Our Final Day in Budapest

Saturday, June 08, 2019
Budapest, Hungary
Today we continue exploring Budapest with a group of about 25 and a guide provided by the cruise ship. The bus drove past some of the sights we explored yesterday on the Pest side of the river, then over the Elizabeth Bridge, named after the Queen of Austria/Hungary, to the Buda side. While the Hungarians resisted the Austrian Habsburgs, they liked Elizabeth because she lived in Budapest and learned Hungarian. The guide was a Hungarian who had married an American while working for a time in the US and spoke perfect English.  His knowledge of the landmarks and Hungarian history, as well as his sense of humor provided an informative and enjoyable excursion.  We stopped near the Citadel on a bluff with a spectacular view of the Pest side of the city.  The citadel is an imposing concrete structure with a statue of a winged woman on top.  It was built by the Soviet Union to keep watch over the city.  Our guide remarked that it was the only citadel built not to protect a city, but to destroy it!  The Hungarians have removed most of the Soviet symbols and statues, but retained this one renaming it “Liberty.” As our guide joked, the others have been saved in a memorial park outside of town just in case the Soviets return. 
We proceeded to Castle Hill where there still exists several blocks of completely destroyed buildings; the exterior of the former palace of the monarch has been rebuilt, but its interior is still empty.  The President's residence and offices have been rebuilt, looking formal with military style guards posted on either side of the door (although their rifles are fake, as guns are not allowed in Hungary).   We were precluded from entering the Matthias church because a wedding was scheduled, but we marveled at the traditional Cossack style attire (swords included!) of the groom and groomsmen as he met the guests at the door.  In the courtyard is a huge statue of St. Stephens on horseback with a gold crown. Before the Catholic religion became the official religion of Hungary, the Germans said they may need to “visit” Hungary if they didn’t convert. Realizing that was not going to be a good thing, in a short period of time Stephens converted the pagan population to Catholicism.  He succeeded in converting (however not without bloodshed) the people within the six years the Germans allowed, so he was honored for saving the country and became both a Saint and King on 1/1/1,000.
The Matthias church was destroyed in WW II and latter rebuilt, and there are still bullet holes visible of the outside walls of the Church. Like the buildings on Capital Hill, almost all were destroyed and are slowly being rebuilt following historical plans and photos. We climbed the stairs in the Fisherman’s Bastion, an outlook built on the edge of the plateau above the river.  The structure is white stone with turrets and provides a great view spot overlooking the river.  Re-boarding the tour bus, we motored back to the dock to have lunch aboard the Ama Lea.  With a bit of time to spare before our “All Aboard” we walked over the Elizabeth bridge and hiked up to the statue of St.Gerard, who helped Stephen convert the pagans to Christianity, for one last view of the Danube and Pest side. Since we would be cruising to Bratislava tonight, we used the last of our Hungarian HUFs on cool drinks at the little bar on the dock and boarded our ship to make ready for departure.  
After another delicious dinner our ship set sail up the Danube.  As we passed through Budapest at sunset, the lights came on illuminating the main buildings of this beautiful city.  We will cruise overnight to Bratislava, Slovakia.
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Comments

Brad Willis
2019-06-10

How's the cuisine? Love you!

Lisa Mortensen
2019-06-10

Love the travelogue. Sounds like a wonderful trip and you make it so interesting. Thanks for keeping me in the loop. Look forward to the next update. Enjoy!

Laura Plumb
2019-06-11

Thanks for the updates and the photos. It looks beautiful! Wishing you safe and joful travels. xo

Val
2019-06-16

Finally got a chance to catch up with your travels. Wonderful history and beautiful photos. Love you. Happy cruising

2025-02-06

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