This morning we met with our local guide, Anni. Anni is 68 years old, Jewish, and has lived her whole life in Budapest. She came highly recommended by an acquaintance who had taken a tour with her a few years ago and was fascinated by her ‘story.’ We quickly discovered that her ‘story’ would dominate the day at the expense of other things we were interested in. Before leaving home, all of us had watched the 1999 movie Sunshine, starring Ralph Fiennes. The story follows a Jewish family in Hungary through three generations starting with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of the 18th century – not an easy movie to watch, but reportedly a fair depiction of life in Hungary during a very hard period. The movie enhanced our interest and we were eager to learn more and to understand the culture. Anni quickly checked that approach by stating that the movie only covered 1944! What? Had we all watched the same movie?
We retain local guides whenever possible because we are keenly interested in and value the guide’s point of view, allowing us to ‘see’ the city through the lens of their eyes. The fact that she was adamant about the movie’s timeline, immediately made her suspect about the facts she was going to reference the rest of the day.
St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest
St. Stephen’s Altar
Dome of St. Stephens
St. Stephens reliquary containing St. Stephen’s right hand
Our first destination was St. Stephen’s Basilica, named in honor of the first King of Hungary who was coronated in 1001. The church was completed in 1905 after 54 years of construction that included the collapse of the dome in 1868, due to a faulty design. It resulted in a complete do-over of the whole building. The church’s reliquary reportedly contains King Stephen’s right hand. The church had elected not to open the reliquary to validate its content, so it makes for a great story. The building is the second largest building (the Parliament building is the largest) in the city. It is beautifully situated at the head of the main square. The neo-classical architecture is magnificent and fitting in its role as the most important Catholic church in Hungary. To emphasize its stature, no building in Budapest may be built higher than the church – 315 feet.
Next, Anni took us on a short tour around the city, highlighting key points of interest, some of which we will visit over the course of the next few days. We drove by the main city park and location of the infamous 82-foot high statue of Stalin erected in 1951 as a gift from the grateful people of Hungary for liberating them from the Nazis. The statue’s tenure was short-lived, because it was toppled just five years later during the 1956 October Revolution. The statue was destroyed, except for Stalin’s boots. They were moved to another memorial park which we plan to visit tomorrow. Anni pointed out the apartment that she and her family occupied during that time – almost directly across the street from the park at the edge of the Jewish quarter. All the beautiful, large homes owned by Jewish families had been subdivided into two and three bedroom apartments after communism took hold. Her family occupied one of these apartments. She told us that she did not know she was Jewish during that time. Her family kept their religion ‘hidden’. She finally learned of her background during Israel’s Six-Day war in 1967. That was when she found out that her grandparents, father, and mother had been sent to Auschwitz in 1944. Somehow they survived and all returned. Again, I was having a hard time reconciling this story with her statement earlier in the day that the Jews had a great and wonderful life in Budapest prior to 1944. She ignored my question about the ‘White Terror’ period after the conclusion of WWI, which led to the imprisonment, torture, and execution of communists, socialists, Jews, and intellectuals. Nearly 100,000 middle-class Jews, intellectuals, and socialists were forced to leave the country, with more than 5,000 executed.
Budapest sits on top of an underground labyrinth of wells, mostly clustered around the Buda side of the Danube. These springs were used as far back as the Roman Empire days for their medicinal benefits. Several, very large, public spas are spread throughout the area. The minerals and elements, combined with heat, are absorbed to soothe aching joints, relax muscles, and detoxify the body. Some even claim they help heal fractures, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, and gastrointestinal infections. We definitely wanted to try one, but couldn’t fit the four-hour outing, including the must-have massage, into our schedule.
Chain Bridge
Liberty Statue
View of Budapest from Liberty Statue
We continued on across the Chain Bridge ( the first permanent bridge linking Buda and Pest) and made our way to the Liberty Statue on Gellért Hill, the highest point. The view from the monument, overlooking the whole region is spectacular. All the various districts, key buildings and monuments are easily identified. The Danube snakes through the city in a northerly direction before making a 90 degree turn West a few miles up-stream from the city center. The Liberty Statue sits on the crown of the hill. It was erected in 1947 to commemorate the Soviet’s liberation of Hungry during World War II. The 46-foot tall bronze statues sits on top of an 85-foot concrete pedestal, holding a palm leaf over its head. This central statue was originally flanked by two military statues, which were replaced in 1989 as the country switched to a democratic government. The inscription at the base was also changed to reflect the ‘new attitude.’
Dohány Street Synagogue
A first: Wearing a yarmulke
Our final stop for the day, was Europe’s largest and the world’s third largest synagogue, Dohány Street Synagogue, which can accommodate up to 3,000 attendees (the largest is Belz of Jerusalem with a capacity of 10,000, the second largest is Temple Emanu-El in New York). Anni came prepared and handed me a yarmulke to wear (a first for me). A little tricky to keep on my head as I had to tilt my head back to look at the features she was pointing out on the ceiling. She spent close to an hour explaining all the intricate decision and in some cases compromises made to build this synagogue. Since I’ve never been in one before, I found this one very colorful and ornate and not too dissimilar to a Catholic Church. As she pointed out, it is a reformed rather than orthodox synagogue.
Budapest Opera House
Ready to see Swan Lake
Beautiful Opera House interior
Finally, after close to seven hours of information and listening to her story, we were all saturated, eyes glazed over, and ready for a nice dinner of Hungarian goulash and a glass of wine. Keep that thought, because it didn’t happen. We made it back to our hotel just in time to grab a sandwich, to change and to make our way to the opera house for a performance of Swan Lake. It was a wonderful performance. It was a 3 ½ hour performance. It was on hard seats. It was with a minimal of ventilation. It was a BIG day. After the short walk back to our hotel, it was time to get some shut-eye and recharge our personal batteries for another big day tomorrow.
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