ITCHY FEET TRAVELS

Budapest, Hungary

June 9, 2025

Humming with life, Pest sprawls to the east of the Danube and makes up most of Budapest. I got here and immediately knew I would spend many more days here than I’d planned. Widespread with broad avenues, green parks, quirky statues and graceful buildings, it seduces easily. Each building is a visual feast.

Look a little closer and you see hints of moorish architecture and islamic art in the curlicues, in the umbrella-ed windows and a hundred other small details.

Nor is it always easy to tell what the function of the building is. What looks like a cathedral is the Parliament, what looks like a church is a school, the Vajdahunyad Castle with its hodge-podge of architectural styles is home of the Hungarian Agricultural museum and the sprawling building with beautiful, patterned roof is the Central Market. The blue-green dome and twin towers of Saint Stephen’s cathedral and the National Museum seem more in keeping with the expected.

The natural thermal springs in these parts gave rise to the Gellert Baths. Still in active use with pools maintained at different temperatures, it is popular. Imagine bathing in an art gallery!

Even more amazing is the Hungarian Opera House. If the exterior intrigues, the interior is spellbinding.

In the old Jewish quarter is the second largest synagogue in the world, second only to the one in New York City. It sprawls over more than a block.

At the north end of the city is the Heroes Square. The huge space is dominated by a tall column and statues of the seven chieftains who formed an alliance to form Hungary. The dresses, weapons and demeanor are products of fertile imaginations of the artist since no records exist to this day.

The fierce mustachioed faces are only slightly milder in the statues of heroes that followed in their footsteps.