Small field of lavender just outside the parliament building and looking straight ahead is Danube river.

We are headed toward the Shoes on the Danube which is really close from the Parliament Building.

Ahead is the monument of former Hungarian prime minister Istvan Tisza

Istvan Tisza was prime minister of Hungary twice from 1903-1905 and again from 1913-1917. 

István Tisza, who was assassinated exactly 100 years ago by unidentified soldiers returning from the front after four years of brutal fighting, was the Horthy era’s number one hero and martyr. An enormous statue was erected on Kossuth Square in 1933, and a year later his portrait was chosen to appear on a stamp in a well-known series, alongside Ferenc Deák, Lajos Kossuth, and István Széchenyi.

The original memorial in front of the parliament was damaged during the war and was subsequently destroyed. Today, a replica is again standing in the square as part of the Orbán government’s effort to recreate the square as it existed before 1945. Moreover, since 1990 Tisza statues have been erected all over the country.

We are now on the Danube river-The parliament building is on the right.

Shoes on the Danube is located along the edge of the Danube River, on the Pest side, just south of the Hungarian Parliament Building.

You can see a trail of iron footwear as a monument to the thousands executed along this riverbank during World War II

Shoes on the Danube Promenade is a haunting tribute to this horrific time in history, created by film director Can Togay and the sculptor, Gyula Pauer.

Installed along the bank of the Danube River in Budapest, the monument consists of 60 pairs of 1940s-style shoes, true to life in size and detail, sculpted out of iron.

Cast iron sign: “To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. Erected 16 April 2005.”

This memorial is simple yet chilling, depicting the shoes left behind by the thousands of Jews who were murdered by the Arrow Cross.

The style of footwear such as a man’s work boot, a business man’s loafer, a woman’s pair of heels, and  even the tiny shoes of a child were chosen specifically to illustrate how no one, regardless of age, gender, or occupation was spared. Placed in a casual fashion, as if the people just stepped out of them, these little statues are a grim reminder of the souls who once occupied them yet they also create a beautiful place of reflection and reverence.

People are leaving flowers and some people also light a candles as a way of honoring and remember them...

In October of 1944, Hitler overthrew the leader of the Hungarian government, Miklos Horthy, and replaced him with Ferenc Szalasi.

Szalasi, whose ideology closely followed Hitler’s, immediately established the Arrow Cross Party, a fascist, anti-Semitic organization that brutally and publicly terrorized the Jews in Budapest by beating and killing them.

Nearly 80,000 Jews were expelled from Hungary in a death march to the Austrian border and approximately 20,000 Jews were brutally shot along the banks of the Danube River.

The victims were forced to remove their shoes at gunpoint (shoes being a valuable commodity during World War II) and face their executioner before they were shot without mercy, falling over the edge to be washed away by the freezing waters.

Close by is the sitting statue of Attli József

The statue is in honor of one of Hungary's most famous poets. Attila Jozsef led a trouble life and died at age 32 in 1937.

The statue of the poet looking out onto the busy and bustling River Danube capture the worn and troubled expression of his face probably mirrors his troubled life.

One of the square close to the Danube River

They have jet steam coming out of the floor so people can cool off.

Next....Dinner at Trattoria Toscana