Budapest - the end of the Danube River Cruise

Prior to our final formal meal with Rosa and Cambria

We got to Budapest in the early hours of a misty morning and our Tour Organiser had asked anyone interested to join her on deck as she described the way into her home city. It was freezing but beautiful!!

First we had trips to do with the boat. We both went on a "Do as the Locals Do" trip with a great guide showing us the markets, the underground and other sights we`d not have picked up on our own in the back streets.

Budapest too has party activists called "Momentum". All the political party campaigners were dressed in party colours at stands around markets and metros for the upcoming election.

Market

Street sculptures abound in Budapest

                                        The Little Princess

Easter market

Sue then went on a free trip she had won with Rosa. They took in a tram side  gypsy music, ant art shop visit and other chances to meet up with locals whilst I walked down to see the incredibly moving  Shoes Sculpture on the banks of the Danube.

 The Shoes are a sculpture dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Arrow Cross Militiamen who shot them on the banks of the Danube in 1944/45. They got them to line up 3/4 deep and then shot aiming to kill / maim as many as possible with the same bullet and  then watched them drown in the Danube. They`d first removed their shoes to be sold hence the shoes left behind as the theme. Very moving.

As a last night treat the captain declared he was moving the boat to see  Budapest lit up at night. There was an early panic when all was in darkness due to Earth Hour but after 10 minutes or so the lights came on! Fantastic!

Our river cruise included a couple of nights in a Budapest hotel at the end and it was a great way to see the parts of Budapest we had missed on a previous trip. A transfer took us to our lovely hotel in the centre. Only thing was that we had both developed poorly chests by this stage  and Sue was  quite ill. This slowed our plans, meant a little walkabout for me on my own and made us miss one plan to go to one of the baths - maybe next time! We still managed to do loads - starting with a tour of the parliament building.

Next was the Synagogue and Jewish Museum

                                                 Mass graves in the courtyard

This silver memorial tree was stunning with leaves  with names commemorating the Jewish dead.

 The Easter market was worth another visit

High calorie snack!

 Of course the tearoom had to get a visit

We toured the underground and the statues

Met some friendly Scots here for the friendly with Hungary. Took the P*** something terrible until realising I was a Geordie and not really English! As they said " A Geordie is just a Scot with his brains pissed out! "

One of my favourite places was our trip to see the ruin bars and these shots are from the first and most famous one Szimpla Kert. These were ramshackle , ruined areas that the government encouraged entrepreneurs to do up as tourist / young peoples bars. They are full of bits and pieces / junk that make them par retro part junk shop with beer! Great fun.

An old Trabant

Then all too soon it was time to get a flight home. This time no delays or bad weather. The Pod ran smoothly from Terminal 5 to our hotel - great fun.

Hard to say what I`ll remember most of this trip. Vienna was stunning, Bratislava was surprising, Budapest as lovely as ever and the ship was pure  luxury. The thing that will probably stand out most though was my first ever fine for travelling without a ticket on the Budapest underground which cost me the princely fine of 8000 Hfts or around £22.50. Of course we had plenty of tickets - Sue had bought a set of 10 which she kept in her bag and handed me mine as I needed it which I promptly used and then threw away to avoid confusion each time. Unfortunately Sue had not done the same on her free trip the day before! We now know that when you use the tram the ticket is stamped rather than torn on the edge as in the underground. Thus when Sue handed me a used tram ticket from the day before to use it went in to the machine to be nibbled as usual on the underground. Only when stopped by 3 inspectors at the main station to be told it was double stamped did we realise our mistake. In typical eastern European style there were no 2nd chances. On the spot fine that doubled if I could not pay there and then and ID requested. I decided it was safer to pay but will always wonder if, in the words of a Scot I was recounting the warning tale to, I should have replied "Up yours and been offski". I have the receipt as a souvenir.