Budapest to Vienna

Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest
June 11th 2019

Published: June 11th 2019

Edit Blog Post

Rosco p

Budapest

This is my favourite photo of Budapest.

Budapest.....Day 1
We arrived at the airport and looked for my name on a board as the Metro from the airport to the city is under repair and we would need to swop onto a bus along the way, so I got our Amber Garden View Apartment fellow to organise a taxi for us.
We had a very pleasant ride with a chatty driver and learnt some of the city history on the way.
Our apartment was a good choice, very central and walking distance to most things.
After settling in we went for a walk around and down to the river front.
We found a restaurant in the walking street and ordered our food. It eventually came, as we had ordered local fish with chips for two, we were expecting good food, when it arrived it was over cooked deep fried fish with over cooked potato wedges with rice!! At 79 eu we sure expected better than this! Then I went to pay and they told me the visa machine was not working??? After a lot of haggling and arguing we finally compromised and paid 70eu. Other people at the restaurant were having the same sad experience.....a bit of a

Inside our Amber Garden Apartment.

disappointment on our first night in Budapest.
The next morning we made our way to the Central Market Hall, which was just fabulous.
The fresh vegetables and meat was presented so well along with many hand made crafts displayed with t shirts and souvenirs upstairs.
We had a lovely brunch here, sampling many local dishes including their famous Hungarian Goulash.
Later we took the Hop on Hop Off bus and toured the city until dark.
That night we found another restaurant close by and enjoyed a fabulous meal in such contrast to the previous night.
There was a lot of action on the river with police boats and army helicopters working the river as one of the big cruise boats had run into a smaller tourist boat with 60 odd Taiwanese tourists on board, sinking the steel hulled boat and trapping 28 on board.
The following morning we had to leave our lodging and take our luggage to the river boat parked up at the river morning.
We dropped our luggage and then we walked over the bridge to the waterfall and monument that we had missed the day before.
Around 3.00pm we could access our cabin.
What a fabulous

local train goes over the bridge.

boat this is, so well designed and very pleasantly fitted out.
That night we moved upriver, as the police were looking to close the river the next day as they were sending divers down to try and recover some of the bodies.
Day 1 of the cruise was a bus tour of Budapest then to the old train station to board an old steam train for lunch.
We huffed and puffed our way out into the country and enjoyed another fabulous meal.
We then had a couple of hours to chase the boat up the river to another morning for the night.
Day 2 and we headed up river on our way towards Vienna arriving just after 1.00pm.
After lunch we had a reunion with our long lost friend, Dora the Xplora!! We had such a good catch up over the last 9 years since she had stayed with us in NZ and came with me on the BMW Safari from Cape Reinga in the north to the bluff at the bottom of the South Island .
Day 3.
Raewyn went off to see another castle so I took the e-bike and rode around Vienna for a couple of hours,

Budapest Bridge

clocking up around 40kms.
Later that afternoon we went by metro to the city centre and met Dora again, but this time we met her partner, Marc.
They acted as our tour guides around the old part of the city until we had to make our way back to the boat for an early dinner. After dinner we went on a bus, back into the central city as we were going to a musical appreciation evening at the Liechtenstein City Palace, what an absolutely fabulous evening with a full orchestra playing some of the old classics by Mozart, Strauss etc, this sure did give me a better appreciation of the music.
Day 4 we head up the river overnight.

Additional photos below

Photos: 41, Displayed: 24