Eastern Europe - Day Six

This is our last full day in Budapest. We are supposed to be moving on to the boat today but there is a breakdown of the locks between Budapest and Bratislava, Slovakia so the itinerary is being changed. Instead we are being put up into another hotel here tonight. Then we will get in a coach tomorrow, have a short tour of Budapest, drive on in the afternoon to Bratislava, and move on to the boat.

After getting everything packed up, we check out of the hotel and head off to the opposite side of the river, the Buda side. Whereas Pest is flat and on a plain, Buda is hilly with bluffs overlooking the river. We have been so lucky with the weather. They keep predicting rain and we keep having nice days. We cross over the Chain Bridge (looks like a miniature version of the Brooklyn Bridge) and go up to the Buda Castle above. Everyone else took the funicular but I took advantage of the opportunity and decided to climb up.

After touring the castle grounds for a while, AinA and I decided to break off from the rest. We were in the mood for a relaxing lunch and everyone else wanted to push on to see more sites. AinA and I had a nice light lunch with couple of glasses of nice Hungarian rosé. Then we walked down the hill back to Pest and picked up a couple of other sites we had not seen including the Opera and the historic main Synagogue. The latter was immense and looked like a middle eastern building with a large courtyard and dome on the end of the main sanctuary. We didn’t go in but may have a chance tomorrow as it is on the mini-tour we have with cruise line.

We met up with Wife, Al and Sandy around 3 PM. AinA said her goodbyes and caught a cab to the airport while we caught a cab to our interim hotel, a new modern Hilton. We get oriented tonight (here are the sides of the ship – if you go beyond the railing – you fall in the water and drown) and start the cruise adventure tomorrow.

Pictures

The Chain Bridge

Parliament seen from Buda Castle

The Synagogue