Day 7 - August 1

After a leisurely morning Jim and I headed to St. Istvan's Basilica since we we unable to see the interior yesterday due to a concert. On the way we stopped at Gresham Palace which has been turned into a Four Seasons Hotel. The building was renovated and reopened in 2004. It has some incredible Art Deco design elements...

Adter a tour of the lobby we left to go to St. Istvan's Basilica. After a disappointing visit to another famous church in Budapest a couple of days ago... (or was that yesterday???? lol) we were definitely not disappointed with St. Istvan's. The beauty truly rivaled St. Peter's Basilica in Rome... just not as big.

Then, as usual, I was taken by the beautiful stained glass windows...

But, the most unusual thing was the case in which was the actual right hand of St. Istvan (Stephen) himself. He was the first king of Hungary and was responsible for bringing Christianity to the Magyar people. Most churches have an image of Christ at the altar... St. Stephen's Basilica has an image of St. Istvan on the altar.

This afternoon we visited with another cousin and 4 of her 9 children! It, too, was a wonderful reunion.