Hungarian Horsemen, Houdini, Shoe Shrine, Castles

I recently sailed about 1,000 miles across the Continent on a Viking River Cruise, the “Grand European Tour,” voyaging from Hungary to Holland in two weeks on the Danube and Rhine. Globetrotter Mark Twain wrote in 1869’s The Innocents Abroad: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” More than a century-and-a-half later, this pilgrim’s peregrinations attest to how seeing the world truly opens one’s eyes – of the soul and orbs – and can be culturally enriching, as well as, in the immortal words of David Letterman: “More fun than humans should be allowed to have.” This enjoyable, enlightening odyssey was bookended by the house of the Jew who could escape from anything and ended at the secret home of the Jew who could hide from anyone.

As ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu noted, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and Our Grand European Tour Viking River Cruise starts in Budapest, a city that’s a study in stark, strange contrasts. It is the capital of a mid-sized Eastern European nation that has only about 10 million residents. Yet, during the “Panoramic Budapest” shore excursion (every Viking port-of-call includes one guided tour), Viktor, our knowledgeable, English-speaking, local guide, points out several landmarks that are disproportionately large for a country roughly only the size of Indiana.

First and foremost among them is Budapest’s imposing, gargantuan Hungarian Parliament Building, perched on the Pest side of the Danube. The nation’s biggest building, this colossal Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival style edifice completed by1904 is reportedly the world’s third largest parliamentary building, despite the fact that historically Hungary hasn’t exactly been considered an especially democratic society.

When the 3,000-seat, Moorish Revival-style, twin-towered Great Synagogue was built in the 1850s at Budapest’s Dohány Street in the Jewish Quarter, it was the second biggest synagogue on Earth and is today Europe’s largest Jewish house of worship. Franz Liszt and Saint-Saëns tickled the ivories of the synagogue’s original 5,000-pipe organ.

Similarly, the Museum of Fine Arts at Heroes’ Square has, after Madrid’s Prado, the planet’s second largest collection of Spanish art, including canvases by Goya, El Greco and Velázquez. Viktor adds that by 1896, Budapest had the world’s second subway system and Europe’s first electrified underground trains. So, what accounts for the oversized achievements of this modestly-sized 58,000 square mile nation?

Our in-the-know guide unravels the mystery. In 1867 Hungary and Austria united to form the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ruled by the Hapsburg dynasty. After czarist Russia, Austria-Hungary was Europe’s second largest country and third most populous. This Central European military and diplomatic alliance ruled over the Balkans, what became Czechoslovakia, parts of Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. However, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s World War I defeat in 1918, Austria and Hungary went their separate ways and lost most of their extensive territory. Thus, Hungary shrank from a population of 45 million down to today’s 10 million, and the country which had administered Croatia on the Adriatic, was reduced to being a far smaller, landlocked nation, a mere shadow of its former self. As Viktor explains, Budapest’s expansive enterprises were built when Hungary was part of a superpower; now, they loom like glorious relics of a bygone, lost civilization.

The comfortable bus carrying passengers from Viking’s Modi ship for the Panoramic Budapest excursion drives past Széchenyi Chain Bridge, guarded by statuesque lions, up to the historic Castle District, where we disembark. Viktor leads us to the 13^th century Matthias Church atop Buda Castle Hill in the Old Town of Buda on the Danube’s West Bank, where we have free time to explore. For Americanized eyes the gigantic Gothic cathedral, combined with the nearby Fisherman’s Bastion (built from 1895-1902), is an almost psychedelic explosion of ornately sculpted gleaming ivory towers, turrets, spires, statues, parapets, gateways, sweeping staircases, of a culture dating back to 896 A.D.

The phantasmagorical Fisherman’s Bastion is configured like a cross between an archetypal Disney-style palace and Sacré le Coeur at Montmartre. Strolling on these grounds feels like time traveling, experiencing something you can only encounter in America at a theme park – although this breathtaking, well-preserved spot is the real deal. The resplendent medieval site offers truly spectacular views from on high, including of the Parliament and Danube. There is even a café in the Bastion to enjoy the eye-popping vistas of Budapest below.

But for me, the Castle Quarter’s most exciting attraction is something totally unexpected, making it all the more thrilling to discover. On top of the marble and glass entranceway to a big building painted canary yellow are large metal letters proclaiming in all caps in English: “THE HOUSE OF HOUDINI”! Escape artist Harry Houdini was my most beloved childhood hero. Feeling trapped by school, a looming military draft, etc., I idolized Houdini, whom Tony Curtis portrayed in a 1953 movie. Whether handcuffed, chained, hanging over a ledge, imprisoned behind bars, confined in a chamber, encased in water-filled glass tanks with only seconds of oxygen left, the Great Houdini was the Jew who could escape from anywhere!

Houdini was actually the stage name of Erik Weisz, born 1874 in the Terézváros district of Budapest in a building no longer standing; he migrated to America four years later. The so-called “House of Houdini,” located at 11 Dísz Square, lies within Buda Castle’s walls, near the Royal Palace. It’s really a museum dedicated to one of Hungary’s most famous sons. The escape artist’s memorabilia, including his handcuffs and personal letters, plus props from the 2014 mini-series wherein Adrien Brody played Houdini, are displayed at this temple honoring the master of escape and the art of sleight of hand, where magic acts are performed daily.

Walking back to our Viking passengers’ rendezvous point, many policemen and their vehicles clog the streets. English-speakers point out that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s office is located in the Castle District, in the former Carmelite Monastery in Buda Castle, so teachers and students have gathered here to protest the strongman’s policies. Protesters are demanding better working conditions and higher wages on the high school and college level; some dissident instructors have already been fired. Thus, the significant police presence.

Driving back to where Viking’s Modi is docked, our guide points out the Shoes on the Danube Bank, 60 pairs of footwear that appear to be randomly abandoned, but are actually a shrine installed in 2005. According to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, “the shoes are rusted, made of iron and set into the concrete of the embankment. They are a memorial and a monument to the Hungarian Jews who, in the winter of 1944-1945, were shot on the Danube River banks by the Arrow Cross Party [Hungary’s WWII-era fascist party].” Alas, not every Hungarian Jew was a skilled escape artist like Erik Weisz…

Nearing the Modi, Viktor notes a futuristic glass/steel cultural center, the Whale (so sci-fi looking that it doubled as NASA’s HQ in Matt Damon’s 2015 astronaut drama The Martian). Only days before, the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is enthralled by Orbán, held its second annual CPAC Hungary convention there, with American right-wingers’ favorite autocrat, Orbán, giving the keynote speech.

Aboard the Modi we enjoy lunch; afterwards some Viking passengers embark on optional excursions (which costs extra): “Budapest by Bike”; “Life Behind the Iron Curtain”; “Budapest Thermal Bath”; or the four-hour jaunt I choose: “Hungarian Horseman”, at Lázár Equestrian Park, 20 miles outside of the capital in the countryside of this mostly rural nation. The sprawling 22-acre arcadian enclave in the Domonyvölgy valley includes stables; farm animals; restaurants; a museum; and horse track, where a rousing show of equine skill and derring-do is held, dipping into the horse culture of Hungary’s hoary Magyar past.

Daredevil Hungarian cowboys clad in traditional costumes with flowing pants and tricornered hats perform jaunty acts atop galloping steeds and longhorn oxen. There’s archery and lots of crisp whip cracking, as the horsewhips all have snappers on their tips. While it doesn’t seem as any animals are actually whipped, their riders do perform tricks with them, such as horses deftly lowering themselves to the ground to play dead, then rising, which animal rights advocates likely would find troubling. The whips are also used to demonstrate great skill, with riders using a battle of Pálinka, Hungarian fruit brandy, for target practice. At one point a swashbuckler rides a team of five stallions in a hair-raising display of courage and horsemanship.

After this 45-minute or so Hungarian rodeo, passengers visit a stable where horses, including Lipizzaners, live, plus pens with barnyard animals. A snazzy “Lázáreum” museum chronicles the exploits of the Lázár Brothers, world champion equestrians who run this ranch. A highlight is a half hour horse drawn carriage ride across the sprawling grounds, down scenic country lanes.

After a full day of exploits in Hungary, we are hungry and make like Houdini, pulling a disappearing act, returning to enjoy a three-course meal featuring, but of course, Hungarian Goulash, served aboard Viking’s Modi, afloat the Danube.

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Photos by Ed Rampell