Szentendre, Margaret Island and Communist History

I took a little field trip out to a nearby town today called Szentendre. I had hoped to take a boat cruise on the Duna (Danube) river to get there but unfortunately the boats go every day... except Monday! So I took the train which only took about 30 or 45 minutes. Its a cute little town, narrow streets, lots of tourist shops, so I wandered around for an hour or so before finding the Margit Kovacs Museum which has a collection of her work. She was an artist who made beautiful pottery sculptures, some very simple small ones of children and people are just delightful!

On the way home I picked up what basically amounted to a lamington, in a little bakery in a tiny village in Hungary... only difference? Only iced and coconutted on 5 sides... did we steal from them or them from us??

When I arrived back in Budapest, I went for a walk around Margaret Island, a small island in the middle of the Duna river. It is a beautiful big park and a lovely place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. There are ruins of an old chapel, beautiful flower gardens, an old water tower, and old convent and a really lovely japanese garden. Perfect for sitting peacefully in the afternoon.

I joined the Free Communist Walking tour this afternoon for a bit of an insight into life in communist Hungary and the post communist democracy they are living in now. It was an extremely interesting tour (same guide as the general tour) delivered by people who had grown up during the communist period. It was very interesting to here of some of the things that are better without communism (freedom of speech and thought, parts of education) and some of the things that were better before (health care, education, equality). It will be a long road to a true democracy and a healthy economy for Hungary, perhaps generations.

The ground floor of this building has been renovated, but the upper floors have not. During the communist time, the buildings weren't kept in good condition by the government and now the people (except for the shop owners on the ground floor) can't afford to renovate.

Typical communist buildings. Very basic, cheap and crowded.

This is one of the few remaining communist monuments left in Budapest, the majority have been moved out of town and set up in a 'statue park' for people to see, including huge statues of Stalin and Lenin. This monument is for the liberation of Hungary from the Germans (by Russia) at the end of the second world war. As our guide said, they did liberate us, they just stayed too long!

Hungary only became communist at the end of the second world war when they were liberated and then occupied by the russians. Communism here was less extreme than that in more eastern European countries as there was an uprising in about 1956 in hungary which led to a softer approach from Moscow. They had Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, could wear jeans and watch MTV in the 1980's unlike those other areas.

At the end of the tour they showed us a range of 'relics' of the communist period including photographs of Budapest at the time, passports, identity books, communism books and medals. Altogether a very interesting tour - I'd recommend it to anyone!