Exploring Budapest

After travelling by myself for most of the past month, I had a change as I met my partner and two of her kids in Budapest. I will spent time with them for the next few weeks as we see Hungary, Croatia, and possibly some of Italy.

Budapest was a central connection point for them coming from Vienna and me coming via Belgrade from Bosnia. I had recalled travelling Europe in my youth and deciding to forego Budapest in favour of Prague in my travels in 1999. I was sorry that it took me a quarter century to get back to see this city as it was a stunning location.

Jenny, my partner, had booked a night cruise at the request of her youngest son. We walked through parts of the Budapest from our AirBnB to the Danube taking in the mix of architecture and art through the central part of Pest. The cruise was perfectly timed to start as the sun was setting and to get the early evening darkness that allowed the iconic buildings of Budapest to start to glow as their lights were turned on. Although difficult to hear some of the pre-recorded information shared on the boat, the visual aspects of the hour-long excursion more than made up for it. We got to pass five of the major bridges of Budapest and see sits from the University on the south end to the Parliament building in the north. I would recommend seeing the city from this vantage.

The following day Jenny hired a tour guide to show us a number of sites on the Pest side of the city. We went through the government quarters, learning about historic and modern Hungary. Seeing the unique building and historic sites. The Parliament of Hungary stood out due to its size and gothic design. We stopped for lunch at a pub so I could try a few craft beers (very tasty), before heading into the Jewish quarter of the city. The impact of World War II was strongly felt in Croatia where a late invasion by Germany in 1944 resulted in over 100,000 Jews dying after the ghettoization of a section of Budapest. This section still contained a number of temples, including the second largest Jewish temple in the world. The boundaries of the Jewish ghetto are marked a locations where fences were erected. The horrors of this were in contract to the bohemian nature of the current Jewish quarter, where our guide indicated he had been priced out of living after his college years in this part of the city. This sector was now vibrant with many art shops, cafes, and bars that led to a vibrant night life.