Budapest - 28 th May

Packed the bags, grabbed a quick breakfast and on to the bus.
Overcast and light rain but still warm.

As we drove through the Czech republic we could see all of the large tower blocks that were built by the Russians when the country was under their control. These buildings were built cheap and fast, they were all Grey. When the Russians left in 1989 the Czech people painted all them all different colours to make the place a little more cheerful.

   

 

Stopped off in Bratislava for a couple of hours. It was a bit rainy.We had a good look around the city and stumbled on an art gallery that was having a special showing of Pablo Picasso. 

Perfect for a rainy day. Great to see his originals.Back on the bus and off to Budapest.

Arrived in Budapest and had a bit of a tour.
Once again it would seem that one of the pivotal moments in the shaping of present day Budapest was WW2 and then Russian control.






 

Much of Budapest was destroyed during the war and has been rebuilt.
We went up to the Matthias Church which overlooks the city and the Danube river. The church started in the 1200's but has been reconstructed over the decades to suite the changing religious beliefs. It was once a Synagogue.




 


We then moved on to Heroes Square, celebrating the various heroes of Budapest including the worker. It a very large space with some big statues.






 

We then had a cruise on the Danube which included dinner. Traditional Hungarian food, it was fabulous food. The city got gradually darker while we floated along. The houses of parliament are absolutely stunning and have to be seen to be believed, the photo doesn't do it justice.

After the cruise we decided to walk back to the hotel, a walk of 10 kms.
We passed a very sad memorial on the edge of the river, a row of bronze shoes. The shoes are a memorial to the many thousands of Jewish people who were taken to river during the war, told to remove their shoes and then shot, their bodies falling into the river. Standing at that spot and seeing the shoes was a very saddening experience.

 






 


We then continued our walk, crossing the famous Chain Bridge.

 




After a few showers and lots of photo stops we arrived back at our hotel at 1.00am.
Wrote up the blog and went to bed. We have to be up at 6.00am to go to Vienna.