26th of June 2025 - Budapest

I had visited Budapest back in 2023 so today covered old ground for me though shown through a different perspective, i.e. that of our local guide Neka.  Buda and Pest are located on opposite sides of the Danube.  They officially merged with Óbuda to form the city of Budapest on the 17th of November 1873.  This unification brought together the historic capital of Buda, the rapidly developing commercial hub of Pest and the older settlement of Óbuda on the western bank of the Danube.

Our tour started with a drive down Andrássy Avenue, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is a example of neo-Renaissance architecture and city planning.  Our first stop was in Budapest’s former Jewish quarter to visit the Dohány Street Synagogue.  Dohány Street Synagogue, also known as Central Synagogue or the Great Synagogue, is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world.  The interior is very ornate with a combined floor and gallery space that can accommodate thousands of worshippers.

The centre piece of the garden of the Dohány Street Synagogue is the Heroes' Temple raised in the thirties in memory of the ten thousand Hungarian soldiers of Jewish birth who have given their lives in World War I.  Since World War II this garden also honours the victims of the Holocaust.

In the rear courtyard of the Dohány Street Synagogue is a memorial that is known by many names including The Tree of Life, The Holocaust Memorial Tree, The Emanuel Tree, and The Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs.  The sculpture commemorates the at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews murdered by the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators during World War II.

We then visited the Castle Hill area where we walked through the cobbled streets to the Matthias Church which is also known as The Church of Our Lady.  This Baroque style Roman Catholic church was built on the site of an 11th-century church and was completed in 1269.  The church served as a mosque during the Turkish reign.

 

There was a great opportunity to take pictures of Budapest from the Fisherman's Bastion where the local fishermen's guild built their defence installations in the Middle Ages.

Chimney cake is a popular Hungarian street food.  I didn't try it as I am getting more than enough to eat on board the ship.

I did however stop in a rather lovely café in my spare time where I rehydrated and then had a glass of Tokaji Aszú wine which is a classic Hungarian dessert wine made from the furmint grape.

In the afternoon I had intended to take a walk along the banks of the Danube to see one of Hungary’s best known Holocaust memorials.  This memorial is sixty pairs of cast iron shoes standing abandoned as an eerie monument to the Hungarian Jews shot beside the river.  With the outdoor temperature at 36℃ I regretfully abandoned this plan.