Entering Budapest

Hungarian Parliament Building

Our ship arrived in Budapest about 9:00 AM in the morning, and we went on a scenic cruise of the city, since we won't be able to do the evening cruise. (We had been informed that one of the locks upriver will close in a few days, so the ship must leave today and we'll stay in the Marriott Courtside in Budapest.) Well...the river was covered in fog and we could barely see the shore. As we went further along, the fog started to clear. By the time we reached the Hungarian Parliament, the highlight of the Pest side of the river, the fog had almost cleared. The parliament building was spectacular and had most of its reclamation had just been completed.

Topic: 1956 Hungarian Revolution
After our little cruise we had Professor Szachi join us to talk about the 1956revolution. He was born in 1945 and remembers that even as a boy, their textbooks would praise Stalin and his parents would hesitate to answer some of his questions, worried on whether he would repeat the answer. But most of all they feared the doorbell being sounded in the middle of the night.His grandfather had the bell ring one night and spent three years under police arrest.

On October 22, 1956 students met together and created sixteen demands. The next day, they were given permission to march to the Radio Station where they asked that their sixteen demands be broadcast. By 11 PM the crowd had gotten quite large, and the police shot into the crowd, but the crowd shot back with weapons from a nearby armament factory. Within days, the Russian troops were withdrawing, and a new communist government had been created and had acknowledged the demands. But Russian troops had gathered on the border and came back to crush the revolution on November 4th. At the same time, Britain and France were occupied by the nationalization of the Suez canal by Egypt and did not come to the aid of the Hungarian people. Within 5-6 weeks, Russian troops had regained Hungary, but during that time, the western border with Australia was left open, allowing 200,000 to leave the country. From 1956 to 1963, over 10,000 past dissidents were jailed and 400 executed. But by the mid-70's what became known as Goulash Communism had taken over, a mild form of communism. As long as you followed the rules, you were left alone. In fact, on June 16th, 1989, people went to Hero Square to pay homage to the freedom fighters and within a few months Communism ended in Hungary.

John and Mary on top of Castle Hill

In the afternoon, we took a bus to see Castle Hill, the site of the old royal palace, the cathedral, and some of the oldest buildings in the city. Matthius Church, the oldest church in Hungary was established by King Matthius over 750 years ago, it is the place where the King's Coronation takes place. Next to the cathedral is a statue of St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary, crowned by the Pope in 1000 AD. This area is just the driver thought we were headed straight and got crunched when we made a right turn as she tried to sneak by. We spent an hour waiting for the police and a replacement bus. Then we crossed the river to the Pest side of the city, following Andrássy út Avenue, what they call the Champs Elysee' of Budapest, a wide street with beautiful classical buildings on each side. It was easy to see why this street got its nickname. At the end of the street was another spectacular sight: Hero's square. In the center of the square is the Millennium Memorial to the original seven tribal leads as well as the primary kings of Hungary through the ages. On one side is the Museum of Fine Art and on the other the Hall of Art. Meanwhile in the background is the city park with turrets for the spas and a replica of a Transylvanian caste, built for the millennium in 1896, The city is truly beautiful!

Hero's Square