A Tour of the Jewish Quarter, and a Surprise Visitor

After a long day at the language school on Tuesday, I went on a school-sponsored tour of the Jewish quarter of Pest. We looked at a few synagogues, but the world-famous Great Synagogue was the  most impressive. It's one of the largest in the world, and the architecture is beautiful. Gentiles are even allowed on guided tours or attend worship (as long as they meet a modest dress code.)

The Jewish quarter has lots of history, but much of it is overshadowed by the Holocaust. The area was a Jewish ghetto when Hungary joined the Axis Powers. Unlike almost all other synagogues, the Great Synagogue has a cemetery in its courtyard. It was the only suitable place in the ghetto to bury the dead. There is also a memorial by the synagogue honoring some 400,000 Hungarian Jews murdered by the National Socialists.

Holocaust Memorial

A block away, a sculpture tells a more inspiring story in this grisly chapter of human history. It honors two diplomats, one Swedish and one Swiss, who saved thousands of Jews by issuing false documents to protect them. It shows an angel reaching down to an emaciated Jew.

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In the evening, I met up with a friend who graduated in my high school class, Marin. I hadn't even known she was coming to Budapest until two days before, and we made some last minute plans to meet up on Tuesday. I would never have guessed that we would reuinite in front of a synagogue in Budapest, but I suppose it proves it really is a small world.

She brought along a friend; the two of them are traveling Europe before studying abroad in France. The three of us had some Hungarian food, and at nighttime we went to a ruined pub called Szimpla. Budapest is well-known for its ruined pubs: old, abandoned buildings renovated as pubs. They have an adventurous feel to them, and Szimpla is considered one of the best in Budapest.