VideoTravelAlex

International rail travel.

A concept as foreign to Americans as the monarchy. And universal healthcare.

That’s why I always marvel at the high-speed, downtown-to-downtown miracle of intercountry ground transportation.

Like our OBB Eurocity train, which sped through the Austrian countryside towards the other co-capital of the former Habsburg Empire: Budapest.

If not for the backpackers scrolling through their smartphones, you’d feel you were behind the Iron Curtain circa 1984.

The ticket inspector, a stern lady in a military-looking uniform, seemed to enjoy chasing clueless twenty-somethings from the wrong coaches.

She also frequently stopped by our car to chat with who seemed to be the only other Hungarian speaker around.

The middle-aged man, presumably a frequent traveler, could’ve been mistaken for a spy covering as an insurance policy salesperson forty years ago.

And things got more Eastern Bloc-y after we pulled into the Budapest-Keleti station.

Although the terminal predates the communist era (its facade features the statues of Industrial Revolution engineers James Watt and George Stephenson), it was the gateway to the Soviet World during those years.

Conversely, Budapest Nyugati station, on the westernmost side, was the point of departure for those lucky enough to travel to places like Paris and Vienna.

This dichotomy is an apt metaphor for a city that, though no longer geographically divided between Buda on the west and Pest on the east of the Danube River, still maintains a cultural rift.

The cosmopolitan capital of European Union member Hungary is also the place where Viktor Orbán, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, executes his increasingly “illiberal” agenda.

Aside from antagonizing fellow NATO allies, Orbán has been accused of diminishing press freedom, eroding judicial independence, and stoking anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ sentiments.

Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes from the past? It’s not like there aren’t plenty of reminders around.

One of the most haunting ones, the Shoes on the Danube Bank, memorializes the Jews and other minorities massacred by the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party during World War II.

The sixty pairs of iron shoes represent the footwear the more than 3 thousand victims had to take off right before being shot on the edge of the river.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, about 900 feet north of the memorial, stands a testament to 19th-century Hungary’s commitment to Western values: the Hungarian Parliament Building.

Conceived and built after the unification of Buda and Pest, the official seat of the Hungarian National Assembly drew inspiration from London’s Palace of Westminster.

Sitting on Kossuth Square, the striking palace’s facade is one of the city’s most recognizable sights, seen across the river from the Buda side.

The main entrance, on the eastern side of the building, includes the Visitor Centre, an underground modern lobby with a box office, store, exhibition space, and security checkpoint.

The tour started after all the disclaimers, the top among them being that displaying any political propaganda (like rainbow flags) is strictly prohibited.

A grand ornamental staircase welcomed us to the magnificent halls, rooms, and corridors decorated with frescoes and statues and outfitted with golden paint and velvety red carpets.

We were then led to one of the two imposing assembly chambers where legislators debate the country’s laws, including some of the most controversial ones of the last few years.

But, as spectacular as these rooms are, the most breathtaking part (and the only one where photography was not allowed) is the central hall, home of the Holy Crown of Hungary.

Interestingly, the crown was in safekeeping at the United States Gold Reserve at Fort Knox, Kentucky, after WWII and until the late 1970s when President Jimmy Carter returned it to the Hungarian people.

But the crown is not the only national treasure.

Nearby, in St. Stephen’s Basilica, rests the hand of the homonymous king saint, Stephen I of Hungary.

According to legend, when opening his grave in 1083, officials were awed to discover that the ring-wearing right hand of the first king had been mummified.

Like the crown, the holy hand traveled for protection following periods of tumult in the country.

For example, during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary in the 1500s, when it was transported to what is today Croatia.

Empress Maria Theresa herself negotiated the return of the hand in the 1770s, consolidating its status as a royal heirloom.

Later, during WWII, St. Stephen’s limb was temporarily concealed in Austria. Since 1987, it has been on display at the basilica.

The church sits adjacent to Deák Ferenc Square, a major intersection and traffic hub bustling with activity: a perfect representation of modern day Budapest.

Several train, bus, tram, and metro lines converge into this lively shopping and entertainment district packed with retail stores, restaurants, bars, barber shops, and tattoo parlors.

The colorful street art is the perfect background for the many tourists, local families, baggy clothes-clad skaters, and street musicians who swarm the surroundings.

The excitement stretches into the evening, leading to the Ferris Wheel of Budapest or Budapest Eye, another wink (no pun intended) to the United Kingdom’s capital and its famous London Eye.

Like its Westminster counterpart, the Budapest Eye’s appeal is two-fold: as an unmistakable landmark in the city’s skyline when cruising the Danube and for the views it affords from its over 200 feet of altitude.

The panorama includes the Buda Castle, first completed in 1265.

The ancient home of the Kings of Hungary withstood the Ottoman occupation of the 1500s, underwent Hapsburg restoration in the 1700s, and survived Allied bombing during WWII.

Presiding over the Castle Quarter on the southern tip of Castle Hill, it houses the Hungarian National Gallery today.

Established in 1957, the national art museum displays Medieval, Renaissance, Gothic, Baroque, Modern, and Contemporary Hungarian art from artists predominantly educated in German and Austrian schools.

After feasting on the artwork, one can sit to enjoy a coffee, beer, or Aperol Spritz on the castle’s main terrace, which commands a magnificent view of Pest across the Danube.

Or you can head to the nearby Fisherman’s Bastion, a lovely lookout built between 1895 and 1902, which boasts seven towers representing the tribes who founded modern-day Hungary.

Medieval fishermen from the below village might’ve protected the monument’s walls, but the place is now run by tourists seeking the perfect shot.

As I contemplated the many girls and women joyously posing beside the Pest skyline on that beautiful summer day, I recalled a chilling news story I had encountered earlier.

Prime Minister Orbán promised to eliminate taxes for life for Hungarian women who birthed four or more children.

Aimed to offset immigration by boosting native population growth, the move is one of the reasons Orbán has become a populist hero for some American conservatives.

In fact, former Fox News on-air personality Tucker Carlson was also in Budapest at the same time to interview Orbán himlsef.

Carslon’s audience probably loves one of Orbán’s quotes regarding the “Handmaid’s Tale”-esque law: “Immigration for us is surrender.”

Progress left the chat.