What a Pair…Budapest!

This morning we awoke in Budapest! Before 1873, Buda and Pest were two different towns, one on each side of the river. In 1873 they decided to join together as one town so Budapest was born. We docked in Pest but our cabin window gave us a great view of the Buda side. 

Today is a special day in Hungary..it is a national holiday marking the day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. It was a revolution against communism which started as a peaceful protest by some University students with many other citizens joining in. The Russian army ended the protest violently with many people killed.  Hungarians have this day off in remembrance and many of the retail stores are closed. This helped minimize the normally busy traffic in the busting city of Pest which is where our bus went first. 

The buildings are so beautiful here. Much of Budapest was destroyed during WWII but has since been rebuilt in Neoclassical, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. I’m going to post photos of our tour but our guide was pointing out buildings so fast, I don’t have the names of all of them but they are so cool that I have to share them!

We then took a bridge over to the Buda side. There are several  bridges connecting Buda and Pest but here are the famous ones: Szechenyi Chain Bridge, Liberty Bridge, Margaret Bridge, Erzsebet Bridge. The Buda side is less urban and more hilly. On top of one hill is the Buda Castle District. No one is allowed to drive up there - you must either walk (very up hill) or take the Official Budapest Castle Bus which is what our tour did. Unfortunately the Royal Palace was under renovation but we saw the magnificent Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. Just walking through the cobblestone streets of this medieval village was scenic. There were many people out and about since it was a national holiday.

After lunch on the ship our group ventured out to explore more of the Pest side. We ended up taking the subway which is the oldest subway in Europe (and felt like the most crowded!) to the Parliament building. This is an extraordinary building and very ornate. We made our way from there to the Shoes on the Danube Bank which is a memorial erected in 2005 to honor the 800 Jews and 2700 others who were massacred by the fascist Hungarian militia during WWII. They ordered them to take off their shoes before shooting them at the edge of the water so their bodies fell into the Danube and were carried away. The shoes would then be sold. A very well done and sobering memorial..

After shopping along the pedestrian mall, we braved the subway again back to the ship. That evening our ship pulled out of the dock at 9:30pm and the crew invited the passengers to the top deck to enjoy the view. Budapest was all lit up. As we cruised  through sparkling Budapest on the Danube the ship's speakers played The Danube Waltz by Strauss and served proseco. A very magical night indeed!

The view out our window in Budapest. University of Technology and 

Economics

                    

Crossing a bridge to the Buda side

The official Castle bus

This is a thing and theyre very good!

Walking the medival streets in the Castle District.

The Hungarian Worden for pharmacy

Houdini was from Hungary

The brownish building shows restored medival  paint 

St. Stephan

Matthias Church

All of the stained glass windows were removed during WWII so they survived the bombings. The church had to be restored.

Fisherman’s Bastion

Lots of Hungarian friends on the subway!

Parliment

Shoes on the Danube Memorial for Jews and others murdered here by the fascist Hungarian militia during WWII. Victims had to remove their shoes first so the soldiers could sell them later.

Io

Pedestrian shopping mall

Goodby Budapest!