Sailing towards Margaret Island, we enjoyed the commentaries of Uwe leading us through the historically significant sights spanning both sides of the Danube. Budapest's prominence started early back in Roman time - the town of Aquincum founded around 89 AD on a Celtic settlement near what was later referred to as Obuda. Pest was founded by Kingdom of Hungary, invaded briefly by the Mongrols in the 13th century then conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Around that time, Buda was Turkish and Pest was recaptured by Austria's Hasburg rulers. Pest enjoyed more bustling commercial growth in the 18th & 19th century. The fusion of Buda, Obuda and Pest under a single administration was enacted in 1849 by the Hungarian revolutionary governments, though revoked under the Habsburg authority, in 1867 it was successfully effected by the Austro-Hungarian compromise. Now, it enjoys a status as a world class city (named #3 best city in the CEE) with over 1.7M inhabitants.
There are numerous famous bridges in Budapest - here we are passing the Margaret Bridge
Parliament building
Royal Palace
Famous Chain Bridge
View outside our cabin - Statute of Liberty or Freedom Statute on Gellert Hill 1947, she is holding up a palm leaf ( to commemorate Soviet's liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during WWII).
State Opera House
Heroes Square
Shoes on the Danube Promenade is a memorial to victims of the Holocaust. Between 20% to 40% of Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died in the genocide during WWII . Despite this, Budapest today has the highest number of Jewish citizens per capita of any European city.
View of Fisherman's Bastion from tour bus
Matthias Church built 1895-1902
Side church view with St. Stephen Statute - First King of Hungary
Top of Castle Hill the vista from the Fisherman's Bastion Terraces
Fellow shipmates - Ann & Rick from Florida
Fisherman's Bastion is named after the seven Magyar tribes, guilded fishermen that settled in the Carpathian basin in 896 and was responsible for defending this stretch of the city wall during the middle ages. There are seven tent like turrets & many terraces and walking paths each offering up magnificent panoramic city views
Inside Central Market Hall ( Kozponti Vasarcsarnok)
After morning tour.. spending some time to fill out survey for Ama
The afternoon grew hot and humid ..we thus decided a great way to take in an uniquely Budapestian past time - Thermal Turkish Spa. Luckily, by the dockside across from this Liberty Bridge we were able to check out the nearby spa.
In front of Inner City Parish Church
Not thoroughly happy with the Spa entrance (undergoing renovations) at the foot of Liberty Bridge, we decided to walk across the Elizabeth Bridge (named after the popular Queen Elizabeth, aka Sissi, of the Habsburg Queen) towards the well-known Gellert Spa also only minutes from the dockside
There are several beautiful mineral bath pools to be found in this large spa facility.
Gellert Swimming Pool
Gellert Hotel & Spa
After the relaxing spa visit, here are some shots as we sauntered back across the bridge to our ship near dusk
Captain Achim treated us to a final memorable night aboard the AmaDolce with an exhilarating sail around the Budapest Harbor at nightfall when all the bridges and buildings are lite up to show off the glorious nightscene that is Budapest
