Yesterday we were in Slovakia. Today, Hungary. That’s how it goes when you’re cruisin’ down the Danube. Budapest, with its massive parliament building dominating the view, is an impressive destination when arriving by boat.
We have just one day to spend in Budapest. That’s the thing about river cruising – we’ll see a lot of neat places. And some of those places, like a few on this cruise, we’d probably never see any other way.
But our time in any one place is short. We can get a taste for a city, maybe experience it enough to know if we’ll want to come back someday. That’s about it. But I’m not complaining!
Half-Day City Tour
Our visit started with a half-day tour of the city. Budapest is the result of the merger of three cities: Buda, Óbuda, and Pest. They used to call it Pest-Buda, but for some reason, they switched it around and proclaimed Budapest to be the official name. (Hungarians pronounce it “Buda-pesht”).
We crossed the Chain Bridge to the “Buda” side of Budapest. The Castle District is in Buda. How many cities have a “Castle District”?
Historic buildings in this area are impressive, but the highlight for me was the view from Fisherman’s Bastion, on Castle Hill. Fisherman’s Bastion’s seven towers are part of the 17th-century wall built to protect Buda.
Back on the Pest side, we drove past the Széchenyi Thermal Bath – Budapest’s famous bath house. Hot water flows up from artesian wells deep under Budapest. The water is full of minerals, and is supposed to be good for what ails you.
Just Your Average Lunch
At the end of the tour, we stopped at a rather fancy place for lunch. We were a little out of our league here. It was OK, though. We weren’t alone in that respect.
Our hosts seated us as a group in a large, elegant room. Numerous servers appeared in white dinner jackets. Our meals, each hidden under a sparkling silver dome, were rolled out on stylish carts.
Our meals, still under silver domes, were placed in front of each of us. When the critical moment arrived, servers raised the silver domes with a dramatic flourish in perfect unison.
Wow. It was a dining service ballet. And this was just lunch. I wonder what they do for dinner?
Corny? Perhaps. But I still remember it vividly. Just don’t ask me what we had for lunch. My guess is that whatever it was, it was very good.
Budapest’s Café Culture
After lunch we were free to explore Budapest on our own. We found a pedestrian zone full of shops and cafés. Budapest seems to have a café culture similar to what we found in Vienna.
And like Vienna, Budapest has its share of well-known cafés. We walked past one called Café Gerbeaud. Its large outside dining area was filled with people sipping coffee and nibbling on Hungarian delicacies. Very upscale.
We returned to the boat liking Budapest very much. It’s such an interesting place. I could easily spend more time here, but we’re on the move. Next stop: Belgrade.
To be continued…
Beautiful photo Budapest’s Parliament Building at Night. Credit: jon chica parada/istockphoto
