Before World War II, Budapest was nearly as stylish and lively as Vienna. The Iron Curtain then clanged down between Hungary and Austria, and Budapest suffered 50 years of harsh, life-sucking Communist rule. Budapest is now back, with its beautiful buildings spiffed up and its bars and restaurants packed with Hungarians and foreigners. We spent June 10, 2025, touring Budapest, first with a historical walking tour, then with a "Hop On, Hop Off" bus ride around the city, and finally with an evening walking tour of Budapest's "ruins bars."
Budapest is composed of two distinct cities, Buda and Pest, which finally merged. Buda was on the hilly side of the Danube River, and Pest on the flat side.
We started the historical walking tour with a chilling reminder of Hungary's bloody past. Hungary was not overrun by the German Nazis until 1944. Until the Nazis arrived, Hungary did not deport or murder its Jews. When the Nazis took over Hungary, they found that Auschwitz was full and couldn't accept more Jews. And so the Nazis, with Hungarian support and cooperation, lined up hundreds of thousands of Jews, over a period of months, along the shore of the Danube. They tied groups of Jews together, shot them, and threw them in the river. Shoes were valuable, at the time, and so the Jews were required to take off their shoes before they were shot. Bronze shoes now form a memorial to the Jews, along the shore of the Danube.
Hungary has recently tried to whitewash its past by creating a monument showing the German eagle prepared to pounce on Hungary's Jews, but the Hungarian angel protecting them. The monument has generated many protesters. They post memorials to their Jewish friends and relatives who were murdered with Hungarian cooperation.
The old Jewish quarter is now a hip area of restaurants and bars, but it also contains a memorial to the many Hungarian Jews who died during World War II.
There is also a monument to a Swiss diplomat who rescued some 10,000 Jews. He was given 1,000 passes by the Swiss government for Jews to leave Hungary and emigrate to Switzerland. When he came to the end of his 1,000 passes, he simply printed more.
The Hungarian Parliament Building is spectacular.
Another sad memory, commemorated near the Parliament Building, is the 1956 uprising, during which Hungary attempted to shake off its Communist oppressors, but could not do it without the outside help that was not provided.
Bullet holes in downtown buildings and in this stairwell have been preserved.
One of Budapest's beautiful buildings is the Basilica of St. Stephen.
Dave and I have a love/hate relationship with Hop On Hop Off tour busses. They are useful for taking a quick, broad survey of a city, but we have had too many experiences where the audio doesn't work or isn't correlated to the sites as they are passed. "On your right is the Opera House". You peer everywhere and there is no Opera House to be seen. It is back half a block.
There was, on the Budapest Hop On Hop Off bus, some good people watching. This man wore a hairstyle we saw frequently in Hungary--the head all shaved, but with a little pony tail dangling from the top of the head. Cute.
For something different, I booked a walking tour of the "ruins bars" of Budapest, which are a thing. During Communist times, there were few inexpensive bars, so young people commandeered old warehouses and abandoned buildings in the moldering Jewish quarter. They were so popular that they have continued through today. Dave and I downed glass after glass of orange, peach, and grapefruit juices as we traveled from bar to bar.
David even added his scrawled message to one of the graffiti-covered walls.
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