Budapest Day 10

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At 8:30 this morning we were scheduled for a commentary and scenic sailing on entering Budapest. We woke to the announcement that our ship had spent 3 hours in the lock last night so we were running an hour late. At about 9:30 the commentary began and we entered Budapest. It was amazingly beautiful with the Parliament building right on the water. Breathtaking really.

Budapest, Hungary's capital, is bisected by the Danube River. Its 19th century Chain Bridge connects the hilly Buda district with flat Pest.

After our arrival to this beautiful city, we met our local guide, Barbara, for a bus tour around the flat Pest district. We passed shopping streets, parks, the covered market building, Buda Castle, the Chain bridge. A funicular runs up Castle Hill to Buda's Old Town. Our tour brought us across the bridge to the Buda District where we got off the bus and walked a short way to Trinity Square where we saw the 13th century Matthias Church. This was also a wonderful place to get some good photos of the city (Pest side). Because of our late start in the morning, we went back to the ship for lunch, although Soma said he would take us to the covered market so we knew how to get there. He is really a wonderful guide throwing in little walking tours that were really not part of the tour. Budapest is his home and so we will say goodbye to him tonight as this is the end of the tour for him although we have 2 more nights in Budapest. Our new guide will be Peter who we have gotten to know from this cruise. After walking to the market, we went back and had lunch. We decided to stay on the ship and perhaps read, take a nap and start packing as this is sadly our last night on the ship. Also, it was very hot, the hottest day we had so far since we have been on this side of the Atlantic. We were told by Barbara that it is usually a lot hotter, perhaps 100 degrees F. this time of year.

We had our farewell dinner tonight with champagne for those who wanted it, hors d'oeuvres and a thank you from the captain and tour directors. We had a delicious meal on this our last night on the ship capped off with Baked Alaska. I will say that the food on board was superior and just the right portions.

We have met some friends here over the last week and I have a feeling we will try to see them again, maybe on another cruise.

As a fond farewell we were entertained by a Hungarian Operetta group. There was a violinist, pianist and singer/dancer duos. It was a fine sendoff for the last night of the cruise.

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Comments

[Erica]

question
What was your favorite city?

[GGandPaPa]

It is hard to say, but we really liked Prague and Salzburg.