This past weekend my friends and I traveled to one of the most amazing places ever- Budapest. Here's a fun fact for you: Buda and Pest are actually two different places separated by the Danube River. And as I've discovered Buda isn't the kindest area to tourists.
Despite that, the Buda side of the river is filled with amazing historical sites one cannot miss. These include Buda Castle, which used to house Hungarian kings and the Citadella, which has the most amazing views of the city.
And then just a short walk across the bridge and you get the amazing Parliament Building. Anyone that knows me well, knows I'm a sucker for a good government building. This massive structure is the largest building in Hungary and the tallest building in Budapest. It also over 600 rooms. Unfortunately, I didn't get to tour the inside but saw the building beautifully lit up at night.
We ended our first night doing a cruise on the Danube River (which I highly recommend).
The next day started bright and early with a cave tour. During my time abroad, I've seen more churches and castles than I can count, so getting to do something a little different was very refreshing. The cave itself used to be a hiding spot for Jews during Nazi occupation and walking through the dark and cramped spaces, with that in my mind, sent a chill down my spine.
Hungary has a long history of oppression from both Nazism and Soviet Russia. In fact, we even toured Budapest's House of Terror which displays the very rooms that people were held, tortured, and executed in. I highly recommend visiting this museum, as it recounts the way propaganda and fear twisted people's perception of morality and created a very dark past for Europe. I remember standing in the room with a gallows- my mouth going dry and my stomach churning.
Following this theme, Budapest also has a monument dedicated to the hundreds of Jews that died during the Holocaust. It's called the Shoes on the Danube and is literally a bunch of shoes scattered along the river's edge. During the 1940s, Jews were forced to strip down, take off their shoes, and stand by the side of the river. That's when they would be shot in the head and spilled into the water.
It was a very sobering experience standing where they stood.
The next morning was another early one because we wanted to hit the famous bathhouses before our flight home. And let me tell you, that bath was the most relaxing thing I've experienced in a while. The air still had a chill in it so the warm temperature of the water mixed perfectly. The bathhouse itself was beautiful and the largest in Budapest, with 18 pools. If you go to Budapest to do only one thing, make sure this is it.
After this brief hour of relaxation, we gathered up our stuff and headed to the airport to return to Athens. There was so much in Budapest I didn't get to see. It's definitely one of those cities you could spend a week in and ever get bored. And I am absolutely going back.
