Budapest (Special) -- The Hungarian airline which in the 1980s airlifted many refugees from the Soviet Union to Budapest and then on to freedom in Israel is hoping that it can also make the Hungarian capital a stop-over for Israel-bound American tourists.

On Tuesday, June 2, Malev Airline inaugurated a non-stop charter flight which covers the distance between Los Angeles and Budapest in just 12 hours. A total of eight such flights were planned during the summer--leaving Los Angeles every other Tuesday--to test the strength of the West Coast market. There are about 50,000 Hungarian-Americans living in the greater Los Angeles area, and perhaps 200,000 throughout California.  Hungarian-Americans may not, themselves, fly to their ancestral land in sufficient numbers to justify scheduling one of the planes of Malev's relatively small fleet on a west coast run, but Adrian Rops, the airline's west coast representative, says he has high hopes that the American Jewish community will also be interested in Budapest as a destination--if not for their entire vacations, then perhaps in combination with a stay in Israel, to which Malev also flies.

Malev  at LA International

Even after the Holocaust, Budapest is a city with an estimated 100,000 Jews. The city's Dohany Synagogue, capable of seating more than 3,000 people, is said to be smaller than only Temple Emanu-El of New York. The city also is home to numerous other synagogues, Jewish high schools and day schools, a Jewish Community Center, a rabbinical seminary and a school for Jewish teachers, among other institutions.

Another point of interest for Jewish tourists are the ruins of a medieval synagogue that was burned down sometime in the 17th century, perhaps during the war in which control of this country was wrested from the Ottoman Turks by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  There also is a Jewish Museum which has among its artifacts head stones showing that Jewish inhabitants were buried in Hungary in the third century CE, when the country was the Roman colony of Pannonia. The headstones show that Jews were living in Hungary even longer than the Magyar people which gave the country its name. A marker near the entrance of the museum notes that Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, was born in a house that once stood at the same site.

Dohany Synagogue

Other interesting places for Jewish tourists to see are the "safe houses" in which "protected Jews" given identity papers by diplomats from Sweden, Switzerland and other neutral countries of World War II, were shielded from deportation to death camps by the nazi occupation force. There are also monuments to Raoul Wallenberg and other Righteous Gentiles who risked their lives to protect Budapest's Jews from deportation to the death camps, as well as ominous markers at various sites where the nazis conducted their reign of terror.

Of course, there are all the general attractions of Budapest, including the ubiquitous tour boats on the north-south flowing Danube River which divides the city into the more residential Buda, on the hilly west side, and the more commercial area of Pest, on the east. Once Buda and Pest were separate and hostile cities, with the Danube serving as a border between rival medieval empires. 

Today, the river of many beautiful bridges is crossed practically every minute by streetcars and buses, for which inexpensive multiple day passes may be purchased. Among favorite places to visit are the Castle, overlooking the Danube, which once housed Habsburg queens and kings but which now has been converted into an art musuem with a princely collection of Hungarian artists; the nearby Fisherman's Bastion from which one can see across the river to Budapest's ornate Parliament Building; and the many museums located on both sides of the river.

Parliament as seen from Fisherman's Bastion

Visitors will note many signs of the good relations between Israel and Hungary. Israel's flag is reproduced with the flags of other nations on ticket kiosks and sightseeing buses. At a few stops we heard a Hebrew speaking guide telling a large group about the sites which were being described to us in English. And, in the hotels, the accent with which you hear a fellow guest speak English is almost as likely to be Israeli as it is to be German or Russian.

Hungarian food runs to the heavy side, with beef stews, chicken paprikashes and veals the most practical dishes for those who want to avoid ubiquitous pork. 

But the fast foods of "home" are never far away, with Burger King and MacDonald's vying, it seems, for every prime corner of Budapest, and Wendy's, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Colonel also showing their presence. Meanwhile, Pepsi and Coke compete to install their logos in as many restaurants as possible. Additionally, we found kosher restaurants in the "Jewish quarter" near the large Dohany synagogue, but were unimpressed by the ambience and the fare.

We were pleased with our flights between Hungary and the United States. Malev's service is well-paced, with beverages served shortly after takeoff, followed by meal service, then a presentation of short video subjects about life and places to see in Hungary. This proved a valuable introduction to our destination, and is a program which other airlines might well consider imitating. 

The ever-cheerful flight attendants distributed a nice selection of newspapers--including an English language Hungarian newspaper--and seemed pleased to answer our questions about their country. 

During the 12-hour flight between Los Angeles and Budapest, there were also two in-flight movies shown, which passengers could listen to on earphones in either English or Hungarian. 

The airline also stocks Tokaj  wines and Unicum liquer to give travellers a foretaste or remembrance of Hungarian specialties. Breakfasts and dinners were typically Hungarian fare, while the special kosher meals, which may be ordered in advance, were packaged with great care. I was told, with some pride, that "Malev uses the same kosher caterers as El Al, and what better recommendation is there than that?"