Jet lag really got to us. I was awake several times in the night and would start listening to a podcast, only to fall asleep and miss most of each different podcast; Caro said she was awake for quite a while in the middle of the night.
Having said that, I didn’t wake up until 9:20 and Caro woke up at 10:20!
We missed the hotel supplied breakfast however the staff did manage to find a couple of small pastries each for us.
We were out the front door at 11 AM for the first of our 18,400 steps covering 11.6 km’s today,
We made our way down to the Danube river, stopping first at the famous Central market.
We walked across the Petofi bridge into the “Pest” side of town.
Walking along the river bank promenade we enjoyed the views of this famous river.We saw quite a few river cruise boats tied up to the river banks, thus allowing their passengers to spend the day walking in this beautiful city.
Lunch was at a cafe close to the river. It was so hot today that we were drinking beer by 1 PM.
We tried a goulash soup. It was excellent
The soup, two beer and two bottled water plus tip was about $40.Worth the money in our books!
Our major (and longest) stop of the day was Buda Castle.
We had heard this was a “must” visit and it lived up to its reputation. This palace was rebuilt after being destroyed in WW2 and by the looks of all the information inside the building and grounds it has been a very important part of Hungarian history. The last (unexpected) Austro-Hungarian emperor was crowned here in 1916 (the original crown prince being assassinated in 1914 thus beginning WW1 in 1914).
I didn’t take a lot of photos inside the building except this spectacular room (I “think”it was the tea room)
The views of the Danube and the “Pest” side of the city were spectacular.
I copied a photo from Wikipedia showing the chain bridge (shown in the photos above) and the castle/palace at the end of WW2
It was getting late in the afternoon by now and we started walking to an area known for its restaurants, however after a solid km or two and only half way there we stopped at a tree lined pedestrian block full of outdoor cafe’s.
We hit the jackpot with a great little place for good food and great waiters!
We had another beer each and started with a typical Hungarian dish of red wine flavoured beef stew, with dumplings. It was really good and got even better when Caro ordered some hot sauce which turned out to be a typical sauce of paprika and tomato’s. The paprika is much more tasty than the kind we get at home.
Upon completion of the meal we asked for our bill.The waiter brought it to us and stated that it was now “happy hour” so he would bring us another couple beers “on the house”.
Well , “OK” by us (!) so we enjoyed another round
We had originally planned to get dessert at some street food place on our walk back to the hotel but the waiter was so good we decided to stay and had a speciality of Hungary called (in English) Gundel crepes.
Yummy,Yummy!
We were back at the hotel shortly after 7PM. We have an early day tomorrow.
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