Budapest, Hungary

We were so impressed with Prague that I think we took it out on Budapest.  We did enjoy a crazy subway ride into the town center (we laughed with a local about the 'soviet era' train) and a nice meal, but where we went was so modern that it really could have been anywhere.  The city was huge, dirty, and we just didn't have enough time to enjoy it properly.  So we decided to leave early in the morning to have more time in our next stop, Pecs.

There were a couple of highlights, though:


On the way out of Budapest I thought I saw a towering sculpture of Lenin and we turned around to check it out... it turned out to be Memento Park, the place where fallen Soviet sculptures go.  It was surreal and interesting, especially as we read more about the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets in 1956, which started as student protests and ended with 200,000 refugees fleeing Hungary and many deaths.  It put it all into perspective.  Budapest is a city that was an important and wealthy center of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but is just climbing out of the Soviet era, a time in which the beautiful red and yellow buildings became encrusted with black soot, huge apartment buildings were constructed and the city was mired in politics and poverty.  A good, enlightening stop.

On the way to Budapest we stopped in the cute town of Vilnitse where we went a funny little farming museum and saw some gorgeous countryside.