Morning:

For our final day in Budapest, we hit the ground running to take in more sights before our departure in the late afternoon. The guide for my group, Vincent, had been the guide for the other morning tour group the day before, and he gave us great local insights into the personality and politics of the Hungarian people. We began by hopping on a tram car and headed toward the opulent Hungarian Parliament on the Danube. Vincent described the competition between the cities of Vienna and Budapest, each always trying to outdo the other in the beauty and splendor of their cities, and the Parliament building is a prime example of that competition. From there we walked the short distance to the riverside and took in a moving Holocaust memorial, called simply Shoes on the Danube. During the rule of the Nazi party, the Hungarian police would regularly gather Jews from the Ghetto and take them down to the river, make them remove their valuable shoes, and afterward would execute them via firing squad. When ammunition ran low, they would bind several victims together and then execute one person, pushing the body over the embankment to drag the down the remaining victims into the swift current of the Danube. It was a haunting scene to imagine before us. Turning back into Pest, we traveled to Liberty Square. In the square is the only communist monument left inside the city, intentionally surrounded by a circle of tall trees, the U.S. Embassy, and statues of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The other monuments were moved to a park outside the city. Around the corner, we came upon a statue that Vincent said nearly every American assumed is Stalin, and he offered to buy a generous amount of drinks to anyone who could correctly identify the figure. To his great astonishment and our group's delight, our own Jeff Miller named U.S. General Harold Hill Bandholtz, and Vincent exclaimed "How did you know that?!? I have never had anyone guess that on a tour!" General Bandholz was responsible for saving many precious works of art in the Hungarian National Museum from being looted by Romanian forces. Holding nothing more than a riding crop, he convinced the soldiers that taking the pieces would spark retaliation by the United States, and so the statue depicts him standing holding a crop behind his back. We ventured on and came to a charming strudel house where we all sat down and were pleased to sample the traditional Hungarian pastries and delicious coffee. Revived by our rest and refreshments, we boarded a nearby tram to the Central City Market and sampled local Hungarian salamis and sausages, including one made from the Mangalica, a breed of domestic pigs that grows a thick curly coat resembling sheep. We then each had time to explore the market and purchase paprika and other souvenirs before returning to the ship for lunch.

Afternoon:

This afternoon I joined some of the usual enthusiastic explorers (Penn Hagood, Susalee Sasser, Jeff and Josiah Miller) and we headed over a bridge to explore a new area of Buda that we had not gotten to yesterday afternoon. We crossed over to Gellért Hill, named after Bishop Gellért who helped King St. Stephen I, bring Christianity to the country. We had our sights set on seeing the Cave Church, the Gellért Hotel thermal baths, and the Liberty Statue at the very top. Stopping first at the Cave Church, we and took the audio tour and learned that the church was established by Pauline monks, who live in a private monastery above the church. In 1951, the Communist authorities arrested the monks, sentenced the monastery superior to death, and proceeded to loot the interior and seal the church entrance with a concrete wall. While I remembered how difficult it was to be kept from church during the pandemic, my eyes welled with tears as I tried to imagine the devastation of this time period. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the church was reopened and restored and the Pauline monks reconsecrated the church. Just beyond the main church nave, there was a small chapel filled with intricately carved furnishings made from the wood of Linden trees. The trees can be seen blooming all over the city and they give off an lovely fragrance. Next, we walked down to the Gellért hotel, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the notable thermal baths. These ornate bath houses located all over the city are naturally fed by 120 hot springs and their mineral waters are frequented for their medicinal properties. We were unable to see the baths themselves from the lobby, but did see some of the beautiful mosaics within the hotel. To round out the afternoon, we began a steep hike to the top of Gellért Hill to the Liberty Statue. While I admitted defeat on a veranda below the top. Unfortunately, the monument was closed, but the view was spectacular from the top. After our descent, we got all dolled up for the Captain's reception and gala dinner on board as the ship sailed out of Hungary to our next stop: Bratislava, Slovakia!