Budapest: Skanzen, Szentendre and an amazing cruise!

On our last day in Budapest, we decided to do something different, so we signed up for the optional excursion to Skanzen and Szentendre. Skanzen is an open air museum outside Budapest- a huge park in which villages from different regions in Hungary have been rebuilt. These are not replicas; apparently the government transported the houses piece by piece from their original locations. Skanzen was quite nice- out in the countryside, and it gave us a chance to see Hungary in one day! :)

Bee hives! :)

We were treated to a traditional breadmaking demonstration, and even got to taste the freshly baked bread (eaten with garlic and sour cream- yummy). We saw the old houses complete with furniture and appliances- it was quite interesting. There was a small farm with animals, and also a windmill with blades that could be adjusted to accommodate the direction of the wind!

Ever seen a furry pig??

We then moved on to Szentendre- a former artists' colony with its narrow, winding streets; now a favourite with souvenir shoppers. There were several museums (including a marzipan museum, no kidding) and art galleries in the little village, and we eventually decided to visit the Microart Museum. It was small (pun unintended), but the exhibitions were so interesting! They had to be viewed using a microscope of course!

Here's one of them- the smallest windmill in the world, made of gold and placed in half a poppy seed! Isn't that amazing?

On our way back to Budapest, we passed by this unconventional sculpture by the riverbank. The sculpture was a line of empty iron shoes; it was actually a Holocaust memorial to remember the barbaric Fascist habit of taking Jews and other undesirables down to the Danube and shooting them into the river. The sculpture was so simple, yet it conveyed such a powerful message.

We bid farewell to Budapest with a wonderful cruise on the Danube river. The food was nice (especially the Hungarian sponge cake we had for dessert), and the sights were spectacular. We liked it much better than the night cruise on the Vltava river in Prague.

We were sad to leave Budapest. I did feel that we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted to. Sigh. Maybe next time?

Egesegere (cheers in Hungarian) to Budapest!! :D