Budapest Day 3 Part one

 The first half of the day!

We each had a terrible night with both of us getting very poor sleep, and not much of that either!

We finally got up shortly after 5 AM. This time we made in to the hotel supplied breakfast. It was pretty good and we both ate quite a bit.

We took our first ride on the metro shortly after 8 AM, getting off at the parliament building for our previously purchased 9:15 AM tour.

Buda Castle (Palace) which we visited yesterday. Photo taken from near the Parliament building

 The Parliament tour is a “must” do and in 2018 it was TripAdvisors 10th most popular landmark in the world. The tour takes less than an hour however it is not a waste of money (I believe the tickets cost $95 for the two of us). The following are some photos from inside the building.

The photo immediately above is the royal crown (about 1000 years old).  I had to zoom for this photo as none are allowed when we stood near it as we listened to the story of the crown and the room it is located in,

Afterwards we walked the banks of the Danube pausing at the bronze shoes.These represent the Jewish victims of WW2; people who were lined up on the edge of the Danube, shot, and then disposed of in the river.

After crossing the chain bridge (and looking up at Buda Castle where we toured yesterday) we walked up to another high point nearby called Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church. It was a very long walk to get there and while we didn’t pay to walk the walls of the bastion, we did pay to enter the medieval church.

The photo above is Matthias church and the Bastion on the east side of the  river.

View back towards the parliament building

Some photos from inside the church

Around the Bastion and church the area is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We walked through it on our way to the metro station.

We took the metro to the area of Hero’s Square where we had wanted to have a meal yesterday. Upon leaving metro station we walked into the park there but soon left- we didn’t see any of the restaurants that are in the area. The photo below was taken inside the park

We decided to walk back to our hotel (probably two kilometres). We stopped at a couple places for snacks and water including one store called ”Caviar and More”. We were in the store to find the “more” .  I bought a Hungarian chocolate bar while Caro bought a bag of cheese flavoured mini bread sticks (which she really didn’t like that much).

As I write this it is 3 PM and we have walked 15,000 steps and 9,6 kilometres. Whew!, no wonder we are exhausted! Tonight is the Danube River cruise (part two of today’s blog)