Budapest: Churches and Synagogue

The day after Easter Sunday was one of the brightest, sunniest days of our river-cruise trip in March.  So you won't be surprised that we packed it to the gills!

Our first mission (so to speak...since this is a post about churches), was to see the Dohány Street Synagogue on the Pest side of the Danube.  But on the way...

...we stopped in at this wee church first.

Remember, this was the Monday morning after Easter.

And then we saw the aftermath of a car accident...our first of the entire trip.

Everything about it appeared as though it could have been anywhere!

There she was...just as we had remembered on our Viking excursion when we drove by the previous Friday.

This time we were on foot and could see it up close and personal.

The Dohány Street Synagogue, from 1859, is Europe's largest, seating 3,000.

Sadly, it wasn't open...but we saw a lot!

 I was especially mesmerized by all the Stars of David mixed in with the design and architecture.

We peeked through every gate and crevice possible....

...especially at the Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs, resembling a weeping willow (1989).

The leaves bear the names of over 400,000 Hungarian Jews murdered by the Nazis.

I just wish we could have gone inside to see the names!

Have you ever wanted to learn Hebrew?  I have.

(click any collage to enlarge)

It's the kind of place where you just want to sit and soak it all in!

It so happens that there was an advertisement inside the memorial courtyard that pointed out a Flodni (apple-walnut-poppy-seed pastry) café just down the street.  And since it was about that time....

...oh, YES.  Just what the doctor ordered.  Rachel's flodni, to be precise.  

She's "one of the queens of Budapest Jewish cooking. The daughter of a noted rabbi."

Doesn't get more authentic than that...just a few doors down from the synagogue!

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Newly energized, we headed off to another of Budapest's famous churches but stopped off first at the nearby Opera House.

The Hungarian State Opera House, from 1875, is Hungary's largest opera building.

Lucky for us, we were able to step inside the lobby and get a glimpse of the grandeur.

The outside wasn't bad either!  (Look at that imp!)

Like I said, we were on our way to see another church, the grand St. Stephen's Basilica from 1905.  It's the third largest church building in present-day Hungary, according to Wiki.

 If that doesn't grab your attention, wait till you go inside.

And yes, that's a souvenir-coin machine right at the door before going in!

Sometimes there's nothing you can say!

"At the feet of Jesus" came to mind.

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Near St. Stephen's we found the metro station and headed across the Danube to the Buda side of the city.  Remember all those churches we saw, clustered near the Matthias Church?

To refresh your mind, see all those steeples?  Yup!

We wanted to see what we could of the other churches.

 This Elizabeth Temple was on a side street on our way to another church...and wasn't open.

This Church of St. Anne, from 1762, was open...at least for the inside glassed foyer.

It's amazing what pictures you can still take without going all the way inside!

But this Church of Szilágyi Dezso, from 1896, was the one I so hoped was open...but wasn't.  

Well, at least it was a treat to behold on the outside.  Look at those colored roof tiles!

By then it was time to eat supper and go home.  So we did.

And what a great choice it was!

You can never go wrong with a nautical theme...for us!

And because this was our last time on the Buda side of the city, I just had to capture the famous icons again:

the Parliament (looking back to the Pest side), the Margaret Bridge, and the Chain Bridge.

By now you should have all these landmarks down pat, right?!

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Other impressions from the day...

...more impressions...

...and more impressions.

This, my friends, is Budapest, with one more day left to go....

Budapest, Hungary: the Chain Bridge and Parliament Area

From this point on, Budapest was on our own...starting officially after breakfast on the Saturday before Easter.  I say "officially" because since our hotel wasn't ready for check-in till 2p, Viking encouraged us to stay in the vicinity and eat lunch onboard, which we did.

So in this post, I'm showing what we saw by walking around the vicinity of the Chain Bridge where our boat was docked.

When I say we were docked at the Chain Bridge, I mean it. 

In fact, 3 of these images above were taken while on the bridge...but more on that later.

As we left the boat, we were on another mission....

...while passing the views of the churches on the Buda/opposite side of the Danube river.

You've already seen up-close-and-personal the Matthias Church from my last post.

You'll see some of the other churches in a later post.

Right then we were on this side of the Danube, on a mission to see...

...the most disturbing sight of our entire trip.

The Shoes on the Danube is a 2005 memorial honoring the Jews killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen during WWII.  Men, women and children were "forced to strip naked on the banks of the Danube and face the river; a firing squad then shot the prisoners at close range in the back so that they fell into the river to be washed away. This was a common practice that occurred during 1944-1945."

I can't think of any war memorial anywhere that has affected me as deeply.

And as you see, it was only meters away from our Chain Bridge docking.

Let our hearts be broken...and lest we forget!

 After composing ourselves...we continued our walk along the promenade past the Parliament building.

It's usually best seen from the other side of the river but, for now, here it is up-close.

We actually walked around it and saw the back side, which was almost as nice.

Once around the Parliament, we headed back to the promenade on the other side of the Chain Bridge.

You know I'm a glutton for these bronze statues, especially when Astrid joins the shot.

The most famous is the Little Princess, from 1989, created by László Marton,

inspired by his eldest daughter from his first marriage.

I love that she looks like an impish tomboy.  HA!

From the promenade we walked inland to Vorosmarty Square for the Easter Fair.

Have you ever had rooster testicles stew (top middle image)???

(And yes, the poor we always have with us!)

This was fun.  Very Hungarian, apparently.

But I started singing "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" when I saw all those fur hats!

(click any collage to enlarge)

And while there, this band was playing...

 ...with these children watching, mesmerized.

I wished like the dickens I could understand Hungarian!

Now, head back with us to the Chain Bridge to close the loop.

This time we walked across the bridge, over the Danube, to the Buda side of Budapest.

To the left of the bridge is the Royal Palace, if you remember it from my last post,

and the Castle Hill Funicular that takes you to the top to see it.

And there's Matthias Church again.  See, you're getting acclimated to this incredible city!

Now, turn around and go back across the bridge to the Pest side.

And that's when you see these fabulous views of the Parliament!

How can you say NO to that!

At this point it was time to eat lunch back on the ship, while new passengers were boarding.

It was our unofficial last Good-Bye to the Viking Grand European Tour we had just experienced
for 2 incredible weeks.

Along the way of that day....impressions.

And more impressions.

We even had a sneak preview of the Margaret Bridge,

which we would cross the next day to Margaret Island....

...to be continued...

Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Budapest, Hungary

Viking River Cruise, Day 14:  Budapest, Hungary (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

Our very last full day on our very grand European river cruise was spent in Budapest, Hungary, the Good Friday before Easter Sunday.  As you'll shortly see, we awakened to a rainy day...for the duration.  But thankfully for Astrid and me, after disembarking the next day following breakfast, we had four more full days on our own to hope for sun.  But that's getting ahead of myself.

Budapest:  The capital of Hungary, affectionately called "the little Paris of Central Europe" and the "Pearl of the Danube."  With almost 1.7 million people, it's the largest city of the country.

It so happens we were docked right next to the Chain Bridge on the Pest side of the Danube.
The city used to be 3 cities:  Buda and Obuda on the right bank and Pest on the left/East bank.
Now the Danube separates the merged cities, with the Buda and Pest sides of the river.
Across the river from us, on the Buda side, was the Royal Palace (Buda Castle), in plain view (top image).

Like most other days, we hopped on coaches after breakfast to start a city tour.

I wasn't kidding about the rain!

First stop was Heroes' Square, with its Millenium Memorial from 1900, on the Pest side of the city.

It's one of Budapest's major squares because of 2 art museums nearby:  

the Kunsthalle and the Museum of Fine Art.

Back on the bus, we drove to the Buda side of the city...the old-city side...in Buda's Castle District,

and first saw the bullet-damaged former Ministry of War.

Most of the bullet holes are from WWII but some are from the 1956 Soviet Uprising.

The building remains empty as a reminder...?  Lest we forget!

Once out of the bus again, we were on a mission to see 2 major sights/sites,

and, while walking, passed everything Budapest!

In fact, if you don't go to them, they come to you!  

It's a way of life...and we are tourists, their guests, of course.

The Matthias Church was our first main site to visit, originally built in 1015.

Look at those colored roof tiles!  And that short entrance door!

And, oh, yes, we still had snow.

But inside...  O.M.G.  

I call this the "Tattooed Church."  Seriously.

Almost every square inch is painted!

See what I mean?!

Remember, this was Good Friday.

Was this over-flow seating being set up for Easter Sunday?

It so happens the church is in front of the Fisherman's Bastion at the heart of the Buda Castle District...

...so, just a few steps away, we were at our second main site of the day.

Fisherman's Bastion is basically a terrace with towers and staircases, built in 1902.

It's a viewing terrace...with incredible views of the city on both sides of the river.

In later posts I'll be show-n-telling more of these sights.  This is the appetizer...even on a rainy day!

Because it was nearby, Astrid and I walked over to the Royal Palace/Buda Castle, from 1265.

We had already seen the river-front view (bottom image above).  This was the back side.

Impressions.  Impressions.  Impressions.

All before getting on the buses and heading back to the boat for lunch.

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And because it was raining, and we knew we had 4 more full days to sight-see, we stayed on the boat for the remainder of the day.  Besides, we needed to rest up before the Hungarian Folkloric Show that evening after dinner, right there on the boat:

And what a show it was!

Lots of talent and humor!

If I counted right, there were 10 of them, all musicians.

Don't you know they must have fun performing for us old geezers!

I wonder what they say afterwards?  HA!

Thus ended the last full, official day of our Viking Grand European River Cruise.  We had breakfast onboard the next morning, Saturday, before heading off on our own.  

Wish me luck, now, as I try to organize those last 4 days in Budapest, on our own schedule. 

See you soon....