Budapest

Both of our favorite city of the trip. (My runner-up: Lisbon.) Budapest is gorgeous, inexpensive, and unique. No place I've been to has suffered so greatly, again and again throughout history, only to get back onto its feet.

Nighttime along the Danube is stunning. I also loved the ruin bars -- which are what they sound like, abandoned buildings turned into bars.

Note: The shoes pointing into the river are a memorial to the Jews who were shot into the Danube there in 1944-5. I have so much trouble comprehending that entire era in history...(who doesn't??)... but it's a very moving monument. There are so many memorials around Budapest honoring those who were heroes during either the war (e.g. helping to save the Jews) or the communist era.

Note 2: Notice the bats flying above the Parliament building!En savoir plus