Esztergom...Hungary's once hostoric royal seat
The first thing we got when we opened the curtains at Esztergom was a big shock. Not at the view...but the fact that there was another ship moored right alongside us and we could've reached over and touched their windows from our room.
After a lovely buffet breakfast we headed off to join the Noddy Train to take us to the Basillica at the top of the hill. John chose to walk up the path instead, but a good portion of the company wisely chose the train. Austen would've just loved the little miniature train engine and carriages! It was a great way to see some of the city too.
When we reached the basillica you couldn't help but be awed by the immense size of the structure. It dwarfed our little train and the doors and corinthian columns were enormous! We entered the cathedral and all the decoration inside was as amazing as you'd expect. Paintings on the ceiling, tapestries lots of gold everywhere. The organ pipes were massive too.
We took a walk around the outside of the basillica and admired the city views below. Beside it stands the castle, but there was no time for an internal inspection. Instead we went in search of a cafe. We found a really cute one and ordered our tea and coffee. Our neighbouring table was just finishing their coffees and found they didn't have the right sort of money to pay for it. No worries....we paid for theirs too. They were very grateful. They did find us once on board and returned the money.
In the afternoon we all gathered in the lounge for the obligatory saftey demonstration and to meet all the main departmental heads of the crew. That evening was a Captain's welcome dinner, so we all returned to our cabins to get dressed up. There was a lovely a la carte dinner and dessert was listed as "Riviera Ice Surprise". No staff would give a hint what the surprise was, but since they'd drawn all the curtains we guessed it involved lights/candles. When everyone had finished their main course and the plates cleared away, the lights went off and the music started and in came the head chefs bearing bomb alaskas lit with sparklers, the wait staff were dancing around and some carried fire extinguishers. It was a lot of fun and laughter
Just as we were finishing dessert we noticed that we were approaching a huge lock. The Captain had told us this was the biggest lock on our trip. It could fit four vessels as big as ours in it at once and the drop/rise was 18 metres. It was fascinating to watch it all happen, with the gates opening and closing and then the water filling the lock at a very rapid rate. They harness the hydro-electric power generated to make electrical power too.
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