2025 - Europe, East to North West: Day 6: Mon 23 Jun

22-35 deg C, fine and very sunny.

Walk G: 12km; total: 60km

Walk W: 12km; total: 59km

Flights climbed: 34 floors

After breakfast we caught the tram to the metro then the metro to the old railway station Keleti pályaudvar. It has that old world charm look from the outside, with new stuff inside - electronic display boards, etc. However the trains definitely look like they were straight out of a Russian factory. We had coffee at Maccas after and even found a decaf for Greg.

We then visited the Memento Park. Got chatting to a lady on the bus who was born in Hungary but left for the UK many years ago. For her thesis, she managed to score a trip back to Budapest to study this Park. She gave us a questionnaire each that asked what we thought about the park and whether or not it is important to keep such places ‘alive’ so as to remember that communism and trying to inflict it on others is not the way to go. We thought the Park was a bit stark - a huge area with some statues, sculptures, and plaques with very little colour, apart from the red five-pointed star- the symbol of the ultimate triumph of the ideas of communism. They had a small indoor display of the whole era, and then a short movie/training film on spies and how they managed their dead-drops. The original boots from the statue of Stalin still exist and you can have your phot taken with them. If you are interested, there is a photo below explaining why only his boots still stand. We could have gone into a phone box and to dial and speak with a Communist Leader, but we didn’t.

Lenin

Marx and Engels

Park layout

That red star

Memorial to the Heroes of Peoples’ Power

Individual motifs on the above sculpture

Monument to the Hungarian Socialist Republic (1919). Greg is in there to get an indication of the size of this sculpture. Wendy has her foot on his in the pic below

Worker’ Movement Memorial

Liberation Monument

Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Memorial

Liberating Soviet Soldier

Stalin’s boots

We decided we should go and see some Fine Art, so hopped on the appropriate Metro and hopped off for a 1.5km walk to the Fine Arts Museum. It was only halfway there that we realised the museum is closed on Mondays. Not to worry, the lake and park that surrounded the area provided plenty of other sites to view and keep us busy. We eventually made our way to the outside of FAM, through Heroes’ Square which had some pretty impressive statues and honour walls. We took some photos and then decided it was time to go home for a rest.

Part of City Park Boating Lake

A fancy cafe on the lake

Jake Chapel

Sándor Károlyi de Nagykároly

Heroes’ Square

Kunsthalle

Danubius Fountain

No prizes for guessing what this is

Post rest someone came up with the ridiculous idea to climb a nearby mountain where there is some specy statues and Citadel, although we accepted that the citadel is currently closed for renovation. It was a climb and a half, but plenty to see on the way up, great views over the city; good excuse to catch your breath. Couldn’t really get near the Citadel as they had put a huge fence around the whole thing. The walk down was much nicer than the up bit. Poked our head into the Gellért Thermal Bats, which is part of a massive Soviet era hotel complex in the process of crumbling away. The signs indicate that they are going to save it, should be pretty magnificent once renovated. Under the flash exterior of every building constructed by the communists is a shoddy example of engineering and building techniques. The Hungarians will eventually have to decide what is worth saving or not.