Yesterday was our first night sleeping in our cabin on the boat, but we remained docked in Budapest until 9:00 tonight. The cabin room is quite comfortable and much larger than I expected. Perfect for our needs. The only downfall to the experience was that the ship was docked with another ship on either side, so there was no view except for the side of another boat. But we weren't spending time in the cabin except for sleeping anyway, so I didn't think that was a big deal.
Breakfast was in the on board restaurant, and we arrived earlier than most so we had a lovely view while enjoying our delicious meal.
After breakfast, we had some free time, so we headed to the upper deck to take even more photos.
It's hard to resist with so much beauty surrounding us.
This morning's excursion involved boarding an AMAwaterways bus which escorted us to the Buda side of the city, up to the mountain where Buda Castle Hill stands. I featured this site from across the river a few times this week, but today we would be getting to view it up close. And arriving by bus seemed much more practical than me trying to hike 4 1/2 miles, mostly uphill, in order to see it.
Sunday traffic was quite light so the trip across the bridge and up the hill took very little time. Along the way, Lazlo, our guide for the morning, gave us some more interesting tidbits regarding the history of Buda. We drove by the Budapest University of Technology where professor Erno Rubik is credited with creating the first version of the Rubik's cube in 1974.
Another famous name, Houdini, was born up in this area on the hill. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a young child.
Buda Castle Hill is a UNESCO World Heritage site, perched at the top of a hill overlooking the Danube and the counterpart of the city known as Pest. The castle was built in the 13th century and it is where the Prime Minister of Hungary lives. What we would actually see today was the series of buildings that make up the complex surrounding the castle.
The bus dropped us off and Lazlo led us on the trek up the hill to the charming streets of Castle Hill.
The building that you see in the distance is not the original, but one made to replicate it.
When the Russians liberated Hungary from the Germans during World War II, they did not make much effort to expel the Germans from Budapest. They found it easier to just bomb the areas where they occupied the city, and as a result, 90% of the castle area was destroyed.
But renovations began in the 1950's and 1960's to attempt to restore this area to the splendor that it once had.
Here you see a plague statue located in the center square. We had seen many of these when we visited Slovakia in 2010, as it appeared that nearly every village erected one to thank God for saving them from the Black Plague. This one stands directly in front of St. Matthias Church.
From here we began our walk to Fisherman's Bastion, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here stands a statue of St. Stephen of Hungary, the first king of Hungary. The statue was commissioned in 1896 and completed in 1906.
The significance of St. Stephen was that he converted to Catholicism in the year 1000. He is credited with turning the once pagan, nomadic land, to a Christian kingdom.
There are seven towers, each representing one of the seven tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 895.
The original walls were built in the 1700's as part of the walls of the castle and have been reconstructed since. It offers amazing views of the city below and one can easily see why these towers would have been defensive holdings as part of the castle.
St. Matthias church stands in the background. I found the tiles on the roof to be exceptionally beautiful.
The experience almost seems like part of a fairy tale castle.
At this point, we were given free time to just walk around and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings. I couldn't get enough of the architecture and details of the buildings.
Just on the next block from the church stands the Hilton Hotel. There was some question as to how this Hilton hotel could have been built next to a church during the Russian occupation. Lazlo explained that this could be credited to Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was Hungarian, and was once married to the owner of the Hilton hotels. She managed to convince the government to sell this piece of land to her husband.
During the construction of the hotel, the remains of a Dominican Abbey were discovered during the renovation of the building, and many of the features were incorporated into the present day building.
The hotel decided to keep these artifacts as part of the building which now consists of old as well as new construction, honoring the origins of the building.
Across the street from the hotel stands a statue of who appears to be Pope Innocent, although I can't be sure.
Walking back to the bus, I couldn't resist taking one more photo of this unique building.
We boarded the bus for the trip back to the ship, and Marty and I enjoyed lunch with a Hungarian theme.
Well, Marty actually enjoyed the Hungarian food. I couldn't taste most of what was offered because it contained paprika, which, unfortunately, is an allergen for me. But Mohammed, the food coordinator on board, has been extremely attentive, and I can't seem to walk into the restaurant without him suddenly appearing and checking to be sure that the food is safe to eat. He certainly takes his job seriously!
After lunch, Marty and I headed to the Market Stalls, which is a huge venue stuffed with countless vendors selling their wares. But since today was Sunday, many of them were closed. But Marty and I enjoyed walking through and marveling at some of the unique Hungarian foods and creations.
Marty purchased a tube of Paprika paste. I'm not quite sure what his plans are for using that, but I might have to hire my own Mohammed to keep me safe when I get home!
From here we decided to check out the Hungarian museum, passing some unique statues along the way.
The architecture of the building reminded me of the British museum, only on a much smaller scale.
There was a special exhibit featuring Attila the Hun, but our time was limited so we just picked the normal museum admission. I had expected to see a wide range of history, but the one wing was closed for renovations, so anything from the 11th century forward was missing.
When we purchased the tickets, the woman pointed to a door and directed us there to begin our walk through the exhibit. But Marty noted that we were in the 10th century. That really didn't bother me in respect to looking at the artifacts, but Marty was insistent that we find the beginning, so we walked through the entire exhibit to year one before slowly making our way back to where we had entered.
A woman nearby heard Marty fussing about the confusion of the order, and she came over to tell us that she and her husband who were both from South Africa, had also been victims of the wrong order. She had wondered if it was a language misunderstanding, as had I. She was equally confused and we had quite a chuckle over it. They were really quite delightful.
So, Marty began studying the placards in the correct timely order, and I just kind of meandered about. The displays were really top notch, but I really didn't see much behind glass that piqued my interest. The cases were filled with artifacts that were dated from the 1st century forward.
I did take note of this jewelry from the 3rd century that had been found in Slovakia.
And there was some reference to the Romans, but not really much.
Honestly, I felt that I had learned much more from the tour guides whom I had been with the last two days. But Marty was enjoying himself immersing himself in the various collections, and I was fine with that.
But I did notice while I was waiting, that even more people walked through the exit door where we had been directed, so they, too, would be on the backwards path. But none seemed to really mind. I'm thinking that the ticket woman is not detailed oriented, or she just figured we wouldn't notice. Who knows?
We exited back out the door from when we had come, and took a quick peak at the hallway where the Attila the Hun collection was presented.
Pretty ornate, isn't it?
Actually, I think my most entertaining part of the museum was the lady's room. I walked in and was very confused at first.
Certainly wasn't expecting that!
We decided that it was time to return to the boat, where we had a lovely "sip and sail" hour before heading to the restaurant for dinner.
Then, around 9:00, the boat began to move out of the port. And I must say, it was definitely an awesome experience. The ship was playing a lovely melody as we slowly cruised by the array of lights reflected through the city.
Honestly, I have never experienced anything like. It truly was magical.
So now we are moving along the Danube throughout the night. Here's one bridge that we passed early on.
And there are scattered sites to see along the way. But I'm pretty sure that I should be sleeping instead of staring out at the horizon. So on that note, I'm going to call it a day.
Tomorrow should bring even more excitement.
I'll keep you posted!
