Budapest: A Most Scenic Melting Pot of a City

We spent five days in Budapest and easily could have spent more time soaking up the history and the atmosphere. While Hungarians are distinct ethnically and linguistically (and in many other ways to be sure), this area of Europe is a true melting pot of cultures. In fact, Hungary recognizes 13 different minorities and ensures they have representation in Parliament.

Overall, we found Hungary to be a more expensive tourist experience than most European cities. Entry fees are notably higher than in other places. We judge everything based on the ticket price for the Louvre, arguably one of the best museums in the world. The fee was around 15 or 16€ back in 2018; it is now 22€. While it is subsidized heavily by the French government, we figure it is not a bad standard to evaluate the value you get for your tourist dollar. Imagine our shock to learn that it costs over $30 to visit the Hungarian Parliament (for 45 minutes) and $35 to visit the Dohany (Great) Synagogue. We don’t recall seeing such high fees in other places, although inflation is making its impact everywhere. (I just checked, and the Prado is up to 30€.) It is interesting that Paris’s sights are cheaper.

We took an evening cruise on the Danube. Our ride started before “sunset,” and it was fabulous to see the contrast as the lights came on. Here is the progression:

It was a very cold night, but it was worth it to go to the top of the boat to take the nighttime photos.

Parliament is the most iconic building in the city, and we saw it from many angles. Despite the cost, we were glad we did the tour, which was well-organized and highly informative. The interior is elegant and beautifully decorated. The grand entry hall is only used for the opening of each parliamentary session and special events. The meeting room is decorated with many historical symbols.

Previously Hungary had a bicameral legislature but post-WWII, it became unicameral. The two chambers built for the earlier legislature are identical, and one is shown on the tour while the other is used by the current legislature.

Just down the river from Parliament is the Shoes on the Danube monument memorializing the Jews who were killed by the Hungarian Arrow Cross militiamen between 1944 and 1945. The victims were shot at point blank range after removing their belongings, including their shoes, which the soldiers could then profit from. It is a moving display.

We explored both the Buda and Pest sides of the city, which were historically separate cities on either side of the Danube, and enjoyed the different neighborhoods. We had plans to visit the Fine Arts Museum, but found it unexpectedly closed for the morning due to some special circumstance. Rolling with the punches, we took an architectural stroll of the adjacent City Park’s many museum buildings, starting at Heroes’ Square, created in 1896 to mark the 1000-year anniversary of the country. It features statues of the leaders of the Magyar tribes who founded Hungary, along with famous kings and historical figures.

Nearby sits Vajdahunyad Castle, modeled on the original castle located in Transylvania, which was once part of the Hungarian Crown. There is quite a history between Hungary and Romania involving the region. Perhaps we’ll learn more when we get there on a future trip.

We then made our way to the House of Music Hungary, which is a stunning building. The architectural design even allows the trees to grow right through the roof.

Finally, the park includes the Museum of Ethnography, which is also an architectural gem. It rises out of the park like a two-sided wave (only one side seen in the first photo) and has a “green” roof garden, which we climbed.

From these terrific Pest sights, we took the metro and a tram over to the Buda side, where we had a lunch reservation. We explored the Castle Hill neighborhood, including the famed Fisherman’s Bastion, a 19th century fortress, and the13th century Matthias Church (Church of Our Lady of Buda Castle).

Hungary is predominantly Catholic, a legacy left by the first king Saint Steven who spread the religion in the late 10th/early 11th centuries by establishing a church in every 10th village. But other religions played a role as well. We did a tour of the former Jewish Quarter in Pest, where there are several synagogues. The Dohany Street Synagogue, finished in 1859, sat next to the house where Theodore Herzl was born the next year. The back of the building includes a Holocaust memorial built with the support of actor Tony Curtis, the son of a Hungarian Jew.

The Rumbach Street Synagogue was finished in 1873 and was renovated and reopened in 2021. Both synagogues became a part of the Pest Ghetto during WWII. On the Buda side we visited the Tomb of Gul Baba, a 16th century Ottoman ruler. Although this site is a national monument, it was almost empty. We noticed that Hungry's Ottoman period gets short shrift in the country's history, but note that both synagogues (photos above and below) have obvious Moorish architectural influences.

Budapest is a historical, ethnic, and religious melting pot with a rich and complex story to tell. Our exploration was educational and entertaining. From Budapest we headed east to visit two of Hungary’s many wine regions, which was a whole different type of education.

More to come soon,

Shana & Jeff

Arrival in Budapest and the History of Hungary

We arrived in Budapest via an easy train ride from Bratislava, and that night we attended a dinner hosted by a wine shop that included a six-course menu with wine pairings. The dinner was limited to 12 people, but there were only 10 of us: me, Shana and eight friends from Malta. We had never met anyone from Malta before, and these guys were from Gozo, which is the smaller (about the size of Manhattan), northern island of Malta. Super interesting and friendly people, several of whom had lived in the US at some point.

The meal was led by Thomas (the chef, checked shirt) and Thomas (the sommelier, white shirt in front). We really enjoyed both the dishes driven by local ingredients and the Hungarian wines: sparkling, white, rose, red and dessert. It was a fantastic meal and a lot of fun. And, now Malta has moved up on our travel destination list.

On our first days in Hungary, we had very nice weather, and so we did a lot of walking, including climbing up the hills on the Buda side of the river: Gellert Hill and the Buda Castle Hill. Both provided great views of the city.

Within Buda Castle, is a museum that focuses on the history of Budapest, while on the Pest side is a museum dedicated to the history of Hungary. Between the two we learned a great deal about the history of of the Hungarians, which essentially dates from the crowning of (Saint) Stephen I as the first King of Hungary in around the year 1000. Stephen is (obviously) an important figure, and he has his own Basilica in Budapest, where you can see the remains of his hand. Relics are strange things; we took a pass.

Hungary's history is very interesting, especially because much of it involves wars with the Ottoman Turks, including a period of about 140 years when the Turks controlled Hungary, giving it a bit of Muslim history similar to what we have explored in the Southern part of Spain (although not as extensive given that Moors ruled parts of Spain for over 700 years).

For me, one of the most interesting parts of Hungarian history to learn about is the period from the lead-up to WWII until the fall of the Soviet Union (1930's-1991). It was fascinating to see how the Hungarians attempt to finesse (not well, in our opinion) the fact that they chose to ally with Nazi Germany, and how they discuss the years under a Communist government in the shadow of the USSR. We were particularly interested in learning about the country's 1956 uprising seeking democracy and freedom, which failed due to the intervention of the Soviet Army, and led to the execution of several leaders of the revolution including Imre Nagy. 

Imre Nagy had been the de facto leader of Hungry's Communist government from 1953-1955, and was made the Prime Minister at the demand of the 1956 revolutionaries whereupon he dissolved the secret police, promised democratic reforms, and pulled Hungary from the Warsaw Pact military alliance. Unfortunately, when the USSR intervened to put down the revolution, Nagy was sentenced to death and executed two years later. However, when the Eastern European countries finally broke from the USSR in 1989, Nagy and other leaders of the 1956 revolution were rehabilitated, and there is now an impressive monument to him in Budapest. 

We are very much enjoying our time in Budapest, which looks a bit like Paris, with few tall buildings, and many bridges over the river running through the city (the Danube in this case). The food is fantastic and we are enjoying the variety that is somewhat lacking in San Sebastian. Also, the city has a very good public transportation system, which became more important as the weather turned cold and we had more reason to use it.

More from Budapest soon.

Jeff and Shana

Two Days in Bratislava

Our first stop on our current trip was Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, a country that came into existence in 1993 with the (peaceful) separation of Czechslovaki into Czechia and Slovakia. We flew from Bilbao to Vienna, and from there it is only an hour train ride to Bratislava.

Bratislava is a relatively small city (population around 475,000), and has that type of a feel. We did think the city had very good public transport including trams and buses, which we used extensively. On our first full day in town, we did a walking tour of the city that gave us a good introduction to the overall layout and some of the history.

So, what did we learn? First, during the Hungarian Empire, when Buda (the capital) was taken by the Ottoman Turks, for hundreds of years, Hungarian kings were crowned in St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava (then known by its German name, Pressburg).

Although not vert visible in the picture, at the very top of the steeple is a gold crown on a pillow representing the use of the Cathedral as a coronation church.

We also learned that during the Napoleanic Wars of the early 19th Century, French troops attacked the city with cannons from the other side of the Danube river destroying many buildings, but never entered the city. As a result, the statue of the French soldier in the main square has his eyes covered since he never saw the city. Cheekily, the statue was installed in front of the French embassy.

Finally, we learned that one of the main synagogues of the city (among other buildings) was destroyed in 1967 by the Communist government to build a bridge over the Danube. Many people tried to stop the destruction of this beautiful and historic building, but in the end "city planning" won out over history. Today, the city's Holocaust Memorial stands near the site of the old synagogue.

After the tour, we walked up to Bratislava Castle, which sits on an elevated spot above the city and the Danube.

We did not feel that the castle did a very good job presenting the history of Slovakia, but recognized that Slovakia may be stuggling to describe its own history separate from Hungary and later Czechia, which leads to a less than coherent narrative.

The next day, we hopped on a bus near our hotel, and in 15 minutes were in Devin, which is home to the ruins of Devin Castle. Fortunately, compared to the cold  weather of the day before, we had a beautiful day to explore the  castle grounds.

The elevated site on which Devin Castle was built overlooking the confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers has been settled since the Bronze Age. Later, the Celts and Romans were here, and there was some form of castle/church here from at least the year 1000. Over time, it was an important part of the Hungarian kingdom as it was a border site with the Germanic kingdoms to the north/west.

The grounds of the castle are very beautiful, and there are parts of some buildings remaining, but as we have noticed with so many castles we have visited, we found it difficult to picture what the castle might have looked like in its heyday.

One of the most interesting things at the castle was an exhibition about Devin's role as part of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. At this location, the Danube is the border between Slovakia and Austria, which was part of the west. Therefore, during the Cold War there was a strong effort to keep people from attempting to leave Czechoslovakia, which included physical barriers such as barbed wire fences, but also put the town of Devin (at times) in a restricted zone prohibiting anyone from visiting without permission from the government. As time went on, Devin Castle was opened to tourists, which made the job of the Border Patrol more difficult. There were numerous attempts of escape in the Devin area between 1948 and 1989, some of which were successful, but which also led to at least 42 deaths.

After returning to Bratislava, we went to the City Museum, which is in the old City Hall building. Among other things, this allowed us to climb up in the tower we saw on our tour, and learn a bit more about the city and its history.

And that was our visit to Bratislava as we caught a train the next morning to Budapest (about a 2.5 hour ride). Much more on that soon.

Hasta pronto.

Jeff and Shana

“The Routine” vs. “On the Road”

Having spent the past 3+ months in San Sebastian, we’ve had the chance to reflect on what it means to be at home and in our routine, as opposed to on the road and living moment to moment. Clearly there are benefits and advantages to both. If we had to choose, seeing as we love to travel, being on the move would likely win out.

Our routine here is simple – we’re at the gym 6 days a week, at yoga 4 or 5 days a week (Shana), cooking and eating most meals at home, reading a lot, keeping in touch with family and friends, going out with friends here, enjoying local events, planning next trips, and watching whatever might catch our fancy, which for the next several months will be baseball. Sleeping in your own bed and being in your own space are a pleasure.

But the road is calling. We are about to embark on a 17-day trip to Bratislava, Budapest, two smaller destinations in Hungary, and La Rioja, Spain. And then I’ll be going to Galicia for a 4-day art and architecture tour with the Guggenheim Museum. April will be full of adventure, and we are looking forward to it. While there will be several long travel days involved, the planning process has made us excited and hungry. (Budapest is quite the foodie destination.) There will be lots of posts coming about what we encounter.

In the meantime, March was not dull. I was in Bilbao for an introductory meeting for the Galicia trip and saw two exhibits that were interesting. The first was “Master Works on Paper from Budapest,” an assembly of drawings, etchings, etc. from the extensive collection at the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest, which we will be visiting. It included works by da Vinci and Raphael, as well as Van Gogh and Degas (seen below).

The exhibit detailed the history and evolution of drawing through several centuries. Drawings can be a final product but may be a draft for a future work. There were some reals gems, and I enjoyed the lavender display background, which was an unusual choice but worked for me.

The second exhibit, “Tarsila do Amaral. Painting Modern Brazil,” featured a female artist who is considered one of Brazil’s finest artists. She led an interesting life, partially in exile during the Brazilian dictatorship, and is beloved. Her works were colorful – a nice contrast to the drawings.

I also went to a Real Sociedad game, our local La Liga team. Their season has been a bit frustrating, but at least they won. Of course they were playing the last place team. Still, there are certain invitations that should not be declined.

Finally, we had the pleasure of meeting and hosting Oliva, a very cute dachshund, one evening. She will be spending a few days with us in April. We can’t wait to enjoy her company.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff