We don’t often do a three-day tour of a place that probably warrants more because we have the luxury of taking the time, but we decided to squeeze Budapest in on Labor Day weekend — between Prague and Athens. An extra day would have been good, but you just can’t do everything.

We arrived Friday afternoon and promptly headed to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. The food was delicious and our room at the Corinthia was ready when we finished. We booked it because we read that it was an inspiration for Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, but apparently it is a stop for Gate1 Tours and Viking. The lobby of the hotel is grand, the room was spacious and the pool and spa were beautiful.

Our first touristy and historic visit was to Heroes’ Square, home of Millennium Monument and statues of the seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, none of whom we knew, but it was close to Budapest City Park which contains Vajdahunyad Castle.

That evening, we took a dinner cruise on the Danube. Honestly, it was a little disappointing. There are some beautiful buildings to see, but many dead spots in between. The Prague cruise was much better. The trip was made much more enjoyable by our neighbors, a couple from the UK who also travel a lot. Plus, the singer on the cruise chose such classics as “Dancing Queen” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Saturday afternoon, we had tickets to a tour of the Hungarian Parliament. But first, we headed over to the Buda Castle grounds. It’s an expansive area at the top of a steep hill with many many stairs soooo, we decided to take the funicular. (Yay!!! We didn’t have to walk up 16,000 stairs!) Anyway, who doesn’t love a funicular ride? The lines were a bit chaotic, but after a somewhat extended wait for one of the two funiculars that run parallel to each other, we made our way to the top. If we had had more time, we probably would have done the labyrinth tour under the castle grounds, but that’s how it goes. Instead we wandered around the outside of the buildings and then realized we better find a place for lunch.

Back down the funicular we went and headed over toward the Parliament building when what should we find but Iguana Bar and Grill, a Mexican restaurant opened by two guys from Colorado. Perfect. The food was pretty good consider its location. And by that, I mean that the statue of the root of all evil (Ronald Reagan) is in Liberty Square, although I’m sure those who lived through the Soviet occupation probably think of him differently. The square also contains a memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers, because they liberated Hungary fro the Nazis. Many in Hungary would prefer that the Soviets were not honored and would like the memorial to be gone. The Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation also draws controversy because it neglects the minor fact that most of the Hungarians murdered during the Holocaust were Jews.

If you happen to be planning a trip to Budapest (I know it’s No. 1 on everyone’s list), definitely go to the Hungarian Parliament and definitely buy tickets in advance. We booked 10 days early and had to go through a tour service (tickets were the same price but it added hassle) because all the tickets through the official government site were sold out. We think the ticket agencies just buy them up, but all they do is check that your name matches the one you signed up with, hand you a ticket and make you wait on the line for the tour, which is an audio tour with chaperones who are not the people who handed you your ticket. Of course, it started to pour before the tour started, but luckily we there was an overhang and we hung under it until we got our tickets. Tip two: If you’re an EU citizen, tickets are half price, but you have to bring your passport or other ID.

All of it is worth it, because the building is stunning and you get to see the coronation jewels protected by a special unit of the army. They are housed in a glass case in the Dome Hall, which is an amazing feat of architecture. But don’t take any pictures!

You’ll just have to go online, find them and copy them into your blog. Like this:

The tour (after all the waiting around) takes about 35 minutes and it was very informative.

By the time our tour was over, it had stopped raining, so we walked back to our hotel, lounged in the pool and sauna and then got ready for dinner at Mazel Tov, in the historic Jewish Quarter. For you Chicagoans, it was kind of like Ema’s, although not quite as good, according to me (I agree).

Saturday we had to get up early(ish) (It was like 8:30 — the crack of dawn!!!!) since we had booked a Budapest Jewish Heritage tour that started at 10 a.m. We had to stop for coffee on the way and just barely made it, but it all worked out. Our guide, Benjamin, had told us to look out for oddities at the Dohány Street Synagogue, which is the largest in Europe. Although it can seat 3,000 people, the community is small and Benjamin said that typically there are 20-30 worshippers on any given Shabbat. There are other synagogues nearby that draw a higher attendance. As soon as we walked in, we all thought that it looked like a church. A very beautiful church, but what kind of synagogue has an organ and the bema off to the side (and a royal box???)? At the time of its building, 1859, the Jews of Budapest were trying to assimilate so they wanted the synagogue to be familiar to Christians. To get Christians to come they hired perhaps the most famous Shabbas Goy ever — Franz Liszt. He filled the synagogue and its coffers with ticket sales.

After we finished snapping photos, we headed over to another wing of the building, which houses the Jewish Museum. It contains many beautiful artifacts and some items that looked like they came out of my Gran and Pa’s house. Afterwards, we walked through the garden in which are buried 2,281 Jews who died in the ghetto and whose bodies were left on the street and in the courtyard of the temple. Benjamin asked us to read at least one name because as long as a name is remembered, the person is not forgotten. Adjacent to the cemetery is the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park, a courtyard from which springs a silver weeping willow tree made by Imre Varga from which 6,000 leaves hang. Most of the leaves hold an engraved name.

Originally, we had signed up for the “essential” tour, which ends after the museum, but at some point, we started talking to Beth, an expat living in Paris. We traded travel stories and decided to join for the rest of the tour (we had no big afternoon plans aside from sitting by the pool), which included a visit to the Kazinczy Street Synagogue and a piece of flódni, traditional Hungarian cake. The shul, which is the center of a complex that includes a school and mikvah that serves the Orthodox community, has been undergoing renovations and was technically closed, by somehow we got in. Benjamin revealed that the man who let us in is his father, so that may have had something to do with it. One of the men on our tour is a cantor and he did an impromptu prayer for us. His voice rang throughout the synagogue and that alone was worth the tour extension. During our flódni break, Benjamin said that one key differences between Americans and Hungarians is that Hungarians don’t even know what freedom looks like, while Americans at least know what to fight for if they choose to do so. Interesting

After our snack, Steven, Beth and I headed over to the restaurant Steven had been waiting for (and which Benjamin recommended) Gettó Gulyás. To his utter dismay, they do not sell T-shirts. What??? We ate a traditional Hungarian Jewish meal that contained plenty of starch and pretty much no vegetables (even my vegetarian stew)(as all good Jewish meals should). I felt like a kid again and so did my full belly.

Beth had read that Tram line 2 runs along the Danube, so we figured that seemed like a fun way to let all that food settle. We walked over to the stop and saw that the 2B was there. Why not? Well, although the 2B runs the same route and then loops back, it goes about 25 minutes into the southern end of the city, then you wait 5-10 minutes for a different conductor and then you wind your way back. We kept thinking all was well because other people were on the tram, but it turns out that they were from Mexico City and were just as confused as we were. We had a good laugh and finally made our way back.

Luckily, Beth had done her homework and told us about a fountain with an evening light show on Margaret Island. We walked halfway over the bridge, turned right, strolled through the park to a food and drink stand with beach volleyball courts and relaxed sort of by the beach. As it started to get dark, we wandered back to the fountain in time to see the last song of the fountain show.

We then said goodbye to Beth as she headed to Buda and we headed to Pest. We had a perfectly serviceable Italian dinner and struck out for the hotel after a very busy day. We had to reorganize our suitcases because Ryan Air allows only 20 kilo per bag, meaning we had to check four bags, but Aegean Air allows 23 kilos, so we had to cram the stuff from the fourth suitcase back into three and take the fourth as a carry on. Packing is so much fun.

Our last “activity” in Budapest was massages at the hotel spa. We checked out and spent an hour luxuriating followed by a sauna before heading to the airport and our next adventure: Athens! Yes, the flight was fine, but everything around it was a bit of a challenge. Long line at the priority check-in, no seats at the lounge, delayed flight, an accident on the highway on the way to the AirBnB (total first-world problems), but we are here and will soon be heading to the Acropolis!