Yesterday our river cruise ended although Viking is still paying for our two-night post-cruise stay at the Hilton Budapest City. It was a mixed feeling – sad that our adventure is winding down but glad that we will be finally flying home after 48 days away from home.
We took the included panoramic tour of Budapest after disembarking from the ship and before we checked in at our hotel.
Trini and I were in a European land tour in 2006 and one of the cities we visited was Budapest. We were amazed at how clean and crowded the city is now compared in 2006. I mentioned this to our pretty tour guide and she told me that tourism in Budapest had boomed and attracted millions of tourists from all over the world during the last ten years and continues to grow!
The weather was brisk and rain showers on and off but this did not detract the beauty of this former communist city.
Riverside beauty, a vibrant cultural scene and astounding 19th century architecture and romance blend together in Budapest to form one of Europe’s most rewarding cities. It straddles the banks of the Danube River, with traditional hilly Buda on one side and modern Pest on the other.
We immersed ourselves with the unique charm of Budapest while driving and strolling on both sides of the Danube. We stopped by the Heroes’ Square where we gawked at the iconic monuments commemorating the Magyar state where tourists were doing selfies to save this moment.
After driving around for a while it became apparent to me that the wide boulevards and the buildings’ striking façades resembled that of Paris, hence, this should be designated as Little Paris of East Europe.
The last leg of our city tour was a stop in the city center in Pest side where there was a huge Easter Fair where mouth-watering food were cooked right in front of you – pig’s knuckles, extra-large foie gras, super-long sausages made from various meats, pink large filleted salmons, different breads and pastries! It was difficult to decide where and what to eat.
After the tour, our buses took us to our hotel to check in – what a mob! There were about 190 of us that disembarked from Viking Lif and the same number who will be embarking on the same ship going the opposite itinerary that we just took.
After taking a long nap, Trini and I decided to walk back to the Easter Fair as I spotted a KFC there! It was past 7:00 pm and there were a lot of strollers like us. I took photos of St. Stephen’s Church – the largest in Budapest and the train station. On our way back we saw groups of young people sitting in park benches drinking beer (surprisingly, they were not boisterous). Very few stores where open since it was Good Friday which is considered a holiday here. Hungary is predominantly Roman Catholic.
Budapest must be in every traveler’s “bucket list” of places to visit. Two cities in one – you can’t beat that! We found Budapest to be much cheaper than Prague or Luxembourg. Even though the Hungarians do not speak very good English they are very warm and extremely helpful!
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