Europe 2018 – Budapest Day 4
We checked out of our apartment mid-morning. The first thing we did was walk to the courtyard below the balcony of our unit. We had seen groups of people come to the area and wondered what they had been looking at. It turns out the tourists were looking at a plaque identifying the wall as part of the wall surrounding the Jewish ghetto. When we looked closer, we could see some barbed wire on top of the wall. (Just visible in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.)
Our apartment balcony (middle level)
We dragged our luggage to the train station and stowed it in a locker for the day. From there we went to the Dohany Street Synagogue and Hungarian Jewish Museum and took the tour. It is estimated that 100,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered during WWII. About 2200 are buried in the cemetery on the grounds of the Synagogue. The metal sculpture in the pictures is called, The Willow Tree. Names are engraved on the leaves. After the tour we attended a Klezmer music concert.
Dohany Street Synagogue
Following lunch we made our way to the Great Hall Market. The upper level and half the lower level are crammed with stalls selling souvenirs only a tourist would buy. The remaining part of the hall has grocery vendors.
Great hall Market
Next we went up to the Parliament building. I thought it was very difficult to photograph up close because it is so big.
Parliament
Along our way we passed the US Embassy. The entire area is fenced for security.
US Embassy. The entire block is ringed with a fence.
We went to St. Stephen’s Basilica and went inside to take pictures.
St. Stephen’s
We returned to the street of our apartment to a shop that sells Langos, a Hungarian specialty Beth wanted to try. It’s a fried dough with toppings – a Hungarian version of pizza.
We tried one of these.
Langos with sour cream and cheese.
Next we walked back into the Jewish quarter to the original “Ruin Bar.” The ruin bars were established in the bombed out buildings in this part of town. They are the center of night life in Budapest.
Budapest Street Scenes
After the Ruin Bar we went to dinner in a nice, quiet restaurant away from the main tourist areas. We had Hungarian specialties and were treated to music played by a pianist and violinist.
Dinner conversation.
Hungarian food for dinner. Chicken Paprikash, Goulash, Beef stew with red wine.
Finally we headed for the train station, waited for our train, retrieved our luggage, and boarded the train to Prague. We were in two sleeping compartments. The trip took about 12 hours. The train stopped in the middle of the night for a few hours so that we would arrive in the morning. The fare included a box-breakfast and coffee.
Waiting for our train to Prague.
Our train to Prague.
Our car on the train to Prague.