Thermal Bath, Synagogue and Angelo Rotta.

A few months ago I went to a very nice Haman in Fez. Hamam is a very traditional Turkish Bath and very common in Morroco.

Last year Johnna drove me to the city of Spa, Belgium.

It was great to know and understand the beginning of the Spa and enjoy "a very good Spa" in Spa!

Budapest is considered officially a "City of Spas" and also it is very well known due to its medicinal water.

There are a lot of Spas in Budapest and they are very modern. However, this afternoon I went to one of the oldest thermal bath of Budapest because it was recommended to me - Rudas.

When you look at the front of the building it is not very nice but it is really COOL inside! The Turkish bath was built during the 16th century and it was a GREAT experience...

In fact, there is a lot of things to see in Budapest...

The city is beautiful in the evening. The Parlament building that is considered the 3rd largest of the world it is amazing and the chain bridge is very beautiful as well.

However, my experience with the Synagogue it was what I liked the most...

The Synagogue of Budapest is the 2nd largest synagogue of the world...

When you are there you can realize some Christian influence because the Jewish People did not want to be so outside of the cultural context of the city and then they decided to build the synagogue using some bizantine signs and also putting an organ above the altar that is very typical in the Catholic churches.

There is a very interesting cemetery in the same building of the synagogue. Most of those people are anonymous and lived in the Hungarian ghetto during the 2nd World War. Unfortunately, a huge number of Hungarian Jewish were taken to Auschwitz and were extermined there.

For me the most beautiful thing of the Synagogue and what I liked the most in the city has to do with the memorial area of the Synagogue...

There is a silver tree that its branches were cut and they represent the suffering of the Jewish People in Hungary during the Nazis period and you can read names of the families and some people's names in some of the leaves of the tree.

There is other memorial that shows to us a snake in the fire being burned which means the evil was killed and the Nazis period was over.

But the most amazing memorial has to do with the names of those ones who were not Jewish and saved hundreds or thousands of Jewish in Hungary.

They were from Spain, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, etc. and lived in Budapest...

One of the names that impacted me the most was Angelo Rotta from Italy who worked for the Vatican and had diplomatic activities during the 2nd World War in Budapest and then he had an unbelievable courage to give many fake baptismal certificates to many Bulgarian Jewish and was able to save them...

Basically I keep learning two things with this...

1. His action reminds me when Rahab assisted those Hebrew spies by hiding them and telling the soldiers that she did not know where they went.

Life is more important than any other "value" because life is the supreme value!

2. Sometimes the most important things have not to do with the biggest things but with its meaning. For example, the Jordan river is not the largest river of the world, it is not the cleanest river of the world but it carries by itself a huge importance due to its meaning!

So, if you go to Budapest...

Maybe you will love to see the hills, the bridge, the parks, the monuments, the Parlament building and other turist attraction but I would like to tell you just one thing...

If you go to the Synagogue and understand what I am talking about you may see things and start living life through a different point of view and perspective.

Because life is simple and we do not need too much to understand the rich and happiness in the simple things of life...

Think about it!

Fabio
Budapest