Nathan's Insights

Thursday 19 April 2024
Highlights: Visiting the Nem Adom Fel Cafe, St Stephen’s Basilica, the controversial Memorial for the victims of the German Occupation, the Soviet Heroic Memorial, surprising USA Presidents statues, the stunning Hungarian Parliament building, the massive Great Synagogue, and the cult Ruin Bar visit.

Today we left Vienna behind travelling first by a short tram ride and then a long 2.5 hour train to Budapest, Hungary the final stop for the first leg of this tour. The train trip was delayed by almost an hour that had an impact for the rest of the day and evening.

After quickly checking in, and almost getting locked in the stairwell, we were off to our G for Good Moment. In Budapest this is visiting the Nem Adom Fel Cafe. This cafe is run to support individuals with disabilities. We learnt about the cafe and it’s mission and how it is helps individuals. We had some included drinks and several group members made purchases of craft items made by the employees.

G Adventures offers an optional Budapest walking tour which I pre-booked. All group members joined in the end with some paying on the day. We started with Saint Stephen’s Basilica.

Our guide of this walking tour explained the history of both Buda, over the other side of the Danube, and Pest which is the walk we did today. Budapest become a combined city in 1873. Much of the current architecture relates to Hungary’s millennial anniversary celebrations in 1896.

Our guide discussed the controversial Memorial for the victims of the German Occupation. The Memorial effectively omits that the worse of World War 2 suppression and deaths was caused by Hungarians under the Nazi with Hungary at the beginning of WW2 being a Nazi ally.

We also saw and discussed the Soviet Heroic Memorial which celebrates the deaths of the Soviets who liberated Budapest. Over the years since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been several pushes to remove the memorial given the Soviets also occupied the city. however the memorial remains due to the bodies buried under it.

Near this memorial we found statues to USA Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan due to being president when the Soviet Union started to collapse and George Bush being the first USA President to visit Hungary after the fall of Communism.

We then moved onto the massive and magnificent Hungarian Parliament building. Building began in 1885 and was completed on the country’s 1000th anniversary in 1896.

The building complex represents a different era when Hungary was a major part of the Austrian-Hungary Empire and before Hungary’s break up after World War 1 and lose of lands and treasures. It is a grand building that dominates the city.

We then moved onto the Great Synagogue. It is the largest synagogue in Europe and can seat 3,000 people. The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival style. During World War 2 this Synagogue and area was turned into a ghetto to locked in the Jews.

Over two thousand Jews who died in the ghetto from hunger and cold during the winter 1944-1945 are buried in the courtyard of the synagogue.

Our last stop of the walking tour was at the original Ruin Bar. A Ruin Bar is a bar that is created out of a ruin building or buildings and can be very funky in design.

We got back to our hotel very late and after a short break went to dinner as a group with good food and company the end of a very long and good day.