Budapesteuropean beauty

With its long and often brutal history, Budapest nurses its freshest wounds from the ’56 Revolution. This was a nationwide revolt against Hungary’s communist government, but the people were quickly (and often violently) silenced when Soviet tanks rolled into town. The conflict resulted in thousands of deaths. Even more Hungarians fled their homeland as refugees. One of the Revolution’s most remarkable stories concerns Cardinal József Mindszenty, now a national folk hero. An outspoken critic of Communism, Cardinal Mindszenty had been jailed for treason against the government, but he was freed during the ’56 Revolution. When the Soviets arrived, Cardinal Mindszenty immediately sought asylum within the U.S. embassy in Budapest. Amazingly, he lived there in exile for the next 15 years.