European Trip Day 23 Back to Budapest

Back to Budapest

We had a really lovely night on our last night in Vienna, being entertained after dinner by a string quartet. The evening went quite late and we were all pretty tired in the morning. We were even allowed to have a sleep in this morning as the boat wasn't due to arrive in Budapest again until after lunch.

There was a bus tour arranged for the afternoon to go up to the top of Gellert Hill to see the Citadella and St Mathias Church as well as the House of Parliament and National Gallery.

Susan was feeling worn out so decided to stay behind and rest.

The views from the top of Gellert Hill from the Citadella were quite spectacular. Even in the afternoon the crowds were teeming, as everyone clamoured to get their special shot in front of the views. We paid the fee to go up to the Citadella, but ended up not going inside the St Mathias church due to the queues.

We wisely retired to a lovely coffee shop and had coffee and Dobos Torte. 

Afterwards Barb went for a quick wander around the current House of Parliament (outside and gardens only to where the furnicular ended. The sentry guards outside the building looked very formal and serious!

It was interesting to see the excavation site of historical ruins dating back to Roman times and even prior to that. We had to scurry back to re-join our bus or face the long walk down all those stairs.

When we got back we walked down the riverbank towards the old Parliament House to see the shoe memorial to the Jewish Holocaust victims.

The Jewish people were lined up beside the river in WW2 and told to take off the shoes, then they were shot into the river. It was very poignant to see that many of the boots were children's sizes!

We ran into Susan here. She'd wandered down as our boat was moored only a hundred or so metres from the site.

Our last evening on board the boat was a seven course Gala Dinner. Captain Tim was in full formal regalia as were the rest of the crew. The dinner was amazing! It was good to see all the crew together and to be able to thank them. Riviera have really set the bar very high for Service and delivery of a great cruise. Everyone is very sad to be leaving the ship tomorrow.

After dinner we were treated to a concert or Hungarian Folk music and dancers. It was all very energetic and entertaining. The gypsy fiddlers are so feisty and fast! Susan even got up to dance so she must be feeling better after her rest.