Budapest

We arrived in Budapest very early this morning and were off the boat and on a city tour by 8:30 am. This place is beautiful. We started off on the Pest side of the town. The two sides of the town (Buda and Pest) are separated by the Danube River and there are about 7 bridges to cross from one side to the other, along the River. The many attractive buildings and parks are just lovely. The Hero’s Square is a huge area with 2 half circle structures with statues of the ‘brave’ in between every pillar (not unlike the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin). In the centre of the square is an obelisk with the angel Gabriel on top, and at the base are statues of men on horseback, but in the front and centre is King Stephen, the 1^st King of Hungary. After touring around the city seeing the HUGE Jewish Church and many of the Museums, we crossed the water over to the Buda side of town. Our stop here was at the Castle Area which is set high on a hill overlooking the water.  Here there is a huge Church, the Matthias Church, with an unusual coloured/patterned roof. Also up here is the Fisherman’s Bastion where the views over the water and city are spectacular. Right opposite this area, across the River, is the Fabulous Parliament Building. It is sure something to behold!! Nearby to the Parliament Building is the famous “Chain Bridge”, the oldest of the bridges, dating back to 1849.

We had intended to stay in town and wander round the place, but mid morning the temperature got to around 30 and we would have had to fill in 5 hours in the city. We chose to stay on the boat and we are glad that we did.  The views of the City as we sailed out of the town were just lovely.  There are so many grand buildings. We really enjoyed our trip today. It seems that the scenery is getting more interesting along the River now.

 Heroes Square

 Matthias Church

 View from Castle Hill

 Lots of River boats here

 A real "Water Bus"

 Parliament