GSC Winter 25, Budapest

Hungarian Parliament

Dear Future Self, You need to stay on top of travel updates, or you forget too much.

Anyways, we passed Bratislava just after dinner after leaving Vienna... Lovely fortifications right on the river...

Everyone on deck to see the sights

Our tour directors suggested we see Budapest just after dawn (about 8AM) as we approached by boat... On the left bank was the Parliament building and on the right bank, the old castle and the Hapsburg Imperial complex.

Later that day I did my last tour; we went up to the Castle Hill; viewed some of the imperial administration buildings and dwellings, including Sissi's riding arena; ended up on the Fisherman's Bastion next to the cathedral overlooking the river and Pest (the flatter side), and visited the Christmas Market there. There were a lot of spicy grey and black ravens, and in fact, the raven (with a ring in it's beak) plays some part in the cathedral... In the afternoon I visited the marketplace and bought some paprika.

We defend the homeland with weapons
and money.  Subscribe to a war loan

P left in the very early morning, and at a more reasonable hour, I was off the boat for good and exploring... I was gobsmacked by the buildings. So many Art Nouveau style buildings!!! I spent the morning at the National Museum, which was pretty good; I really enjoyed the early 1900's posters. The pre-history collection was good, but the basement containing the Roman era stuff was closed for renovation.  I then wandered over to the Musuem of Applied Arts which is a Art Nouveau style building and is supposed to house a lot of things from that era; it was "wrapped" for renovation and closed. I walked back through the Christmas Markets. The street food was a little different; really long sausages again, and I saw more than one vendor selling little cabbage rolls. 

2nd largest Synagogue in the world

In my wandering, I found an interesting motiv on a building, and a plaque. Thank you Google Translate!!! I found Radio Budapest, where the 1956 rebellion started. Atlas Obscura has a good article on it...

The next day I went to the Dohany Street Synagogue and took their free tour. Wow! It was built in 1859, designed by Catholic architects who didn't get the memo... So there's pulpits (never been used as far as our guide knew); the bima in the front, not the center, and behind the ark there's an huge organ. Apparently the synagogue technically ends at the back of the ark so the organ, while in the building, is technically outside the synagogue. And if someone happened to be playing it on the sabbath, who was going to argue? Liszt was one of the organists.  Directly next to the Synagogue was a stunning temple dedicated to the Jewish heroes from WWI.  

Ceiling of the heroes temple

In the afternoon, I walked up Castle Hill to see the National Gallery. Inside was a special exhibit of painting by Lajos Tihanyi... He never achieved success as an artist and I wonder how much that had to do with him being unwilling to part with his work? I captured several of those to show DH, they're in Photos. I didn't look at the early ecclesiastical work but focused mostly on the collection of painting since 1850 or so; it's a great collection.

And that's about it for Budapest. If I go again, I would find an architecture tour aimed at the end of the Belle Epoque through the Art Nouveau Period. And probably find a phone with a better camera.

Just some random building

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E3facX1MQA3Tihhm8

I'm not sure how I feel about river cruises... My friend J says she and A look at them as an overview, then decide which places they may want to go back to. I don't really feel that I got to know any places well enough to tell if they're worth another visit. Passau? Regensburg? Would I have wanted to see more of Nürnberg? I don't think I've given them a fair chance. Would I want to eliminate towns on river tours as places to visit? Based on the bus traffic?

If I look at the number of photos I took in Nürnberg and Budapest, I think I was a lot more engaged when I wandered by myself than with a tour. But I learned a lot from the tours. So... yeah. Not sure :)