Shoes & Liberty Climbing

On Wednesday, we walked the Danube to a memorial, “Shoes on the Danube”.  This was a memorial to the Budapest Jews who were shot by The Nazis between 1944 & 1945.  The victims were lined up and shot into the Danube River.  They had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable belongings at the time.  This memorial was truly touching and very powerful .  .  .  especially the children’s shoes.  Once again, sometimes there are not words to describe this experience-this is another one of them.  The memorial really must be seen to appreciate the impact it has on you.


We then hiked up a long somewhat steep hill on the Buda side of the Danube to the Gellert Hill and Budapest’s “Statue of Liberty”.  The Liberty Statue can be seen from all parts of the city.  She was erected during the Communist era, commemorating the liberation from Nazi rule.  (Also, at the top of the hill is the Citadel, a fortress built by the Habsburgs after defeating Hungary’s War of Independence in 1849.)  Gellert Hill also became a strategic military position in the WW II when Soviet tanks bombarded the city from here.  The Liberty Statue was originally constructed by the Soviets with a sentence underneath the statue reading: ” To commemorate the liberating Soviet heroes erected by the grateful Hungarian people in 1945″.

One of our tour guides told us the story behind this imposing statue.  After the fall of communism in 1989, the Hungarians wanted to remove all symbols of the Soviet rule. (This included the large red star on the top of the Parliment dome which we saw on our Parliament tour).  Obviously, the Hungarians felt the need to remove the “Liberation” statue that overlooks all of Budapest.  The “lady” was immediately covered while the new government figured out what to do with it.  Since the Liberty Statue didn’t have any symbols of communism on it (red star, hammer & sickle, Russian soldier, etc.), the government removed the covering and “repurposed” the statue.  You certainly don’t want to put a good memorial to waste!  We viewed the new inscription carved at the base of the statue which read:  “those who sacrificed their lived for the independence, freedom and prosperity of Hungary”.  The previous Soviet inscription had been erased by the Hungarians.  The views from this memorial are dazzling.  It is clearly the best viewing point in the city.

On Thursday, we are off on a 3-hour train ride to Vienna.  Budapest is a beautiful, dynamic city; and we had a very enjoyable time viewing the many impressive historic sites.  We did not expect to see so many classic, gorgeous buildings within the city that still exist today.


Sculpture at Budapest's Dohany Synagogue
Sculpture at Budapest’s Dohany Synagogue
Train stations are always great
Train stations are always great
Shoes on the Danube
Shoes on the Danube
View from Gellert Hill
View from Gellert Hill
Lady Liberty
Lady Liberty
Part of the Lady Liberty memorial
Part of the Lady Liberty memorial
The Danube - note the Parliament dome on the right
The Danube – note the Parliament dome on the right
From Gellert Hill
From Gellert Hill
One of Budapest's more famous flower shops
One of Budapest’s more famous flower shops

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