Tuesday, September 24, Budapest

Well, yesterday we saw the largest synagogue in Europe and today, quite by accident, we saw the smallest.  But that came late in the day.  We set out this morning to take a tour to three small towns up the Danube.  There were ten of us, six Aussies, two Spaniards, and us, with a multilingual guide and we were quite a congenial group.

First we went to Esztergom, to visit the oldest Hungarian Royal Palace and the seat of the Catholic Church in Hungary. Well, we had a view of the palace, and spent lots of time in the Basilica. Very beautiful, with lots of history I can't quite remember.

The Basilica of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Esztergom

Then back on the mini bus to visit Visegrad, where we went up the hill to see the ruins of an even older royal castle.  But we didn't go all the way up, just stopped for a photo op and went on to lunch at a resort hotel.  Lunch was breaded chicken breast, French fries, and white rice; I knew Romania would be like that, but didn't expect it in Hungary. Any suggestions for restaurants out there?  I would kill for a green vegetable!  But the view was lovely.

Photo op near Visergrad

Thence to town number three, Szentendre, the "arts colony".  Think most of the art was made in China; saw lots of wooden spoons, bags of paprika, table linens and tee-shirts. And the same in store after store.  The town was otherwise quaint, with hilly cobbled streets and several churches. So we spent our free time wandering away from the tourist schlock, and came upon a Jewish Memorial House.  Of course we went in. Turns out it was the home of a survivor who turned it into a shul and a memorial to all the local Jews who didn't come back.  The woman tending it didn't speak English but she had a little printed sheet that claimed it was the first synagogue consecrated and opened in Hungary after WWII and that it is the smallest. It is just one little room and you can practically touch both side walls while standing in the center.

The smallest synagogue in Hungary

We rejoined our group at the river and traveled back to Budapest by boat, chatting some more along the way.  An altogether pleasant day, but DO NOT put this on your "must see" list. I guess you can't hit it out of the park every at bat.  I'd call the Danube Bend experience a base hit.

Having had that big, late midday meal thought we'd just go to the market for fresh produce and eat in our suite.  Good luck with that.  The veggies looked awful. Ended up with some tasteless fruit and greasy salami.  So dinner was mainly cookies and tea.

11231 steps (4.8 miles) I feel like a slacker.