Budapest, Hungary

Szia! (Hello!)

Another long post ahead for an interesting few days :) Our final European city was Budapest, Hungary! Mom and I caught the train from Vienna after an interesting experience trying to get on. After eating breakfast and with snacks (Pringles) in tow, we arrived in Budapest in the afternoon. We decided to take public transportation to our hotel once we got in which proved to be slightly adventurous, but made it without too many problems. We checked into the Hotel Victoria Budapest in the Buda Castle District and spent some time admiring the view (we had a big window facing the Danube). We got lunch at Belgian Brasserie Henri next door and were particularly impressed with their beer menu showing all the different "tasting notes."

From there, we figured it would be a good idea to get oriented using the trams in the city. We mostly used trams 19 and 41 for our side (Buda) and trams 2, 4, and 6 for the Pest side. This helped us figure out the layout and understand where everything was relative to other sites.

We hopped off to start sightseeing with the Little Princess Statue (said to bring good luck if you rub the knees) and the Girl With Her Dog Statue. There are tons of sculptures with stories behind them - click here and here to learn more!

We also stopped at the Shoes on the Danube Bank, an important memorial to the people killed by a fascist party during World War 2. According to this article, "approximately 20,000 Jews were brutally shot along the banks of the Danube River. The victims were forced to remove their shoes at gunpoint (shoes being a valuable commodity during World War II) and face their executioner before they were shot without mercy, falling over the edge to be washed away by the freezing waters." There are 60 pairs of iron shoes along the river remembering the victims of the events during this period. We were particularly shocked when we saw someone "wearing" the shoes for a picture since we had previously read about the memorial and its significance to Hungary!

From there, we walked to the Hungarian Parliament building to see it from the outside. It's spectacular and has many pointy spires! We also briefly visited the Kossuth Monument. I recently found this article explaining the main figure portrayed, but attempted to use Google Translate to figure out what the monument was saying.

We stopped at a supermarket on the Buda side of the river and caught some sunset views of the Parliament. Our first night was spent planning and watching the boats go by on the Danube!

The next morning, we walked up to Fisherman's Bastion after eating some breakfast at our hotel. It was surprising just how crowded it already was at 9 AM (opening time!), but was a nice monument to stop at. We tried to go into the Matthias Church at this point but couldn't because it was closed in the morning. Then, we went to the Hospital in the Rock - Bunker! This museum was enlightening and interesting, covering history during the WW2 & Cold War periods with an exhibition about the harms of nuclear warfare and wax figures illustrating actual uses. This page further discusses the history and purposes of this hospital built into a series of caves in the Buda district. (Side note: they had the cutest plush viruses, microbes, and cells in their shop!)

We got coffee and snacks at the Walzer Café while walking through the castle district. It reminded mom and me a lot of the Prague Castle District and Mala Strana part of town! Then, we took the bus down to the Pest district from there so we could find our dock for our river cruise! We booked with Legenda Cruises for a 1-hour afternoon cruise that also included two drinks. It was great to hear the history of Budapest explained and get some fantastic views of the city from the river! There was a market along the riverbank, so we stopped for a potato pancake snack.

Then, we caught the tram to the Holocaust Memorial Center. The exhibit we went through was called From Deprivation of Rights to Genocide and was incredibly moving. Walking through the museum, I gained a much deeper understanding of what happened, why, and began thinking about how to ensure this kind of atrocity never happens again. This link has a few pictures of the permanent exhibition and this link explains the aims of the exhibition.
A few facts, borrowed from this link:

• Approximately half of Hungary's Jewish population lived in Budapest, where they were very acculturated and a part of the middle class.
• In 1941 the Hungarian Government passed a racial law, similar to the Nuremberg Laws, which officially defined who was to be considered Jewish.
• In June 1941, Hungary decided to join Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. Finally, in December 1941, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in declaring war against the United States, completely cutting itself off from any relationship with the West.
• Hungary was liberated by the Soviet army by April 1945. Up to 568,000 Hungarian Jews had perished during the Holocaust.

Mom and I went back to the hotel for happy hour after the museum to discuss and decompress. Then, we went to dinner at Andante Borpatika. Our waiter was super friendly and helpful, and we loved the view from the restaurant!

Our final day of sightseeing started with the Heroes' Square on the Pest side. Without meaning to, we also visited the Vajdahunyad Castle for its cute towers and statues, and the Széchenyi Thermal Bath just to see it (we didn't feel like swimming)!

We then went over to St. Stephen's Basilica and went inside - quite grand and spectacular! Our next stop was the Central Market Hall, a huge two-level market with a floor of gift shops.

Budapest is known for its Ruin Pubs, so we also stopped into Szimpla Kert, the best-known one. Then, it was lunchtime. We went to Restaurante Fuego and had some fantastic roasted chicken with a blueberry chili sauce and salad.

After our busy morning, we crossed the river to the Buda side for the rest of our sightseeing. We walked by the Hotel Gellért and went inside the Rock Chapel! For fun, we took the Budapest Castle Hill Funicular to the top and visited the area around Buda Castle.

It was close, so we walked over to Matthias Church and got to go inside this time! Although it was a little pricier than most churches, we were allowed to go upstairs and see some of the church's treasures.

We spent our final night enjoying happy hour at the hotel before going to Jamie's Italian for dinner. On mom's and my first Europe trip, we visited a Jamie Oliver restaurant in London so we wanted to visit this one. The house wine was great with our salad, pasta, and dessert.

And, that's it! Four months in Europe concluded with a fantastic city!

-A