Danube Cruise and Exploration 2017 -- Day 12

Wednesday, August 23

Budapest, Hungary

Shoes on the Banks of the Danube

Budapest's Jewish history is mixed.  Jews have lived in the city for a long time, and so has anti-semitism.  The Hungarian Arrow Cross were some of the most enthusiastic collaborators with the Nazis during WWII.  There are various monuments around the city, including the weeping willow mentioned earlier in our description of the visit to the main synagogue.

The most poignant and most horrific of all is the memorial entitled "The Shoes on the Banks of the Danube."

The Nazis lined up men, women and children here. They would proceed to shoot them and their bodies would fall into the Danube River. However, before shooting them, they would order them to take off their shoes (it was freezing cold and the Nazis needed the shoes).  The memorial sculpture is a large number of shoes a the quay's edge on the river.

The baby's shoes made a lasting impression. It brings the viewer to tears. 

Public transit

The Budapest transit system is free for European citizens over 65.  We took advantage of the offer by impersonating Europeans.  Even the one time that a ticket monitor passed through the tram, we were accepted as bona fide free riders.

Fisherman's Bastion

We visited the so-called Fishermans Bastion, overlooking the river from the top of Castle Hill.  Its name derives from the medieval responsibility of the city's fishermen for defending the city of Buda -- even though the construction of the largely decorative structure seems never to have been used for that purpose.

While we were on the hill, we came upon a large traveling group of students from Bulgaria, if I'm not mistaken, who sang in the square for tips.  They were good.

City Park

We made our visit to St Stephens cathedral, required of anyone visiting
Budapest.  Then we relaxed for a few hours by taking the tram to City Park and sitting by the lake to read.  At the entrance to the City Park is Heroes Square, a collection of gigantic statues of historical figures.

At sun-down we attached ourselves to a free night time walking tour.