As this is the final blog from our cruise on the MS AmaReina it must be time to record just how fabulous the food has been on the ship. Our recommendation to anyone considering the cruise is to lose a few kilos before you go. The bread has been out of this world. You just can't resist it! Baked by chef each day on the ship. Well maybe he even bakes twice a day! The bread is always warm and there is such a variety of little buns etc. The pastries are baked on the ship each day as well. We have had a few pastries, but resisted the temptation most of the time.

For our Budapest excursion we chose the option for the full day. We will worry about the packing tonight! We berthed at a pontoon just off an island, about an hours travel by coach from Budapest. Szentendre Island has the 'Bodor Major' horse farm on it and the excursion to the farm included lunch, after which we travelled by coach to Budapest. In Budapest there was a town tour to the Opera House and the 'Castle' area of the city. Our guides name today was Laszlo.

We were warned by Cherie that the farm experience would be nothing like a farm in Australia. Well she was certainly right with that fact! We were picked up at 9.00am by a number of horse drawn wagons and taken to the horse farm that has a few other animals. The animals were very much domestic and were in nice big cages and yards. So a nice experience for people from the city. We just drove around the group of yards in our carriages. We were given a tour of the wagon museum and horse stables, which was a new addition to the farm last year. The family enterprise provides riding lessons for children and as it is school holidays in Europe, there were a number of children having their lesson. They come and stay for the week.

We were then taken to the hospitality area of this Hungarian Tourism complex. It is also a venue for parties and weddings and the Hungarians do like to party and dance. There was a three piece band playing and we were offered strawberry wine, pizza and gluten free scones for morning tea. There was a large covered area where Artisan people from the area had set up their stalls to attract the 'tourist dollar'. Some did fairly well too I think. We purchased four bird calling whistles. One for each family of grandies. That lady did a roaring trade.

Then it was over to another structure with tiered seating and a large sandy arena at the front. The show was about to begin. It was okay. The blokes who had picked us up with the horse carriages, now put on a show of horsemanship through the ages. Some of the wagons from the Museum were used in the show. Audience participation here and there, added a bit more interest. It wasn't hard to guess that Kat would put her hand up to ride the little historic wagon pulled by the donkey! Her Dr husband is always telling her to quieten down. They have two children 10 and 12 being looked after by Kat's mother back in Brisbane.

Lunch of beef goulash, followed by apple strudel and a glass of wine, was served after the show. The waiters and waitresses were in traditional costume and there was some more music to enjoy. By then we were ready for the bus and a little snooze on the way to Budapest. Our blue bus had broken down, so we were in the half, that found a seat on the yellow bus. When we finished the tour of the opera house, they had found us another bus and we were back with our own guide. Bit messy, but it did get us to Budapest.

The yellow bus guide provided us with some Budapest info during the last 20 minutes of the journey. We had a quick stop at 'Heroes Square' where we just had time to take a few photos before getting us all across the busy road and back on the bus. The 'Heroes Square' is one of the most visited sights of Budapest and is situated in front of the city park, at the end of Grand Avenue. The 'Millennium Monument' was in the Square and the Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery were close by.

Obviously we needed to be at the 'Opera House' by a certain time for our guided tour. Each group had a different guide again and the young lass we had was very good. Added a bit of humour here and there and changed the tone of voice when it was appropriate. To conclude our tour all the groups were asked to wait on the steps leading up to the theatre. We were given champagne or orange juice and then to our surprise, a male opera singer appeared on the balcony above. We were treated to three short songs. He had a few props to assist with the performance.
 
Now for the last part of our tour. It was a visit to the 'Castle District' on the Buda side of the Danube. Now this was definitely the highlight of the tour. There were some exclamations from passengers when 'The Castle' area came into view and we started driving up the hill. 'The Castle' area is situated on Buda Hill and is a major tourist attraction. Tourist buses actually have to book to go up there. We were coach 146 for the day. The 'Castle District' is 1.5 km long and 600 metres wide, significant areas are the so-called Royal Palace, Mathias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

We only had an hour up there, but it was long enough to enjoy the view over to the 'Pest' side of Budapest and the Danube River, from the 'Fishermen's Bastion'. I have looked up about this 'Buda' and 'Pest' and it all seems far too complicated. Put simply it seems 'Buda' was the city on the west side of the Danube and 'Pest' was on the other side and the two cities united in 1873.

Then it was back to the MS AmaReina for a pre-dinner drink, where we were entertained with some Hungarian dancing. We dined on our final evening on the ship, with Nevill and Robyn, the couple who we had dined with on our first night of the tour in Paris. They were actually in the cabin alongside us on the ship.

Finally we donned a jacket and went up to the sun deck for the cruise of the Danube at night. It was a shame it was so cold, but plenty of passengers took advantage of the blanket box, Peter included, and stayed on the deck to enjoy the spectacular lights of Budapest from the Danube River. We have not had the warm weather that we thought we would experience on the cruise, but it has been a fabulous 15 days of cruising the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers. Not forgetting the RMD Canal.

Some Hungarian facts: The country s 92,000 square kilometres in size, has a population of 10.1 million and the population of Budapest is 1.72 million. The currency is Hungarian Forint (HUF). Approximately 214 forint to an Australian dollar and 1 eur is 310 forints. Hungary is a land-locked nation, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The Danube River flows in an easterly direction from Austria until it reaches the so-called Danube Bend region, where it makes a sharp turn south and flows through Budapest. It continues south until it reaches Croatia and Serbia, eventually flowing into the Black Sea. Lake Balaton is referred to as the 'Hungarian Sea' and this is where people from the entire country flock in the summer to bathe in the lake's warm waters.