Adamkó Péter - Dénes György - Leél-Őssy Szabolcs: The Caves of Buda - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1992)
thing thrilling or amusing to say about this. Descending to the Auditorium have a look overhead to the right at the Egg-gripped Knife and to the left, at the Theater’s most loyal spectator, the Rococo Lady. Both are, of course, dripstone formations. In front of us there is the Theater Hall’s Emergency Exit, beyond which the cave’s longest new section was discovered after 1980. Turning right, we pass under the Stone Bat with its extended wings. It consists of two adjacent hemispherical cauldrons. Proceeding through the Trap-door look back at the Stage before a left turn takes us to the cave’s most impressive section, the Long Corridor. It is approximately 50 m long, about 15 m high and 1 to 2 m wide. Its walls are decorated with magnificent dissolution structures and calcite veins. At the end of the corridor scratches on the wall mark where a “heavy- weigth” explorer managed to squeeze himself through this narrow gap which was filled with thick clay. Hence the name of this site, the “Scholtz attempt”. Moving on from a depth of 30 meters the relatively wide and comfortable Pharaohs' Stairs takes us up to the Hen Ladder, an iron ladder which was replaced in 1990. It is the children’s favourite, unlike the Giants’ Stairs coming next. These stairs are 30 to 40 centimeters high and quite narrow. A strong cross-draught can be felt at the top. Behind the Giants’ Stairs two smaller, somewhat less steep iron ladders bring us to the end of the Peti Corridor. Cinül 1989, when the new exit was opened, the trip finished by returning to the Lóczy Chamber through this corridor. Today though, the route turns right and the trail continues through the Tourist Corridor to Fairyland. Don’t miss the fossil clam shells on the right sidewall along the way. After a few steps a formation called Sucking Lamb stands on the same side. In the middle of Fairyland there is a 1.5 m tall dripstone figure called Snow White, surrounded by the Seven Dwarves and Little Red Riding Hood. Sometimes water accumulates behind them. This is called the Seven Seas with the Chinese Pagoda on the opposite side. Turning right again and after negotiating several steps, we pass by the interior of the Gothic Cathedral. Meanwhile we can marvel at the Tomato and Parrot formations on the left. From the Balcony on the right one can look across the 24 meter 18
