Budapest

Budapest is such a unique city. In reality, it is two cities in one. The cities of Buda and Pest look at each other over the Danube River (the largest river in Europe). It was so cool to see. Buda is built on a hill and Pest is more flat. We spent time in both cities.
We started off the day with a guided tour. That is how we spent most of our time in Buda. The coach took us around and our tour guide, Emily, showed us the sights. The first stop we had was at fisherman’s bastion, which is a cool fort at the top of the city. It was used to protect Hungary from invaders. We took a group photo here before moving on which I will be receiving later.

After that we stopped by the plague monument. There are a lot of these throughout Europe and it is likely that this one was built over victims of the Black Plague. The Black Plague was a devastating disease that swept through Europe. That being said, without the Black Plague, Europe’s history would have been changed because of overpopulation and possibly would not have been able to gain the power that it was able to achieve. Near the monument was also the entrance to the labyrinth that Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Drakul or Dracula) was imprisoned in for a while. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to go in here or one of the Palaces near here but at least we got to see them.

Then we headed over to the liberty monument. There are several of these all throughout Europe because they are from World War II. They are from when the Soviet armies liberated these countries from Nazi occupation. This one originally had a Soviet soldier on it but it was taken down because of the people’s anger over being under the Iron Curtain. Instead, they replaced it with Lady Liberty.

There are some pretty good views from Buda of the rest of the city. Here are some pictures taken from Fisherman’s bastion and Liberty monument.

That was the end of our tour with the coach and we were dropped off at Hero’s Square in Pest. Here is what Hero’s Square looks like.

I headed out with a group of five people that included two Australians, two Americans, and one South African. We started off by going to the House of Terror, which is a very emotional visit. It deals with the Nazi occupation and the Soviet actions while Hungary was under the Iron Curtain. There is eerie music throughout the museum and you are confronted with a tank from World War II right as you walk in. At the end there is a memorial to the people that were murdered by the Soviets during their rule. Unfortunately, you couldn’t take photos inside but it was incredible.
After an all you can eat buffet, we went to Saint Stephen’s Basilica. It is a stunning cathedral and it contained a relic, which is the preserved hand of Saint Stephen. His hand is supposed to grant miracles and we were able to see it. We also went up the bell tower and into the treasury.

We grabbed ice cream after on Brenton’s insistence. He had been to Budapest before so we were using his knowledge of the city to get around. The ice cream was really cool because they shaped the different flavors into a flower. Brenton and I each got three flavors which created cool looking ice cream.

After this, we headed over to the Parliament building, which is the largest in mainland Europe and second only to the one in London in all of Europe. You can see it from Buda and it is an amazing building.

There is a really beautiful synagogue in Budapest. It is the fifth largest in the world and the largest outside of New York. We weren’t able to go in, probable because of services, but the outside is stunning and we have now visited places of worship of the three different Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism).

After this, we headed to the Szechenyi Baths. This is the thing to do when you are in Budapest. The one we went to is one of the largest in Budapest. There are three outdoor pools that are heated by the thermal springs under the city and a bunch of mineral pools inside that are heated as well and are supposed to have good effects on your health. It was really nice to relax there, even without a lot of time.

Finally, we did a river cruise through the city at night. They had a buffet with bottles of white and red wine for each table and we got to see the city at night. It was an amazing experience.

Tomorrow, we will head through Slovakia on the way to Austria. The time in Hungary was amazing and Budapest certainly lived up to its reputation.