Budapest

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, spans the Danube river.

Hungary has excellent food (especially compared to the rest of central/eastern Europe).

Budapest still has a significant Jewish quarter, but it is a shadow of what it used to be. In 1930 Budapest's population was 20% Jewish; now it is 0.6%.

Ruin bars, housed in decaying buildings built before World War II, are the coolest hang-out spots in the city.

Excellent street art

The Starbucks near our Airbnb had a great interior.

The Dohany Street Synagogue peaks out next to more great street art

Great old buildings in Pest, on the east side of the Danube River

St. Stephen's Basilica

Spooky

Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, encourages a view of Hungarian history that asserts Hungary was a victim in World War II. This monument he had built to that effect is surrounded by signs from locals explaining Hungary's complicity with Nazi and anti-Semite rule.

A statue of Reagan walks toward the Soviet World War II memorial.

The Hungarian Parliament Building was constructed in 1902.

Parliament decided to construct the building after the unification of Buda, Pest, and Obuda in 1873.

A view of Buda

What a neat dog park!

Budapest has a pretty awesome pinball arcade. The inclusion of this table was a must.

Budapest's version of medieval times

Budapest has some great bars, including a Fallout themed one

The Hungarian National Museum houses great works of Hungary not stolen by Austrians, Turks, or Russians.

The museum has an extensive Roman lapidary. Hungary was part of Pannonia Inferior during Roman times and the capital of that province was just north of Budapest at Acquincum.

A military diploma granted to a Roman Pannonian cavalry officer by Emperor Vespasian in 74 A.D.

Chariot ornaments

Achilles dragging Hector's body, from a grave monument from the 2nd century A.D. This carving was found in a Hungarian's vineyard.

The tombstone of a cavalryman from the 2nd century A.D., found just outside of Budapest.

Buda castle sits on Castle Hill overlooking Budapest. It was originally destroyed in 1686 when Christian Europe took back Buda from the Ottoman Empire, and again during World War II when the Soviets seized the city from the Hungarians and Nazis.

The view from Buda Castle

Buda Castle has a pretty sweet fountain.

The raven with the ring of Matthias Corvinus

Matthias Church

Fisherman's Bastion, next to Matthias Church, has the best views of the city.

A statue of St. Stephen overlooking the city

Chicken Paprikash!

Memento Park outside Budapest houses many old Hungarian-Communist memorials. Stalin's statue was torn down in 1956 during the failed Hungarian October Revolution.

Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park, built as a recreation of John Hunyadi's castle in modern-day Romania. It houses a statue of Bela Lugosi.

Hungarian Americans dedicated this statue of George Washington in City Park in 1906.

Anonymous, the writer of the first Hungarian history, the Gesta Hungarorum, from the 13th century

The castle park was built in 1896 to capture Hungary's many architectural styles over 1000 years of history.

A recreation of an ancient Hungarian church

The Millennium Monument in Hero's Square, next to City Park, portrays Hungary's history and great leaders. Arpad and the six other Magyar chiefs that led the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin in the 800s surround the column. Hungary's great kings and their accomplishments line the colonnade in the background.