Hungrary Saint(s)

Gul Baba , Budapest, Hungary:

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation center.

Budapest has approximately 1.7 million inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s peak of 2.1 million. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with the amalgamation on 17 November 1873 of right-bank (west) Buda (Ofen in German) and buda (Old Buda or Alt-Ofen) together with Pest on the left (east) bank. It is the seventh largest city in the European Union.

The easiest thing you can do after arriving in Budapest is to buy a map of the city as the shrine of Gül Baba is given on it. You can also ask how much it is to get a day ticket or a week ticket for bus, tram and the metro (these are also given on this map).

You will know that Budapest consists of two parts called Buda and Pest, which are divided by the Donau river. The shrine is to be found in the part called Buda. Gül Baba lies buried in a small Turkish building on the eastern slopes of Budapest's Rose Hill. It was not difficult to find Roszadomb, the hill on which Gül Baba lies buried. There are several bridges across the river. The one nearest the shrine is connecting a street called Krt. Margrit (tram 4 and 6). Across the river it takes you to the left after some time, but the shrine is more to the right at a short distance taking a small alley upward a hill. From the point across the bridge to the shrine was about 15 minutes walking. The nearest railwaystation to the shrine is called Deli. I don't know if it is the possible to arrive there directly from
Brussels, but from the trainstation you arrive in Budapest you could take a subway to the Deli railway station. From there to the shrine it is a longer walk than the other possibility. You have to buy a ticket to enter the shrine. The caretaker mentioned to us the name of a very nearby hotel.

Gül Baba lies buried in a small Turkish building on the eastern slopes of Budapest's Rose Hill. Gül Baba's name means Rose Father. He is said to have been a lover of roses and he always wore a fresh rose in his conical dervish hat. Among the Sufis the rose is the symbol of the inner knowledge obtained about the Beloved. It was not difficult to find Roszadomb, the hill on which Gül Baba lies buried. The well-kept building is surrounded by a garden and of course roses can be found there. The grave itself has been covered with a green cloth with embroidered Qur'anic verses. At the place above the head the taj (lit.crown, but here: the Bektashi hat) can be seen. Gül Baba arrived in Budapest in the 16th century C.E. in order to create a Sufi centre dedicated to love in order to compensate for the military presence of the army of Sultan Süleymân.