We have seen a lot of old on this trip and it’s true to say there may have been some talk of ABC from the people on the boat. Another Bloody Castle.

Not so with Budapest. We sailed in at 10am to a collective gasp.

The place is stunning.

Population about 1.8million, capital of Hungary and the largest city on the Danube River. We didn’t realise this until recently but Budapest is broken into two sides. Buda is on the left side, the hilly side (as you sail in from Amsterdam way of course), and Pest is on the right side, the flat side. In 1849 the Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube. In 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), creating the new metropolis of Budapest. Two thirds of the population live in Pest and Buda is deemed the ‘fancy side’.

There is a saying that two types of people live in Budapest, the ones who live in Buda and the ones who want to live in Buda.

Once we docked we thought we would take a little walk over to the famous Great Market Hall. Nagyvásárcsarnok is the largest and oldest Market in Budapest. We were not disappointed.

Then it was back to the boat for our last lunch. We are disembarking tomorrow.

After lunch we had the choice of a tour to the castle via the Funicular or a city tour. We decided on the city tour given we have been on the Funicular in Wellington. You’ve ridden one you’ve ridden them all right? And we might walk to the castle tomorrow.

We got on the bus with high expectations of a probable 1 to 1.5 hour tour only to be told we would be driving around the city for 4 hours…..a collective sigh from the whole bus.

Turns out we could get off at our second stop and walk back to the boat if we wanted. Which we did.

In the meantime our guide Andrea, or was it Adrian 🤨 was very informative. Let’s call her Andrea.

Being a born and raised in Budapest girl, she had an excellent knowledge of the area. Which always helps of course.

They have had a pretty horrid time here. Focal point of the Hungarian Revolution in 1848, two World Wars, the Battle of Budapest in 1945 and the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

She was very clear that the problems with the Nazis were not with the Germans but with the Hungarian Nazis and how much the Hungarians hated the Communist regime.

The Communists were very keen on their statues and after they left (about 1989) some 220 statues were removed from the city and taken to Memento Park. Where communist statues go to die.

This museum has Terror embedded into it, when the sun hits it, Terror is reflected on the ground. Gives an indication of what the Hungarians must have felt through their history.

We went to Heroes Square, commemorating all the Hungarians who had worked towards peace in Hungary, regardless of which uprising or war they were in. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which does not have anyone buried in it, is located there as a memorial.

Andrea told us Budapest has 18 Michelin plated restaurants. That Roman Catholics make up 72% of the population, Protestants 27% and the remaining 1% are mixed. That the city has 70 million litres of geo thermal water under the city. There are 120 hot springs and 20 spa’s.

There is an old tradition to check if a bride was truly a virgin. Put two drops of hot thermal water into the nose of the prospective bride and if she sneezed three times she was truly a virgin. Of course! Well that must be true then. Might be best for the bride-to-be to practice her sneezing.

Erno Rubik inventor of the Rubik’s cube was born in Budapest.

After we left our guide, we wandered around the city before making our way back to the boat for our last night.

Here are some photos or our wandering.

And then of course there were the statues, which I just loved…..

On the boat we partook of our last fifteen course evening meal, I exaggerate of course. But only just a little…….a night of boat trivia, which MoD, Ann, Brian and Julie came a draw in, and then off to bed.

We disembark tomorrow at 9am and will be sad to go but look forward to two days in Budapest to explore. As you should too, because I shall inundate you with many photos.

Before I go here is a little story about beer and saying Cheers. They never say Cheers here when drinking beer, in fact for 150 years there was a law against doing just that. In 1848 Austrian cannons were fired onto Budapest in a siege which resulted in a reign of terror, death and destruction. To celebrate the takeover, apparently the Austrian army drank beer and clinked their glasses together. This was seen by the Hungarians as drinking to the death of the Hungarian people. And even though the 150 years has passed, Andrea told us the community still holds to the tradition of not saying Cheers. But only with beer. It’s ok with wine or spirits.

Good night!