Metro 4, Gellert station, Budapest

The rain comes unexpectedly in Budapest. Even in winter there's not a lot of rain so I am always surprised that it has started raining. It's one of the aspects of life I'll miss when I leave Budapest, the beautiful weather.So when the skies suddenly decided to drench us all I headed down into the Underground at Gellert. Gellert is a hill on the Buda side of the river Danube and it is famed for its hotel and baths both of which also carry the Gellert name. Anyhow ceramic tiles are part of the indoor character of both the baths and hotel. Hungary, and in particular the town of Pécs, is famous for its Zsolnay ceramic factories. Zsolnay ceramic tiles were used on many of the most prominent Art Nouveau buildings in Budapest at the turn of the century. When the new M4 underground station was designed at Gellert recently they used a beautiful ceramic mix to achieve an effect similar to that above ground. It caught my attention as I headed home. To the best of my knowledge the new M4 line was funded mainly by the EU, as is the case for many of the renovation projects currently putting a smile back on the face of downtown Budapest. The government of course is taking the credit for all of that but then again that is what politicians often tend to do....