I definitely need to return to Budapest. We had most of a day here and I think I needed at least a week. The weather was spectacular too- still on the warm side, but clear blue skies and low humidity.
The view out my cabin window. Those on the other side of the ship (starboard side) looked into another ship. We had to cross over two others this morning in order to reach the shore. That's actually a really fascinating thing. And one of them had a light-changing hot tub on the sundeck!
As we headed out for excursions, we could see the green bridge, making our dock slip very easy to locate. The city of Budapest originally was two cities--Buda and Pest--joined together in 1873 and today linked by eight bridges. The Buda side has the scenic hills and the historic Castle Quarter (the old Castle Palace today is the National Gallery and National Library), the Pest side has the wide boulevards, the famous St. Stephen's Basilica, Parliament, and contemporary monuments and museums.
I was on the morning tour of "Living Local." Our first stop was the Great Market Hall. I love markets!!! And what a spectacular building.
And it didn't disappoint. Amazing local vendors everywhere, a dazzling feast for the eyes. We had a bit of free time, but the things I knew I wanted I didn't want to carry around all day. But, since the market was a five-minute walk from the ship, I knew I could do it later. I did, however, use the ATM, and very quickly realized that I hit the wrong button (or did a very poor conversion?) and would have a fair amount of shopping to do this day in order to spend all my forint.
Paprika! Of course this was on my shopping list for Hungary.
Our second stop was The Strudel House.
Here, we learned strudel making and the difference between Austrian and Hungarian strudel. We then had a hands-on lesson, and then got to eat! So much fun!! Sadly, I don't have those photos. But, in short, one of those "loaves" of pastry is stretched to more-than-cover a table that easily seats six. The dough is incredibly soft and flexible; I know, because only three on the tour wanted to do hands-on and they needed four, and I'm not going to leave that space open if no one wants it.... You move your hands from the center out and the dough just flows with you. Once it's stretched, you test it; if you can read the newspaper through it and if it "floats" on the table, it's right. Then it gets filled and folded. The fruit filling we used was fresh apple with cinnamon and sugar; this gets spread all across the dough (1/2 the table). The savory was a sweet cheese, and this one only gets one long line along the edge. Sunflower oil goes across the top before folding the dough, and semolina gets sprinkled on the fillings to absorb any liquid. They bake for 10-15 minutes. And oh my, I don't know which I liked better!
Did you know? Turkish baclava is an ancestor of Hungarian strudel.
And I won't leave you hanging--the difference is the thickness of the dough: you can't read through the Austrian strudel dough but you can through the Hungarian. I had strudel in Vienna too, and I do have a preference....
We then walked through beautiful pedestrian streets admiring the amazing façades and beautiful architecture. Then we picked up a bus for a bit of a city tour.
This is Heroes Square, one of the UNESCO sites in the city. It marks the seven chieftains of the 9th century who led the Carpathian revolt. The Archangel Gabriel is here too. There was also something about work, war, peace, and knowledge. I wonder if I'm not missing three themes to match the chieftains? I'm sure I could look it up.
Several big museums are nearby, including the Hungarian National Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. There was some construction underway, but I knew that didn't matter as I didn't have time for museum-ing on this trip. Boo, but one reason to go back....
We also passed the Zoo, which has a number of buildings designed by Gustav Eiffel, of the Paris tower fame. And many many spas! Apparently there are lots of thermal springs, and we learned of one pool that holds chess matches too. And the zoo animals bathe in thermal water and drink mineral water, or so we were told. Probably true. And there was great public transportation too, including buses, trams, subway, city bikes, and Europe's first riverbus (think of the ducks, but with a bus).
Some of our group did a local highlights tour in the morning and some did a Jewish Interest tour. That afternoon, we had another local highlights tour option. Lunch and dinner were available on the ship, but people could opt to stay in town; we didn't leave until 9p. Some did cross the river to the Buda side and climbed the hill- the photos were spectacular! I, suffering from a horrible headache, went back to the ship, not to eat lunch but to lock myself in a dark room for a while.
But I had money to spend, so eventually off I went, past the market and in search of the pedestrian streets. I wasn't very hungry, but figured I'd find a snack on the way. But first, I found the leather goods store one of the tour directors had told me about. Good thing I had cash because that's all they took! Then I found an amber store, a really beautiful amber store. Yes, that was trouble.
I wandered for a while, just looking at architecture and watching people, and finding small local artisan shops. I hit the market on the way back to the ship, for paprika and Tokaji. I was a good supporter of the local economy, then called it a day, having to do some laundry and write double invitations for the next day. Plus, my head still hurt.
One ship left so we only needed to cross over one in order to get to ours.
And after dinner, Captain became everyone's favorite with the Budapest-at-Night tour. He loves to do it; apparently many captains don't. This is Parliament. The neo-gothic construction boasts 365 towers (one for every day of the year!) and nearly 20 kilometers of stairs inside. It is the largest building in the city. And, I think it's one that you see on those ads on Masterpiece.....
This was so beautiful, really spectacular, and such a treat. I wish it could have lasted. After, everything went a little haywire. While the last missing bag was finally in hand, we had some troubling issues to handle, including a broken lock just up the river. A barge hit it, and it had to be drained to effect repairs. The Danube was really low so there was concern about refilling it. We had another dock secured partway up the river, and buses coming to take us to Bratislava, but that still meant some schedule disruptions. And then we'd have to wait to see what Captain learned from the harbormaster.
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