Budapest: two cities in one. Buda, the wealthy, conservative side and Pest, the young, party side. Home of the Rubics Cube…
The third largest parliament building in the world (Yes, the Pentagon is the largest)
And, the first underground subway.
In Budapest, we decided to try something totally different, take city tour using scooters. We ended up being the only people on the tour so we had our own private guide. It was great to have a tour customized to our interests.
Anna, our guide, is a Jewish, Hungarian, High School, Physics teacher. Needless to say we had a lot of question unrelated to Budapest. Primarily, how did her grand parents survive the war?
Her grandfather was sent to a work camp while her grandmother was sent to the ghetto. Her grandfather was then pulled into the German army and sent to fight the Russian. He was injured in the war and while he was at the hospital recovering, he started working in the gardens. He was a gifted gardener so the hospital kept him instead of sending him back to the battlefield. Lesson here: you never know what will save your ass.
Once her grandfather was out of the ghetto and out of Budapest, Anna’s grandmother paid to have fake papers made for her husband. Gave him a good Christian name. Remarried him. Declared herself Christian and left the ghetto. They did all this with postcards careful not to disclose too much since all mail was read.
They went back to Judaism as soon as the war was over. Today, Budapest still has a strong Jewish population.
Anna took us to the normal spots: the Parliament building, St. Stephen’s Basilica, and the Chain Bridge.
She also took us to places like Liberty Square where the US Embassy is. This is the only guarded embassy in Budapest. Next to the US embassy stands the only monument left from the Russian occupation. Sort of a reminder. The US government donated their own statue to Liberty square….
She also too kind us to this university student senior project, having fire hydrants double as water fountains
Our conversations were quit frank and her sense of humor was very cynical. We really enjoyed her company.
To end our tour, she took us to her favorite ice cream place which was fabulous. I tried poppyseed and cinnamon (These are two different ice creams, not a combination.). Pretty weird. I had blueberry which had frozen berries in it.
We were in Budapest for two and a half days. The weather ranged from the hottest day in 92 years to the biggest thunderstorm they have seen all year.
We spent the hottest day at the Turkish baths with a thousand other people.
The outside had three big pools ranging from cold to warm. There were several therapeutic pools inside. These are natural baths heavy in sulfur. They ranged from very hot to very cold. They even had ones with currents for joint therapy.
We were lucky to be on a ferry on the Danube river returning from Szetendre for the thunderstorm. We spent the morning biking from Budapest to Szetendre, a medieval city turned beach town.
Our day in Szetendre was very pleasant. Nice lunch with a view of the beach. Ice cream near the medieval wall…
And a dip in the Danube…
We boarded the ferry about the time the thunderheads started to form. It was so beautiful to watch. There were bolt lighting everywhere and the sky was moving in the most amazing patterns.
We were able to climb the tower at St. Stephen’s Basilica. We made it the last stop on our 10 mile walking loop from the Pest Market through the Buda Citadel, Castle, and Fisherman’s Bastion.
The Citadel had the best views of the city.
Fisherman’s Bastion was originally a lookout. Designed with seven towers to symbolize the original seven Hungarian tribes that settled Budapest.
Even though the Basilica tower is the highest building in the city by law, it did not offer the the best views. But it did offer the best shade which we enjoyed for at least 30 minutes before retreating to our air conditioned apartment. Not sure how we scored air conditioning. Had to be clean living.
We stumbled upon the most amazing fountain, light show. It was all set to music. It was to celebrate the world games for water sports being held in Hungary. It did make me wonder what I might stumble upon if I walked around my own backyard more often.
I posted a 17 second video below this blog.
