Budapest: along the waterfront

Yes, that's the fabulous Hungarian Parliament complex (Országház in Hungarian), the highlight of all those Viking commercials you see on PBS.

We saw it from the river as we sailed into Budapest Thursday morning, and then got various glimpses of it throughout the day. The shot above was taken during a stroll along the riverbank in Buda (the Parliament is in Pest) as the sun was starting to get low behind us. I'll show you more highlights from that side of the river in a bit.

After our great morning tour and a nourishing lunch aboard Tor, we struck off along the Pest side of the Danube, with these lovely landmark buildings as our destination. The walk was most enjoyable, with many great sights on offer in addition to Parliament (including this whimsical tourboat). But these buildings, and the scenic and sobering square behind them, were the highlights.

Here's another shot with details of this stunning architecture, that reminded me, not surprisingly, of other Parliament buildings in another great European city...

The views of the buildings from the river side are the most famous, but we found the backside to be just as photogenic, especially given the landscaping of Kossuth Lajos tér/Kossuth Square...

There are several memorials and other pieces of public art in and around this enormous square...

memorial to István Tisza, a 19th century
Hungarian statesman

clever statue honoring Attila József,
a 20th centuryHungarian poet

The most moving of the memorials, possibly because it commemorates an event that I can remember as something of a real-life horror story from my childhood, is the monument to the failed 1956 revolution against Soviet control. If we'd been there a few weeks later, we'd have seen quite a commemoration. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the museum that lies at the foot of these stairs...

Other sights of interest around the square are some more beautiful buildings, in addition to the Parliament. Like the Néprajzi Múzeum/Ethnographic Museum...

It's too bad we didn't have time to tour the insides of any of these fabulous buildings. Or ride the cute Budapest trolleys...

Back out along the river, there were lovely views on offer looking in almost any direction, but especially across the Danube to Buda's Castle District, where we'd just been that morning.

Mátyas Templom on Buda's hillside

Budavári Palota/Buda Castle, which we unfortunately didn't have time to see

There's another memorial right on the riverbank, too; a somber reminder of another sad chapter in 20th century Hungarian history...

"Shoes on the Danube" Holocaust Memorial

This plaque explains the purpose of the memorial; at this point in World War II, shoes were a valuable commodity. Before being shot, the Arrow Cross' Jewish victims had to remove them.

Some of our friends retired to the boat after returning from the Pest-walk, but Henry and I felt like more touring and walked a ways up the embankment on the Buda side of the Danube, too. 

Not only were we able to get the lovely late afternoon shot of the Parliament buildings from across the river, but we saw some other fine and funky sights, too.

I wish we'd had time to ride this funicular that's right next to the Buda terminus of the Chain Bridge; the one in Bergamo was so much "fun"...

We also saw, yes, another handsome church: Szilágyi Dezső Téri Református Templom/Szilágyi Dezső Square Reformed Church (it's in the foreground of the shot of Mátyas Templom above)...

Henry was very disappointed to find it closed, and I'm sure it would have been lovely inside, but I was about pooped out anyway and ready to go get ready for our last dinner on the boat. When we did return to home-sweet-Tor via the Chain Bridge, we were greeted by the afternoon sun gilding the external decor of the Four Seasons Hotel by the Pest bridge terminus, and right next to our dock...

I'm sure it's a lovely place to stay but I was quite happy with Tor as a residence for the past week. It was very sad to think about leaving her, especially since we had to get up around 3 the next morning to catch our bus to the airport for our flight home. I very much hope we can do another Viking cruise in 2019 or 2020.

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I hope you have enjoyed these accounts of our super-trip; when I began I had no idea it would take me until late February to complete them! It's been a labor of love, but, nonetheless, a labor, and I plan to take a brief hiatus from blogging before I return with more domestic tales and photos. I'll be back with a more sedate blogging schedule in a few weeks. Ciao!

Budapest: crossing the Danube in style

If having to pay high docking fees is one reason Viking cruises are so expensive, well, I would say it was worth every penny to be docked where we were in Budapest.

Yes, that's our lovely Tor, right next to the famous Széchenyi lánchíd/Chain Bridge. This slot makes all kinds of amazing Budapest sights within walking distance. And next time I'll show you what we saw on our afternoon stroll, but for now I want to focus on this and a couple more handsome bridges. (Here's a handy website that provides lots of information on the three bridges I'm featuring, plus all the rest here in Budapest.)

Of course bridges are necessary when a busy city is bisected by a large river, and they're great exemplars of civil engineering, but they don't have to be beautiful and distinctive. The fact that they often are is what makes them so fascinating to me. Even some of the engineering is worth snapping a picture of, like the Chain Bridge support cables above on the left.

Here's a look at most of this lovely bridge's span...

...a closeup of one of those sturdily beautiful arches...

...and a shot of one of its guardian lions...

Downstream is the Erzsébet híd/Elisabeth Bridge, one we wouldn't be sailing under, since the Chain Bridge dock was the final stop on our cruise. But this nice bridge and the hill behind it—Géllerthegy/Géllert Hill, with its monument—make for a pretty dramatic photo...

Upstream is a bridge that we did pass (and drove over during our guided tour), the lovely Margit híd/Margaret Bridge, second oldest after the Chain Bridge.

I was up on the sundeck as we approached Budapest Thursday morning, and so was able to snap this closeup showing details of this bridge's delicate decoration...

Yes, that sundeck was a great place for seeing bridge details as well as all kinds of other scenery. (I plan to go through my pictures again at some point and pick out a selection of great views from the boat to show you.)

But for now I'll close with another look at Tor and the Chain Bridge, just to emphasize what a great place that was to spend our last night in Europe:

Our Budapest tour: Buda

After riding around Pest and seeing some highlights on that side of the river, our faithful Viking tour bus climbed up the hills of Buda and its Castle District to the crown jewel you see above here: Mátyás Templom/Mattias Church. After all the [thousands of] churches we'd seen since arriving in Italy two weeks before, you'd think we'd be somewhat jaded by church architecture and decor. 

But this last big beauty was quite a treat. As you can see, its exterior is certainly gorgeous, very much fitting its commanding location on the heights of old Buda...

And take a look at this tiled roof! While not the first of this style that we'd seen, it was definitely a photogenic highlight...

It was hard to stop taking photos of these gorgeous, colorful tiles, especially since the bright sunlight really showed them off to best advantage.

A more whimsical decorative element, the raven atop one of the side steeples...

...was complemented by some of his flesh-and-blood cousins on the church steps...

The interior of the church was also most impressive, with both familiar and strikingly new decorative elements that sent us swooning. The main nave wasn't as high as some we'd seen, but every inch was richly decorated...

I've never seen columns decorated in this way

delicately lovely ceilings

riotously lovely decor everywhere!

lots of beautiful stained glass that was, perhaps, more conventional

and, yes! there was floor tile art!

This tourist-mecca-district is full of lots of other attractions, too, and we had some time to explore them on our own before meeting the bus to head back to the boat. Here is Nicolette, our guide, giving us a brief orientation to the area (note the Viking lollipop, for which she finds yet another use here):

Right next to the Mátyás Templom is the Halászbástya/Fisherman's Bastion, a great place to look out over the city...

This series of towers and walkways provides all kinds of great views of Buda down the hill and Pest across the river...

looking upstream at Szent Anna Templom/St. Ann's Church
and the Margit híd/Margit Bridge

through a Fisherman's Bastion arch...Országház/Parliament Building...
more pix of this later!

On another side of the church is Szentháromság tér/Holy Trinity Square, where this impressive statue is the centerpiece...

...while around on the other side is a reminder that this is still a bustling, modern city: a fancy hotel whose glass panels reflect the Halászbástya...

Other charming sights from our brief visit to Buda...

on the street leading to the church

an elegant "streetlight"

All too soon, we had to get back to the bus for our ride "home," although it was parked next to a pretty impressive sight as well: this portion of the old castle walls...

Next up, we head back down to river level and the bridges, buildings, and other sights on offer there.