On the side, there is a chapel that has the right hand of St Stephen inside the chest that looks like a small chapel itself, with lots of beautiful jewelry along the gilded top. St Stephen was the first Hungarian Christian king who established the Hungarian state and converted Hungarian tribes into Christianity. The history of Hungary starts with his arrival in Transylvania in year 896, and this is the year that Hungarians consider the beginning of the Hungary as a separate state. This is the reason that everything of importance has to have 96 in it. This church for example is 96 meters tall. St Stephen’s right hand is considered one of the most important historic objects by Hungarians.

The basilica is very large but is not heavy, not too extravagant in decoration, rather impressive and beautiful. The façade looks very tall, with two large bell towers and an even taller main cupola, a portico with Hungarian kings looking down at you as you are entering the cathedral, and massive columns supporting the entrance.

The basilica suffered significant damage during WWII and recently underwent an expensive restoration.

A very large neo-Renaissance building with four gated porticos with frescoed ceilings of angels and muses is a very beautiful opera house, especially inside. It was built after the design of the same architect who designed St Stephen’s basilica.

Next to the main entrance, there are statues of Liszt and Erkel. On the sides, you can find statues of female sphinxes and muses. Balconies on the second floor are covered with mosaics. The lobby is a collection of arches supported by grey marble columns. The floor is laid out in tile that reminds of the ancient Greek mosaics. The ceilings are covered with frescoes of angels and floral motifs, which are quite common for the opera décor.

Inside there is a large, almost-square stage with red velvet curtain and a huge ceiling fresco with a large gilded chandelier with flower-like lamps. The circular plafond continues with frescoes of angels or cupids playing musical instruments coming down to the gilded columns at the top balcony. All the seats are covered in purple velvet, except for the royal balcony with red Damascus seats. Above it, there is an arch with statues in costumes as if performing. Along the balconies you can see names of operas on the top balcony, musical instruments in gilding along the third balcony and theatrical masks along the second balcony.

There are two large balconies with very tall ceilings and purple/gilded columns next to the stage. Above the stage there is another set of frescoes with gilded coffering between them.

The performances are very affordable and tickets prices are in local currency. Even though the opera house has its own website, to buy tickets or find out what’s on you need to go to http://www.jegymester.hu/. The website is in Hungarian and English. You can reserve tickets online, pay with the credit card, receive confirmation by email, and then pick up the tickets at the opera ticket office right before the performance.

I went to see the performance of "Bloody Wedding", a modern Hungarian opera. It left me with a mixed impression – very good voices but not much story, music, or direction.

The largest in Europe synagogue is a very imposing building of yellow brick with red Mudejar décor. It was built in 1854-59, when almost a quarter of Budapest population were Jews. At one time, close to 3,000 people would attend the service at the same time. Inside you can see two balconies of dark wood above the main floor. The torah arch is a large white Mudejar arch with gilding, and behind it is a large organ. The cupola and ceiling are covered in squares decorated with multicolored Sephardic designs with pink background red/green/blue/purple colors of the patterns. Walls are covered with beige/yellow marble without decorations. Modern stained-glass windows with stars of David bring light into this large but now rather empty synagogue.

In the yard of the synagogue, you can visit the cemetery, which is a collection of plates with names of all Jews who died during WWII in Budapest. Over 3,000 people who died in the ghetto were buried here. There is also a Holocaust memorial in the shape of a willow with leaves and branches turned down towards the ground, as if crying for those who died. Each leaf has a name written on it on both sides. This is a very somber and striking monument, and it doesn’t leave anybody untouched. Seventy percent of Hungarian Jews died in Auschwitz. Of 184,000 Budapest Jews, only 85,000 lived to see the end of WWII.

There is also a large museum of Jewish history with a nice collection of candlesticks, Torah scrolls, Rimmonim, goblets, Torah breastplates, books in Yiddish, menorahs, Seder plates, various items for prayer, bridal decorations and Kettubahs - most items date back from 17th to 19th centuries. The last several rooms are devoted to the memory of those who died during WWII – here you can see pictures of the concentration camps, clothes worn by people in the Ghetto and camps, portraits of people who helped Hungarian Jews like Raoul Wallenberg and Angelo Rotta. There are also pictures of some of the fascists who were seized in 1945, after the liberation, and executed for their crimes against humanity.

There was also a wonderful temporary exhibition: Herzl (1860-1904) – which had a large number of original documents and photographs of Theodor Herzl as well as other leaders of the Zionist movement, creation of "Die Welt", photos of the first settlements in Palestine, and a signed copy of the first edition of "The Jewish state".