It has been said that Budapest is a city of the number two; 2M people, 2K+ years old and 2 cities. Buda high on a hill with a castle (known as Castle Hill), a Royal Palace and historical Matthias Church towering over the Danube and Pest, the low land city with the second largest Synagogue in the world, magnificent Parliament building and Opera House.
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| Royal Palace and Hungarian National Gallery |
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| Parliament on the Pest side of the Danube |
Once you get the public transportation system, it is quite easy to get around. I'm usually not too good with direction, but actually found the system easy to navigate. Usually I like walking a city, but with two cities, having the transportation system really is nice. My hotel was centrally located on Andrassy near the List Square on the Pest side. When I arrived I checked in and immediately started my adventure. I only had two days and I was going to make it all work. I walked down one of the main streets to the Jewish Quarter and saw the second largest Synagogue in the world (the first is in New York). It is massive and quite impressive considering the fact so many Jews were murdered during WWII and afterward by Stalin's communist regime. From there I walked to the river band and up to the Parliament building. It is without a doubt one of the most impressive pieces of architecture I have ever seen. As usually my photography really doesn't match up.
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| Architectural design |
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Matthias Church
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| Walkway to Castle Hill |
The following day I took a bus tour of both cities and by the end my head was spinning. There is just one ruin or castle or palace or 2,000 year old something to see. Actually most of the ruins were destroyed during various wars and in the 1800's Pest was flooded.
One item I wasn't aware of is Budapest is known for its spa's and mineral baths. I didn't have the opportunity to partake in one of the treatments. I'm fortunate enough to live between two villages; Piestany and Trencianske Teplice, both with wonderful spa facilities, just about 15-20 minutes away.
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| View of the Palace from the Citadella |
The tour ended at the Citadella. A hill-capped fortress built by the Hapsburgs (you might remember them from my post on Vienna) after the 1848 Revolution so they could "keep an eye" on their subjects.
In just the short time I've lived in Slovakia and traveled to Vienna and now Budapest I feel like I'm really living in the history lesson rather than just reading it. When you read about wars, occupations, who has done what to whom, you really can't imagine it until you are here and seeing the devastation and the revitalization, not just of buildings but of peoples spirits.
The House of Terrors was just down the street from my hotel and it looked interesting so I decided that would be the museum tour on this trip to Budapest. It was the most horrifying and interesting tour I have ever taken.
The House of Terrors was home to two evil and terrorist factions; the Nazi affiliated Arrow Cross that during WWII immediately began the extermination of Hungarian Jews and then the KGB-type wing of the communist satellite government, the AVH. The tour actually shows you how the occupations began and what horrors followed for so many Hungarians. You see the cells and types of torture that was used and actually hear from a few of the victims that miraculously survived. In addition to Jews, anyone who dared to speak against the regime was tortured and then eventually hanged. There is also a room commemorating the 1956 Uprising when 2,500 Hungarians were killed. More than 200,000 Hungarians fled the country during the occupation. The final room is of the Victimizers themselves. Many are still alive and haven't been brought to justice. The one thing I've learned from these travels so far is there is quite a bit of reconciliation that still needs to take place in Central Europe.
I've posted some other photos on my Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/robin.mcguire.
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Next post will be on Salzburg, Austria.
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