We walked along the river bank in Pest this morning before heading back over to Castle Hill in Buda. We found the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial to the Holocaust victims of Budapest from 1944-45. Jewish people were ordered to take off their shoes on the bank of the river and then fell into the river when they were shot by the Arrow Cross militiamen.

We took some pictures of The Citadel on top of Gellert Hill and got some better views of the city along the river. The statue of the woman holding the palm frond was placed there by the Soviets during their occupation, along with some other statues. Some of the others were removed, but this statue remains.

The Citadel

Buda Castle/Royal Palace

Another view of Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion

We visited a the Hungarian National Gallery art museum and the Budapest History Museum on top of Castle Hill. We didn’t pay the extra fee to take photos inside the museum, but we did take some pictures of the castle grounds while we were walking around it. They were setting up for a wedding inside the museum while we were there and we were surprised to see that they allowed the decorators to put accessories on some of the busts in the event area. I bet that was a beautiful setting for a wedding! It started raining while we were there and rained off and on for the rest of the day, but it wasn’t bad enough to keep us from enjoying the city!

Another view of the castle gate

Looking across to the Pest side. The Elizabeth Bridge is the busiest automobile bridge in the city.

After leaving Castle Hill, we crossed under the Danube on the metro and stopped at the Parliament building. We walked around the city center and had a chance to see St. Stephen’s Basilica and some other monuments. The Memorial to the Victims of the German Invasion was highly contested when it was erected in 201 and still has signs in place that show the opposition of citizens. Some people oppose the memorial because they feel that it displays a revisionist account of events in Hungary since the country was actually allies with the Germans for most of the war. It also angers people because it encompasses all citizens of Hungary rather than acknowledging the Jews that were the majority of the people persecuted during the occupation and doesn’t address the facts that Hungarians helped exterminate and deport Jewish citizens. The official government stance for the memorial is that it marks the loss of sovereignty for the country and that there is a separate Holocaust Memorial in the city.

Parliament

This Soviet Memorial was placed during the occupation and is only one of 2 that remains in the city.

Memorial to the Victims of the German Occupation

St. Stephen’s Basilica

We had a nice dinner at restaurant in the city center where we sampled a traditional Hungarian meal. They apparently are very fond of paprika; the lunch that we had yesterday also featured paprika as the spice of the main dishes. After dinner we enjoyed a trip to City Park to see Heroes Square and the Memorial to the 1956 Memorial and War of Independence. We were successful with finding the first monument but weren’t able to find the 1956 memorial. The park is a huge place, featuring the city zoo and a couple of museums as well as a pond and some other recreational features. There was a craft beer festival in progress that we walked through on our exploration in the dark. We also got to see an unexpected fireworks show that was going on at a stadium nearby.

Heroes Square Memorial

These figures represent the 7 Hungarian tribes.

It started raining pretty steadily during our quest to find the 1956 memorial and we walked for quite a bit, so we were a little soggy when made it back to our apartment! My watch tracked us at 35,711 steps today!!