Passage To Eastern Europe Viking River Cruise
Wednesday, November 09, 2022 - Budapest, Hungary
The day's statistics:
- Weather: partly cloudy, late rain; upper-50s
- Steps: 8.915 Linda; 9,850 Steve
For the third morning in a row, we arrived in a city after we awoke.
It's no big deal and generally has no impact on anything - especially because we get to watch the pulling
into port before, during, or shortly after breakfast. But even like yesterday where we didn't dock until
after lunch (by design), we still had an informative and enjoyable day.
Today was the arrival in our final and destination city, Budapest.
We enjoyed a pre-cruise extension in Transylvania so many days ago, but did not extend the cruise beyond
the end of the sailing. A couple reasons for this is because 1) we were already in Budapest
three years prior and were about to spend
two more days here, so even MORE days would not have been that beneficial, and B) another extension option was to
stay in Prague - but we will be in Prague during next year's vacation so there was no benefit in doing that either.
We were eating just a little later today than our normal time because we had to have our luggage out and
vacate our room by 8:00. So we put out our luggage on the way to the restaurant - two birds, one stone.
Today's breakfast - our FINAL meal on the ship - was with Albert and Michael, and Sarah and Matt from Memphis, TN.
We had the usual: Linda's egg benedict, and my buffet.
While eating, we noticed that across the river, the rush hour traffic was plainly visible. But there was a gap
between almost every car, rather than the bumper-to-bumper congestion we see at home.
We ate slow, and chatted for a while before transitioning to the lounge until our 10:00 disembarkment and the
start of our excursion. (While we were on the excursion, our luggage was being transported to our hotel.)
Today's excursion was called "Snapshots of Budapest".
Our driver was Jon, and our guide was George.
We drove around the city a little before stopping and getting off the bus.
There is a skate park with a small climbing wall.
As we drove down the road along the Danube, we saw our ship for the last time.
We passed a war memorial, which was a collection of statues along the road (on the other side of the bus).
Our overnight hotel.
This is a Lego® lion. But what we weren't told about, though we learned from our
last trip, is that the "zero kilometer stone"
nearby is the marker for which all locations in Budapest are measured from. Also, in the background is the funicular
which will get you to the top of the hill, to the Buda castle. The second image is from the return trip.
We were on the road "below" Matthias church, but we would eventually be visiting it.
The bus stopped just below a short hill, and we got off. We walked up the slight hill.
While putting this together, we found that some of the pictures include sights that we saw three years ago. We
didn't know it at the time - except for the Matthias church - but it would have been neat to get "then and now"
sort of pictures.
A map of the region.
At the top of the hill was the palace. When some excavation was being done nearby, the remains - namely the
foundation - of the old palace was found.
We crossed the street, and continued on.
We passed the postoffice.
A little further down - hey, this place is still here! - the Houdini Museum.
A statue in honor of "Being free".
When a building is marked as "Műemlék", it means it is protected.
The Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum.
The main draw to this area is Matthias church. We were here three years ago too (link above).
An outdoor 3D model of the church.
The fountain in front of the church.
A statue across the street.
We drew our attention on Matthias church.
First, the outside.
Just above the doorway - which is technically a side door, not the front / main door.
The various highlights from inside the church, regular shots, wider shots, and some closer-ups.
Though there were a few "alcoves" within the church, this one (highlighted for no particular reason) is called
Saint Emeric Chapel and the triptych depict King Saint Stephen, Saint Emeric of Hungary, and Saint Gerard Bishop
of Csanad.
Memorial Wreath of the Hungarian Cistercian Order; 1898; cast, chiseled, engraved, enamelled silver.
Supposedly if someone's tomb has a lion, they died in battle or was a king. The dog, an honor of the faithful.
In the short hallway on the way out (and in, for that matter).
The first is the Virgin Mary Gale, from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The second is the relief that
replaced the first.
We exited the church after about a half-hour.
Near the church was this statue.
After being inside, we took a selfie - the phone pretty much washed out the church...
The upper level walkway visible in the image above, was free to access three years ago. Today, not so much.
But we didn't need to go up to the top to get decent pictures anyway.
The Danube in the foreground, and Saint Stephen Cathedral in the background.
One last shot of the church. Or two.
We had about a half hour to get to the bus. Rather than walk back the way we got to the church, we decided to
slowly go straight to the pedestrian walkway, and take our time strolling back. It was nice and relaxing. This
was one of the pathways we traveled three years ago.
The path is at the end of this street.
A local manhole cover.
An interesting piece in shop. This piece cost almost $2,000.00.
Some interesting glassware in another shop.
A statue.
We got to the end of the street, and from the pedestrian walkway, it overlooked some of the city.
Looking down a street.
We started our walk toward the bus.
Lovely wife.
We boarded the bus and headed to our next stop.
Some more sights along the way.
The Parliment Building. It was completed in 1904, and has 620 rooms, 365 towers, and was built to resemble
a building in the Thames in Endgland.
Elsewhere.
Crossing the Danube.
A bridge over a seasonally empty fountain / man-made pond. It has a statue on it too, so it appears
to be a work of art.
The Olympic rings, used as an incentive to host them in the near future. Budapest has yet to host any Olympics.
In one spot there is a Jewish Shoe Memberial. There are sixty pairs of shoes in remembrance of the Jews that
were massacred on the bank of the Danube during WWII. The shoes were left behind due to their value as the
Jews were lined up, shoes off, and shot - their bodies fell into the river and were carried away.
This is not all of them.
The National Gallery.
We drove past Hero Square, which is adorned with statues and monuments, and is flanked by the Museum of Modern Art
and the Museum of Fine Art.
We would like to hvae revisited this site at night, but we unfortuantely didn't have the opportunity.
And yes, that is a hot air balloon in the background of that one image - it was a "ride" in the park.
We were heading to the Market Square [Mall].
Between where the bus parked and the mall was a university.
An enclosed three story shopping complex, known as Central Market Hall, or Nagy Vásárcsarnok, made of of individual
vendors selling everything from food to embroidery to sweatshirts.
The first floor had more of a supermarket sort of vibe to it, with counters and cases.
These meats were about $2.25 per pound for the fresh, and $3.50 per pound for the smoked - not that bad IMO.
The second floor vendors were along the outter edges, while the middle was open.
The second floor vendors were also more, shall we say, casual. They were booths, but there were no counters.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
On the second floor was also where we found our shot glass.
We were here three years ago too. And three years ago I said "We would have gladly eaten here if we weren't
eating on the ship". Well, we're not on the ship. So guess what?
One food that was suggested by our guide and a couple fellow travelers - also as an authentic Hungarian dish - was
Langos (lane-gosh), a fried dough with sweet or savory toppings. Here are a collection of sweet Langos that one
particlar vendor was selling.
We found a vendor that was selling some of the foods we wanted - especially Linda's sarmale (stuffed cabbage).
We ate lunch alone - though it was fun to eaves drop on the couple next to us. Even if they were speaking
Spanish. I didn't say we heard - and understood - all of their conversation...
We ordered and shared a Stuffed cabbage plate. It included a sausage, a sarmale, Hungarian meatballs,
saurkraut, and red cabbage, all covered in a yogurt sauce. It cost 8,490 ROF ($22), but we shared it so
that helped with the overall value. And it was authentic Hungarian food.
We were scheduled to depart the mall at 3:00.
Before we departed, we headed to the basement level. We used the restrooms and stopped in the Aldi that was
there too. We picked up a light snack for "dinner" since we had what we consider to be a late lunch.
We were heading to the hotel to check-in.
On the there, we drove through the city a little more.
After a twenty or so minute drive, we arrived. We checked in en masse. We went to our room (the room was clear,
just the picture isn't).
We weren't sure if we were in the right room or not, but then we got confirmation... (not sure why it didn't
say "Mr & Mrs" or even "and guest").
Our luggage was waiting for us.
We were considering going out for a walk, but it had started to drizzle when we arrived at the hotel so we decided
to just stay in. We found out the next day from a fellow traveler that the weather cleared and they stayed out until
about 11:00.
We arranged our luggage and clothes, trying to put everything we needed JUST into our carry-ons so we could pack
our checked luggage and not touch it again.
We wound up having our snack of salad (that didn't have a dressing), some cheese, we split a roll, and, of course,
a bottle of wine.
We had a decent view. Before we started our movie - we had HBO - we grabbed some night shots.
There is a reflection off the window in a couple of them.
We enjoyed our movie, washed up, and went to sleep.
Fun fact:
- Matthias church was one of the first churches in Europe with heating and AC.