For our younger son's 19th birthday we took him on a short vacation to Budapest. It's a beautiful east European city, with old and new construction, breathtaking views, cool night life and some amazing food. The city is separated by the Danube river to two parts Buda and Pest. We stayed in a hotel on the Pest side. Most of our time was spent in Pest. We took one day to tour Buda.
Here are some of the things we saw:
A river boat sail gives you a condensed tour of all the nice views, palaces and monuments.
But as the sun sets it turns breathtaking.
Roaming the streets
On the Buda side of the river a calmer more classic vibe. We climbed this hill on foot.
The city’s largest cathedral
Back to Pest inside the parliament palace
Cigar holders…
Nighttime
The Jewish side – the largest synagogue in Europe, second largest in the world
In the yard there were several holocaust memorials. Names over mass graves.
A tree statue with names etched into the leaves
And by the river the shoes memorial where Jews were shot on dropped to the water.
Another case of history re-written. The statue in the back was erected by the city to symbolize the Hungarians oppression by the Nazis. The true story was of cooperation and assistance in the annihilation of the Hungarian Jews. A small line of pictures and documents was placed by the Jewish community under the big statue telling the real story. Then the city built the fountain to focus attention away from the documents.
AND NOW the FOOD…
Here are some of the things we saw:
A river boat sail gives you a condensed tour of all the nice views, palaces and monuments.
But as the sun sets it turns breathtaking.
Roaming the streets
On the Buda side of the river a calmer more classic vibe. We climbed this hill on foot.
The city’s largest cathedral
Back to Pest inside the parliament palace
Cigar holders…
Nighttime
The Jewish side – the largest synagogue in Europe, second largest in the world
In the yard there were several holocaust memorials. Names over mass graves.
A tree statue with names etched into the leaves
And by the river the shoes memorial where Jews were shot on dropped to the water.
Another case of history re-written. The statue in the back was erected by the city to symbolize the Hungarians oppression by the Nazis. The true story was of cooperation and assistance in the annihilation of the Hungarian Jews. A small line of pictures and documents was placed by the Jewish community under the big statue telling the real story. Then the city built the fountain to focus attention away from the documents.
AND NOW the FOOD…