After another proper Hungarian breakfast, our group of about twenty travelers split into two for morning walking tours. Separated by the Danube River, the cities Buda and Pest came together to form Hungary's capital city. Our hotel is located in the heart of Pest, and so we stepped directly out the front door to begin our day. Our guide Levi (pronounced levy) was born and raised in Budapest and showed us around his hometown. We learned that the vast majority of the beautiful buildings we saw around the city were built between 1867 and 1914, during the half-century of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the country's golden age. During this time, writers and intellectuals would congregate at elaborate coffeehouses to work on their writings and discuss the politics of the day, and we stepped inside one such place and admired the incredible beauty from floor to ceiling.

Levi then educated us on Hugarian's reputation as the biggest loser in war, having been on the losing side of 18 conflicts (including both World Wars). We spent a great deal of time learning about the fate of the country during World War II and the reign of communism that followed. Nearby St. Michael's Catholic Church was the only church allowed to remain open during the communist era, but the authorities tragically whitewashed all of the beautiful frescoes on the walls and ceilings. While the church has undergone extensive restoration, you can still observe where those paintings are being restored.

We then walked over to Budapest's Jewish Quarter. The city is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Eastern Europe and contains 16 active synagogues. We passed by the most prominent, the Dohány Street Synagogue, which has the largest capacity of any synagogue in Europe and is the fourth largest in the world. We were, unfortunately, unable to see the interior (it was Saturday and so was closed to tourists during Shabbat) we were able to look at the beautiful exterior. Its exterior Moorish revival architecture was intentionally designed to not resemble a traditional synagogue, as the community sensed the growing anti-Semitism when construction began in 1854. We were told that the interior was also surprising in its design. Done in the Romantic style, it is the only synagogue to contain a pipe organ. Next to the synagogue was the Jewish cemetery, something that would typically never be located nearby due to their belief in the impurity of the dead, but was a forced necessity during the rule of the Nazi party. We looked into the cemetery courtyard and observed grave makers that simply read 1944/1945, for those victims in mass graves whose exact dates of death were unknown. Next to the cemetery was the deeply moving Tree of Life Holocaust Memorial, on whose leaves contained the family names of hundreds of thousands of victims. We then continued on through the Jewish Quarter before returning to our hotel for the afternoon.

When we returned to the hotel, about a dozen folks formed a plan to cross over the Danube and explore the Buda Castle region after lunch. After crossing over one of the many bridges, a member of our troupe graciously secured us passage on the hop-on/hop-off Buda Castle Bus. Our first stop was at St. Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion. It was apparent that there were weddings going back-to-back inside the church, and we saw several beautiful brides around the courtyard. We walked just beyond the church and took in the views from the Fisherman's Bastion, particularly the stunning Hungarian Parliament building. Venturing on, we arrived at the most impressive Buda Castle, a massive palace complex with amazing statuary. As we were leaving the grand courtyard we were thrilled to see two mounted calvary trotting into the square, and we stopped over to see their handsome uniforms and horses. As we continued back toward the bus, our fortune struck again as we witness the changing of the castle guards and a troop inspection.

Victorious in our adventure (echoed by my FitBit racing laps around my daily step goal), we made the walk back over the bridge to Pest. Small groups formed to enjoy more Hungarian hospitality at local restaurants before turning in for the night.