next sight was the Museum of Political History in Russia. Both of us enjoy history, and geopolitics, so it was a great museum to visit. It was also pretty intense, as Russia has a very long political history. There were sections for the different chronological parts of Russian history, but the biggest focus was on the Soviet years.

Lots of specific items, lots of photos, lots of propaganda posters, lots of information. There were a lot of medals, clothing, and diplomas. There were also a few big dioramas of what living spaces might've looked like for different people at different times in different parts of the Russian empire.

As we left the museum it had started raining. Not a heavy rain, but still pretty unpleasant. Rachel was satisfied with what we'd seen in the city, so I proposed getting dinner even though it was still pretty early. Back to Namaste :) After that we went to get gelato, I'm usually a sucker for that as well, even when the weather is chilly and rainy, like it was that day.

After eating a lot more than either one of us needed, we went back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and walked to the train station. Goodbye St Petersburg, I will be back.

spain: madrid

when i booked my flights to and from the states, i got lucky. On the way back to Kyiv, I had a 15 hour layover, during the day, in madrid. Yahoo! I had two bags with me, I was able to check one of them, so I had just a carryon and purse during my day. (The carryon was not light though, I really felt it by the end of the day.)
My morning started with an easy train ride into the city.  Since I didn't have a guidebook, I had only a triposo app, I wasn't exactly sure where to go in the city. I chose a center platz called the puerta del sol. Three metro lines cross there, and it's central.

It was only 0900 or so when my train arrived, and I came above ground. There weren't many people around, since it was early, but I liked that. There is a fountain in the middle of the platz, which isn't any shape in particular.
I walked from this platz down a fairly small, mostly pedestrian street. I think it's mostly touristy, as i could see hotels and small cafes and not much else. It was very pretty. This street brought me to another open area, in front of a theatre. I would've taken a photo, but it wasn't at all picturesque. Next to the theatre, another street kept me walking in the same direction as before.

Eventually I got to the end of the street. On the corner was a small monastery/convent. Beautiful exterior, but I chose not to go inside, I don't remember why. Next time I will.
I turned directions just a bit, and followed the street to a park. This park was on one side of the royal palace. There were several paths, each lined with statues of famous people in spanish history. I should learn more Spanish history.
Queued up in front of the ticket office for the royal palace were 20 or more people. I saw the sign listing entry prices, and adult entry was 10 euro.

If I'd had more days in the city, I would've taken the time to tour the palace, but with only one day, I had to choose. Walking through the palace is another place on the 'to see' list for when I return to the city.
Across the platz from the front side of the palace is the Catedral de la Almudena. It's big. The front makes you want to take a photo. The entry I found was to a museum, and I thought that was the only way to enter. I decided to pay the 6 euro entry fee, which I thought was a bit ridiculous at the time. The museum didn't allow any photos inside, I followed the rules. There were treasures of the church on display, they were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

At the end of the route through the museum you have the oppotunity to climb stairs. A lot of them. The stairs take you to the cupola, and lead to a door going outside. On a blue sky day, I stepped outside, and loved my view. I got to walk all the way around the cupola, looking at the city in all directions. Beautiful. You know those times when you see something and think: 'wow'. This was one of those times. One of the views from the cupola was over the front of the church, looking to the royal palace. Awesome. A photo definitely doesn't capture the beauty.

Eventually I went back down all the stairs, into the sanctuary of the cathedral. Tall, pretty, colourful. The ceiling was unique, like nothing else I've ever seen. To the side there was another altar with an icon to which people pray. Despite the heat outside, the interior of the church was cool.
After exiting through another door entirely, (I think it was a actually a side door, but used as a main entrance,) I found a place selling postcards and other church related souvenirs. From there I crossed the street, and walked down another street, back in the general direction of where I'd started my morning.

This was another touristy street, filled with more cafes, and more shops with souvenirs.
The reason most people walk this street is because it leads to a couple well known platzes. One of them is an enclosed platz, you enter through a small gateway of sorts. By this point it was noon-ish, so there were a heap more people out and about. It was also the time I started to feel the heat and sun. In the middle of the platz was a statue of a guy on a horse. The exteriors of some of the buildings were being worked on, so they were covered with I don't know what. I had more fun watching everyone taking photos than taking photos myself.

At that point I was hungry, and thirsty. Really hungry and thirsty. I could feel the heat and sun, and knew I needed to cool down and hydrate. I walked out another exit of this platz, and followed a street toward my next sight. I figured I would find a cafe along the way, and I was right.
As in many other cities in Europe, small cafes and restaurants offer a daily menu with several courses for a good price. I found one of those cafes, offering an 8 euro menu. I was the only person when I first walked in, but there were at least ten people by the time I left.

I had vichysoise (that cold, tomato-y soup, it was a pretty big bowl,) followed by fried fish and salad. I also had a drink (water,) a basket of bread, and fruit for dessert. A lot of food for 8 euro! There fish wasn't particularly notable, but the rest of the food was good. Simple, just the way I like it.
I felt a lot better after eating and drinking, thank goodness. It was still hot and sunny outside, so I knew that wouldn't be the end of it. I walked back to the puerta del sol, where I'd started in the morning. This time I exited the platz on the other side. Not a pedestrian street, but still a popular street.

The street I was walking took me to a well known traffic circle. Yup, a traffic circle. It's called the plaza de cibeles. There is a statue in the middle, of a racing chariot. It's nifty. But it's still a traffic circle!
I continued to walk, which eventually took me to where I wanted to go. A really big gate, in the middle of another traffic circle. Is this a Madrid thing? A Spanish thing? I walked up the street and found another platz with memorials. Really big memorials. In the middle was the very tall Christopher Columbus tower. After walking around the platz, I turned around and went back to the last traffic circle I mentioned.
On one side of the traffic circle is one entry to the parque de retiro. I'm not sure, but I would call it the main park of the city. It's big, with lots of paths to walk, with several differently landscaped areas. In the middle of the park is a pond big enough for people to use paddle boats.

There are benches around the pond, it's nice to watch people enjoying themselves and relaxing. (I was also dehydrated again, and hot, and really needed the chance to sit down for a few minutes.)
Another thing worth seeing in the park is the Palacio de Cristal. It isn't really a palace, more like the size of a big greenhouse. It's all glass, with an exhibit of some kind inside. Colorful. I felt even more humidity and heat when I walked in, so I didn't stay long. In front of the 'palace' was a small pond, with an even smaller fountain in the middle. Peaceful.

Walking back toward the original Puerta del Sol, I found a vendor selling water at a reasonable price, I drank a liter and a half in a short time. It felt so good. Sitting down for another few minutes, in the shade, also felt good.
Eventually I started walking again. I found a cafe listed on one of the travel apps, but it was closed when I got there. Argh. The reason I'd wanted to go to this particular place is that it was supposed to have good desserts. If you've read any of my other posts, you know I have a thing for sugar.

Fortunately, on my way to the closed cafe, I'd passed another that looked pretty good. It was. I had chocolate mousse in a chocolate square. YUM.
After the cafe I walked back up the street toward the Puerta del Sol, glancing at the Gran Via on my way. It didn't seem very impressive. At all. Maybe because the big building at the start of the street was covered by netting. Argh.
Along this street I found a few souvenir shops, one of which sold postcards at a good price. So I bought plenty.

Back in the Puerta del Sol I couldn't help myself, I took a photo of the bear statue. Too funny not to.
I took trains back to the airport, and waited for hours to check in. I was the first to check in, yay! Though not for lack of Ukrainians try to jump in front of me in queue.
I arrived back in Kyiv just before 0600.

hungary: visegrad and szentendre

one of the many reasons i like hungary is the possibility to stay in one city or town for a while, and do day trips to nearby towns...it's really nice not to have to pack up every day or two...i used budapest as my base for this entire trip, as it is easy to get to a number of nearby towns, yay!
remembering what i'd learned the day before about the necessary bus stop i got up around the same time, and out the door the same time, but this time got to the bus stop a good thirty minutes earlier...for whateva reason, i don't think i got to a town any earlier, but that's beside the point.

visegrad is another small town on one side of the danube river...the bus stopped quite regularly along it's route, i was never very sure which stop was the main one for visegrad...(even at the end of the walk around town i still didn't know)...
according to lonely planet, visegrad has the most history of the towns in the area, but very little of it is still visible...it's heyday was during the renaissance...its hard to believe the town used to be quite powerful, and used to control a sizeable area of the country...
i am sure that the stop where i got off wasn't the 'main' stop...i'm not sure what prompted me to hop off the bus there, but i did...thankfully i like walking, so it wasn't a big deal to walk a ways down the highway to get to something...

i found a tiny chapel on the river side of the highway, a very cute exterior...unfortunately it wasn't open...triposo tells me this is a roman catholic chapel, named after mary...built in the 18th and 19th centuries...
i managed to find the tourist information office; the man on duty was one of the rudest information people i've ever met...i walked in, he immediately asked 'what do you want?'...given that this was the information office, i would've thought that was obvious...he gave me a map, without pointing out any landmarks on the map, then told me i should go outside if i wanted to look at it more closely...i didn't feel at all as though he wanted to help me see the town...

the lonely planet guidebook mentions very few places to see in visegrad, the first of which is a palace...(triposo and tripadvisor don't even mention this palace)...only it isn't a real palace...well, it is, but it isn't, at the same time...
according to lonely planet, the palace once had 350 rooms...what exists now is nearly all a reconstruction, and even then it has only been partly reconstructed...i didn't like it at all...the reconstruction looks new, and the actual remains of what used to be don't make much sense at all...you get to see about 12 partly reconstructed rooms, i didn't feel as though i was seeing anything interesting
the gardens are nice, and i hope were much more extensive at one point in time...
i bought a few postcards on my way down the street after the palace, the
my next sight was a church...the front doors were open, but i wasn't able to go into the church past the front doors...there was an inner gate of sorts...too bad, as i would've enjoyed a few moments of quiet reflection...

what i could tell is that the central aisle had a carpet of flowers.  they were beautiful designed, i loved it. the pattern went all the way down the aisle, absolutely lovely. i'm assuming visitors were blocked from entering the church in order to keep the flower design looking awesome
i next found the beginning of the path that took me on a nice hike to the remains of the fortress overlooking the entire area...it was a nice hike...as i got to the fortress, i also found the parking lot, where it seemed most people started their visit to the fortress...the parking lot was surrounded by tourist stalls, none of which sold anything that interested me...

the fortress had a couple options for an entry fee, i opted for the one excluding the wax room...i didn't need to see wax representations of anything...each room in the fortress had an exhibit about one aspect of the history of the area...very well done, much more so than the palace i'd already seen...
perhaps the best part of the fortress was the ability to look out over the entire area...fantastic views...if there was a bridge to cross over to slovakia, i would've explored a couple of the small towns on the other side of the river :)
i wasn't able to find the path going down from the fortress, so i ended up going down the same way i came up...i didn't mind, since it was still pretty...

as i got back into town, i found the closest bus stop on the highway...i got lucky, and a bus came along within 10 minutes. yay!!
i got off the bus in szentendre...go figure, i hopped off at yet another stop that wasn't the right stop to get to where i wanted to be...i ended up wandering, and purely by luck ended up in the town center, the cute area of the town...
szentendre used to be ruled over by visegrad, but doesn't have a lot of history itself...it's now mostly an artists colony popular with tourists...there is a small central platz, with a memorial cross in the middle...

streets stretch out in several directions from this central area, all filled with shops and restaurants for tourists...i couldn't help but wonder where locals eat, because i'm pretty sure they wouldn't pay the prices these restaurants were charging...the shops had all sorts of kitchy stuff, none of which interested me...(except postcards of course, and i saw those in less than half the shops)...if i'd had the room in my tummy, i would've bought ice cream at the various shops, just to see which place had the best...hee hee hee...i exercised some willpower and only had one cone...with two scoops of course...
the one sight i enjoyed was the serbian orthodox church and museum on top of the hill in the middle of town...the church was quite small, but i was the only one in there at the time, so it was quiet and comfortable...the iconostasis was beautiful...
the museum was full of religious art...the signage was fantastic, in both hungarian and english...it was only two large rooms, but i really liked both of them...if art interested me more than it does, i would've enjoyed it even more...

also on top of the hill was a church dedicated to st john the baptist...again i got lucky with being the only person in there during my visit; it felt welcoming and comfortable...(i couldn't help but wonder if all the tourists down in the center platz saw anything on the hill)
there wasn't anything else to see in szentendre, so i wandered through the back streets to find the same bus stop at which i'd gotten off the bus when i arrived in town...not too long afterward, i arrived back in budapest :)