What to see: The Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest

Among the bridges crossing the Danube from Buda to Pest, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, or Széchenyi-lánchid, is perhaps the better-known landmark of the Hungarian capital. The first permanent bridge linking the two then separate cities, it was built between 1839-1849 after an initiative by Count István Széchenyi, who is considered one of the greatest statesmen and reformers in Hungarian history.
The bridge was designed by the Englishman William Tierney Clark and built by the Scot Adam Clark (no relation). With its length of 380 metres it was considered a major feat of engineering at the time. Like all the other bridges across the Danube, the Chain Bridge was destroyed during World War II and faithfully rebuilt after the end of the war. The lions guarding the bridgeheads at either side are by the sculptor János Marschalkó.
Close to the bridge are famous buildings such as the Royal Palace (now the Hungarian National Gallery), seen in the first and third photos; the Parliament (the largest such building on the continent), seen in the second picture; and Gresham Palace (now the Four Seasons Hotel), glimpsed in the fourth photo.

What to see: Shoes on the Danube (Holocaust memorial), Budapest

Perhaps the most moving Holocaust memorial in Europe is that in Budapest. It is also one of the simplest. On the bank of the Danube, not far from Hungary’s impressive Parliament building, stands a long row of sixty pairs of empty, abandoned shoes, cast in bronze. The memorial is a work by Gyula Pauer and Can Togay and was dedicated in 2005. On this spot Jews and other citizens who had tried to help them were shot by militiamen from the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party in 1944 and 1945. As shoes were valuable at the time, the victims had to remove theirs before they were executed and fell into the river. Now the shoes stand there forever and no-one will ever come back for them.