Budapest……..a City Recovered and Flourishing!

I have always loved history and am fascinated by the story of how a country/culture has evolved over the years. I knew very little about Hungary, but after being in its capital city, Budapest, for a few days, I have a new and genuine appreciation for what this country has gone through and how it has survived the atrocities of war. It was taken over by the Nazis in the early 1940’s and survived that cruelty, only to be “saved” by the Russians, and then forced into their communist way of life. Hungarians were treated just as brutally, if not worse, under Russian rule. The city was severely bombed and many of its beautiful buildings destroyed, but despite years of hardship, it has risen again to become a cultural European icon.
We began our exploration of Budapest by walking over one of the many bridges that crosses the Danube River. We took the funnicular (an incline) up a big hill to the Castle District and saw the Buda Palace, which has NOTHING to do with Buddha by the way. From that vantage point, we had a perfect view of the entire city. We explored the underground labyrinths that snaked underneath the castle and saw the Mattthias Cathedral, which was almost completely destroyed by Nazi bombings. We enjoyed a traditional Hungarian meal for dinner, and after dinner (and I don’t know where we got the energy from), we decided to hike around 500+ steps up to the highest point of Budapest called the Citadel. All I can say is that the view of the city at nighttime is SPECTACULAR! The second day we visited the “House of Terror”, now a museum but once a large building in Budapest that was the party headquarters for the Hungarian Nazis, and then for the notorious communist AVO terror organization. Budapest is built upon underground thermal springs, so the city boasts of numerous public “Turkish Baths”. We had done A LOT of walking, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon of soaking in the Szechenyi Bath pools. We thought we would be in something similar to a hot tub – HA!!! The facility is enormous and there were 15 – 18 different pools of varying sizes and temperatures, including a swimming pool in case you wanted to cool down. It was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before, and we felt so relaxed after spending a couple of hours soaking and playing with all the different kinds of water jets, as well as a circular “whirl pool” pool which carried you round and round with no effort on your part. Next stop…….Vienna, Austria!