Danube River Cruise and, Poignantly, More

This afternoon in Budapest, I didn’t visit the Hungarian Parliament, but did pay a respectful and mournful visit to Shoes on the Danube Bank, and took a cruise on the Danube River.

That sounds like more than it was, except for not visiting the Hungarian Parliament, which was more than it sounds. I won’t have a lot to say about any of those, except perhaps The Shoes on the Danube Bank. We’ll see how it goes, but this should be a short post. Don’t all cheer at once.

Part of the reason I didn’t do more is that I didn’t leave Margaret Island, the site of my morning activities, until about 2:30. The official rules (my official rules) are that morning doesn’t end, and afternoon doesn’t start, until I’ve completed my morning activities, no matter how late that is. My journal. My rules.

I ended up at the farthest end of the long Margaret Island from central Budapest, so it took me a while to walk to my first intended afternoon activity. The distance wasn’t the only reason for the duration of the walk. I don’t want to belabour this point, but my gait was quite laboured. It was very hot this afternoon. In part because of the heat, and in part because I’m a man my age, I strode slowly.

Not the Hungarian Parliament

My first intended destination this afternoon was the Hungarian House of Parliament. The Parliament building is almost immediately beside the Danube River on the Pest side. I’d seen a wide-angle view of it from the other side of the river when I was up on Buda Castle Hill. It looks gorgeous.

I’d read that it is open for visits daily except when Parliament is in session. I didn’t know if the Hungarian Parliament is in session this time of year, but this is Saturday. So I figured it wouldn’t be sitting and the building would be open for visits.

I figured correctly. There is a visitor centre beside and connected to the Parliament building. Not only was it open, but it was bustling.

I went to the ticket desk and asked to buy a ticket. The ticket seller told me it was sold out for the day. She said the next available tour wouldn’t be until tomorrow. I was about to ask to buy an advance ticket for tomorrow. However, before I could ask, she told me I could only buy same-day tickets. She said I could come when they open tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning and buy a ticket then.

This reminded me of a scene from the movie “Casablanca.”

The husband of a desperate refugee newlywed couple had just “won,” with Rick’s extreme help, enough money on the roulette table in the casino in Rick’s Café to bribe Captain Renault to give them an exit visa from Casablanca. (If they didn’t have the bribe, Renault would have given them the exit visa if the wife slept with him. It’s a long story.) Immediately upon “winning,” the couple found Renault in the casino, where he often was. They wanted to pay the “fee” right there. Renault tells them to come to his office in the morning. They exclaim excitedly, “We’ll be there at six!” Renault responds mundanely, “I’ll be there at 10:00.”

That’s how I felt about the Hungarian Parliament. I’d like to tour the beautiful building. I’d push to get there by ten. But I don’t want to see it enough to be there by eight.

There is a snack bar in the visitors’ centre. I bought a fizzy lemon drink to rehydrate on this sweltering day and took a seat on a bench. While there, I pulled out my phone and looked to see if I could buy tickets online, possibly in advance.

I found the site, but when I tried to buy a ticket, it told me every time slot of every day is sold out for the rest of the time I’m going to be in Budapest. Perhaps they don’t do advance sales on the web either. Maybe that’s in case they have to recall parliament in an emergency; then they would have to stop the tours, so perhaps that’s why they don’t want to sell advance tickets. I don’t know.

If I remember, I’ll check one morning while I’m here to see if I can buy online tickets for that day.

Shoes on the Danube Bank

If you read “Shoes on the Danube Bank” in the introductory paragraph or in the section head above and you didn’t know what it was, you might have wanted to giggle, thinking it was silly. If so, don’t. When you learn what it is, you’ll be embarrassed and ashamed of giggling.

I knew about it before I went because I’d read about it in my guidebooks and walking tour app. I intentionally searched it out today. The shoes are, as the name suggests, right on the bank of the Danube River. They’re close to the Hungarian Parliament building, a little farther along on my walk along the river from Margaret Island.

In the discussion of my visit to the Jewish district of Budapest the other day, I mentioned that, although Hungary was allied with Germany during the war, few Hungarian Jews were deported or executed in the early part of the Holocaust. They were brutally persecuted and placed in forced labour, but a much smaller percentage of them were deported to concentration camps or executed in Budapest than was the case for Jews elsewhere in the Nazi sphere of control.

That changed toward the end of the war, when the Nazis insisted on accelerating their “Final Solution” in Budapest. Then, they rounded up many of the Jews from the ghetto, marched them to the bank of the Danube, shot them, and let the bodies fall into the Danube to be carried away by the current. Before the executions, the Nazi executioners made the victims take off their shoes because shoes were in short supply and valuable.

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial to the victims. It was created in 2005.

Sixty pairs of shoes are lined up in a 40-meter-long row at the edge of the concrete bank of the Danube. The shoes are made of iron, but, unless you look closely, they are indistinguishable from real shoes. They have the texture of and look like leather. The different pairs of shoes vary in colour, as real shoes would. They were styled as 1940s shoes of different types. Some are boots. Some have high heels. And some are normal walking shoes.

When I was there, every shoe had some small stones in it, as one would place on Jewish gravestones. There were unlit candles beside some, flowers beside others. I’m pretty sure the stones, candles, and flowers weren’t part of the original monument, but were added by mourners. In fact, I saw someone place a candle when I was there.

Embedded in the sidewalk, back from the shoes, are three plaques, equidistant from each other and spread for the length of the row of shoes. I think they all say the same thing, but in different languages: English on the left, Hungarian in the middle, and Hebrew on the right. The English reads, “To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45.”

I found Shoes on the Danube Bank to be excruciatingly poignant. I readily admit to becoming very emotional there, and again as I write these words.

Danube River Cruise

Even before I came to Budapest, I planned to take a cruise on the Danube River. Lots of companies offer them. Most last for about an hour. I didn’t think I’d have time for one today, but because I didn’t get on a Parliament tour, I had some spare time.

Not far from Shoes on the Danube Bank, one of the companies that runs Danube River cruises had a sales desk set up. I asked how long their cruise was. “One hour.” “When’s the next one?” “Four o’clock.” (It was 3:52.) “Where is the dock?” “Dock number two.” He pointed to a dock about a minute or two walk away. “So, I have time to make it?” “Yes, but hurry because they don’t like people being late.”

And off I went.

It was a pleasant cruise. The parliament building looks spectacular from out on the river. It’s a very long, white building with lots of buttresses, sculptures affixed to the walls, a dome, spires, and various other gewgaws that keep very busy being ornate.

The differences between the Pest and Buda sides of Budapest become more apparent on a Danube cruise. The Pest side is more built up with lots of beautiful old architecture. And it’s quite flat.

The Buda side is less built up. It has some beautiful architecture, but less of it. And it’s quite hilly.

The cruise didn’t play a commentary. However, there was a QR code that took me to an audio guide. It had an audio commentary for each major sight we passed. The only one I’ve listened to so far (I listened to it while I was on the cruise) is the one for Shoes on the Danube Bank. But I still have the URL for the audio guide. Here it is: https://bakony.tour.thebudapestguide.com. So, now you can listen to it too.

After the cruise, I walked slowly back to my hotel and used the welcome drink voucher I had from the hotel but hadn’t yet used. And, day done.

Other pictures from the Danube Cruise: