Day 15 & 16 Budapest / Paris

Day 15 (Monday, July 31), the final day of our Viking Grand European Tour, and Day 16, travel to Paris. 

Our ship approached Budapest before breakfast, passing the landmark Hungarian Parliament Building as we approached our city center dock next to the Liberty Bridge. Across the bridge is the Gellért Thermal Bath and one block from our ship is the Great Market Hall, both on our list of places to visit. Towering over us is Lady Liberty at the top of Gellért Hill at the Budapest Citadel.

Hungarian Parliament Building

Liberty Bridge and Gellért Thermal Bath

Lady Liberty atop Gellért Hill 

Budapest was formed in 1873 after the unification of Buda (west side of the Danube), Óbuda (Old Buda) and Pest (east side of the Danube) and is pronounced “boo-duh-pesht." Budapest is a modern city of 1.8 million, with great public transit and 40 colleges and universities. It's a popular tourist destination, with sights such as the Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, the Chain Bridge, St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Opera House, Dohany street Synagogue (2nd largest in the world), as well as the previously mentioned landmarks. We definitely needed more time to explore Budapest, but we managed to pack the day with fun activities, sightseeing and food.

We started the morning with a bus and walking tour called "Panoramic Budapest." 

View of Buda (west of Danube); Matthias Church & Fisherman's Bastion on Castle Hill in background

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial erected in 2005 on the Danube to honour the Jews who were massacred by Hungarian militia during WWII. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable) and were shot at the edge of the Danube so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents the shoes left behind on the bank.

The Chain Bridge with Buda Castle and funicular in background

The Chain Bridge

Our tour guide István (Stephen)

Monument to Mazeart, a tribute to the Hungarians who fought in the 1848-49 war of independence against Austria

Monument of King Stephen at Fisherman's Bastion

Parliament from Fisherman's Bastion

Fisherman's Bastion

National Archives of Hungary

Next we toured Matthias Church, a Roman Catholic church named after King Mathias Corvinus, located in front of the Fisherman's Bastion at the heart of Buda's Castle District. The original church was built here in 1015, while the current building was constructed in late-Gothic style in the second half of the 14th century and was extensively restored in the late 19th century.

Matthias Church

Matthias Church

Matthias Church

Matthias Church

We did a bit more exploring in Buda, walked down to the Danube river and hopped on a tram to Óbuda (Old Buda) for lunch at Kéhli Vendéglő, a small local restaurant recommended by my GM friend and colleague Krisztina Gilezan. Krisztina grew up in this neighborhood and she provided us tips for what to see throughout our stay in Budapest. 

Great public transit throughout Budapest

Kéhli Vendéglő restaurant in Old Buda

Hungarian version of Wiener Schnitzel (delicious)

Kéhli Vendéglő restaurant

We hopped back on the tram and visited Gellért Thermal Baths. Budapest has a dozen thermal baths, fed by over 100 hot springs in the area. The Gellért Baths complex includes several thermal baths, fed from Gellért Hill's mineral hot springs, swimming pools, saunas and steam rooms. Gellért Baths was built in 1918 in Art Nouveau style. It was damaged during World War II but then rebuilt. References to earlier healing baths and a hospital on this site date back to the middle ages.

Gellért Baths

Gellért Baths

On the way back to our ship, we stopped in the Great Market Hall, a large indoor shopping and dining complex built in 1897, located at the end of the famous pedestrian shopping street, near the Pest end of Liberty Bridge.

Great Market Hall, Budapest

We returned to the ship for a farewell toast from the crew, exchanged hugs with the many friends we made on board and enjoyed our final dinner onboard before disembarking the following morning (Tuesday 8/1). But first, we enjoyed the city lights of Budapest on the open-air top deck.

Lady Liberty on Gellért Hill

Budapest sunset looking north on the Danube

Liberty Bridge and Gellért Baths with lots of boat traffic on the Danube

Another view looking north towards the Elisabeth bridge on the Danube

Tuesday, August 1, was a travel day, leaving our stateroom at 8:00 am and heading to the airport for a relatevely short afternoon flight to Paris. We're staying two nights in Paris and already found a nice sushi restaurant for tonight's "light" sushi dinner.


Tomorrow (Wednesday, 8/2) will be a relatively quiet day in Paris, probably visiting a certain tower and maybe a museum or two.

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