Budapest

I feel like I'm playing a game of "No, I love YOU more with European cities.  Copenhagen was great, loved Prague, rocked Salzburg, was ready to move to Vienna, and then I got to Budapest.  The bus ride from the train station showed me a worn city, a little gritty, a little tired, a little pretty under the grime.  That matched what I'd heard about it.

But the next day, with the sun shining, I started walkikng around, and oh, Budapest.  You are none of those things. You're amazing.

Most of the buildings here are a style called historicism, aka, neo-everything.  Mix up all the fancy stuff and make it look pretty. It worked.  A little Baroque, a little Gothic, a little Rococo... even a little Moorish. I really liked it! It was just pretty.  The city underwent a major revival in 1896, their millennium,  so it is highly influenced by Hapsburg Vienna.   It was, after all, a capital of the Austro- Hungarian empire!

The city is full of art, modern statues and fountains.  Some are memorials,  some are just for fun.   It made walking around always interesting.   I loved the fountain of the book turning a page! 

I did the Rick Steve's walking tours of Leopold town and Old City of Pest on the first day.  I was fascinated by the controversy of the monuments to communism and related to Hungarian activity during WWII.  It's not a topic I've studied much about but there is so much there to examine.   I think there are some great lessons using these examples,  especially given the flare up on controversy about Confederate monuments in the US this summer.  

In day 2, I went to the Jewish quarter and toured the Great Synagogue.  I've purposefully avoided holocaust sites because I find them really upsetting,  but there was so much other history here,  and I didn't realize how much horror was here too.  It was moving,  shocking,  painful, and I think necessary to understanding the city.   After,  I went through the Jewish quarter,  seeing the other synagogues,  art,  and ruin bars.  It led back to Deak Ferenc Ter, from where I walked down the broad street past the opera house and theaters to the Museum of Terror.  It's a retelling of the horrors of 20th century life in Hungary under the Double Occupation of the Nazis and the Soviets.  I found it informative and a little bizarre.  It was definitely terrifying. 
Day 2 ended at heroes square, with the Hungarian history in statues leading into city park.  

Day 3 I was ready for something different,  so I went to the baths to experience a unique part of life in Budapest. It was heavenly.   Hot water,  lounging, quiet mediation... I loved it!   After a leisurely day,  I took the bus to Castle Hill to see the sites in Buda.  The cathedral was beautiful. 

After three days in the city,  I ventured a bit north by train to Szentendre, the beginning of a region called the Danube Bend.  Full of Serbian Orthodox influences,  it was a little touristy but had an inviting row of restaurants by the river that proved to be the perfect place to send the lunch hour.  Lunch on the Danube,  pretty awesome.

I ended up spending the rest of my time just wandering around the city.   Really, Budapest was just a delight to visit,  so much life,  so much controversy.   I'm so happy I came.