Lending a Hand, Foot, or Head

 

Can you figure out which one is St. Denis? (Notre Dame, Paris)

Some people lose their keys, others lose their pants, and yet others lose their minds. In the case of some Catholic saints, they lose body parts. St. Denis lost his head for his role in turning France into a nation of believers (he might not be so happy to find out that France has since declared itself a secular state). Poor St. Catherine of Siena left body parts all over Italy (her foot is in Venice, her head and toe are in Siena). As for St. Stephen of Hungary, he lost his right hand. Yesterday afternoon, a rather grey and drizzly day in Budapest, I paid a visit to St. Ishtvan's Basilica (Ishtvan is the Hungarian version of Stephen), the basilica named for Hungary's first king and patron saint, Stephen I. Stephen is credited with increasing Hungary's control over the Carpathian Basin and bringing Christianity to Hungary. Not too shabby, right? Most tyrants rulers would probably be satisfied to rest on their laurels and spend their afterlives enjoying some well deserved "me time"; however, Stephen turned out to be a bit of an overachiever, even in death. Instead of gracefully stepping out of the spotlight after his 37 year reign was up, Stephen was credited with miracles performed at the site of his tomb, and was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1083. No word on whether Stephen is still making miracles happen today, but that hasn't diminished his superstar status in Hungary. His birthday is a national holiday (August 20th), and his right hand is kept as a relic in his basilica, on permanent display for all who care to see what a thousand year old hand looks like. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but to quote the British grandpa who was standing next to me in the viewing chapel, "it's rather small, isn't it?".

 

St. Ishtvan's Basilica, Budapest.

It's Saturday afternoon in Budapest, and in a couple of hours I'm going to be heading for the airport to catch my flight to Heraklion, Crete (Greece). In total I spent seven nights in Budapest, which was honestly probably a little too long, but I enjoyed my time here. I had originally planned on taking a side trip outside of Budapest, but in the end I got lazy. In my week here, I met some interesting characters, had more than a couple of bowls of goulash (not as spicy as I was expecting), visited a local bath house (something I highly recommend, but let it be known that if you go in the middle of the day on a weekday, you will be surrounded by seniors and children under the age of 5), and spent countless hours just wandering around and sitting in cafes. At this point in my travels I'm not overly concerned with being a tourist on steroids; I figure that I'm conserving my energy for later on in the trip when things will inevitably get a little harder. Before this trip it had been six years since I had last backpacked through any part of Europe, and I'd forgotten how tourist-friendly Europe can be. In any case, Greece will be my last European stop before hitting the Middle East. I'm pumped up for a little fun in the sun, and hanging out with the sons and daughters of Plato for a few days. To everyone back home, have a great long weekend!