Month: March 2024

The Imperial Cities Day 3

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Our step-on guide with us today was Erika. She explained the history of the city of Budapest as we toured on the bus and when we were walking around the city.

The Danube River divides the city of Budapest. We crossed the river on the Margaret Bridge and began on the Buda side of the city.

Crossing the Danube

We walked up to the Buda Castle district.

The Buda Castle sat on top of the hill and was a symbol of the city. Much of the building had been rebuilt several times and the latest was from WWII.

Buda Castle

The Fisherman’s Bastion gave us great views of the Pest side across the Danube. It was built as a viewing platform in 1905. It got its name from the medieval guild of fisherman responsible for defending this stretch of the castle wall. It had seven cone-topped turrets which represented the seven chiefs of the leaders of the Hungarians.

steps down from Castle Hill
One view of the Fisherman’s Bastion
Plaza by the Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion
Most of our group with the Fisherman’s Bastion in the background
View across the Danube
Another view
View across the Danube with the Hungarian Parliament Building

The Matthias Church was first built in 1015 and was located on the Buda Castle Hill. It had been repaired and restored over the centuries. Two Hungarian Kings were crowned in the church.

The Holy Trinity Statue was in the middle of Trinity Square and near the Matthias church and Fisherman’s Bastion. It commemorated the people in Buda who died from the two outbreaks of the Black Plague!

Holy Trinity Statue

Walking around the area away from the Trinity Square. It was a beautiful walk and the weather was perfect.

We crossed the Elisabeth Bridge that connected Buda and Pest over the Danube River.

Elisabeth Bridge

Heroes’ Square was the largest in Budapest. It was a World Heritage site. In the center was the Millenium Monument erected for Hungary’s millenary celebrations. The two colonnades show the most important and famous leaders. On top were chariots depicting war and peace.

Heroes’ Square

One of the most photographed icons of Budapest was the Chain Bridge which was built between 1840-1849. There was debate if the lion sculptures have tongues. We didn’t see any from our viewpoint.

What do you think? Tongue or no tongue?

We also walked around the city center.

The New Miracle Deer
Germanus Gyula Park
Statue of Balassi- a Hungarian lyric poet
Michael Jackson tree near where he stayed when he performed a concert here.
In the city center
Hungarian Post Office
St. Michael’s Church

We used the “Find Me Gluten Free” app to find a restaurant for lunch that offered gluten free options and had good reviews. Bohémtanya Gluténmentes Vendéglo was an excellent find. It was a restaurant where everything was gluten free. Our food was delicious.

After lunch we walked to the Great Market Hall. It was built in 1897 and was the largest and oldest indoor market.

Great Market Hall
One of the many stalls in the market.
Paprika can be found everywhere
Chimney Cakes
Chimney cakes ready for sell.

The Hungarian State Opera House was built in the late 1800s and a beautiful building. It was located near our hotel.

Hungarian State Opera House

By the time we arrived back at our hotel we were ready to relax. It was a day filled with learning about Budapest and seeing a lot of the city!

The Imperial Cities Day 1 & 2

Monday, March 11, 2024

Today we joined our fellow travelers with the Hilliard Area Chamber for the next ten days. We would visit Budapest, Hungary, Vienna, Austria, Prague, Czech Republic, and Berlin, Germany.

We had three flights to get to Budapest. Our first flight was from Columbus to Atlanta. Our second flight was from Atlanta to Amsterdam and the last flight was from Amsterdam to Budapest.

Two fellow travelers had to cancel so they were with us virtually!
Our flight was changed at the last minute so we didn’t sit together on the “long flight”!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

It was our second day of travel when we landed in Amsterdam. Our third flight was about two hours to arrive in Budapest. Today was my birthday and I was surprised when the flight attendant brought me a small bottle of champagne with two glasses, a cookie, and card! It was quite a surprise. A big thank you to KLM airlines.

My birthday surprise!

The majority of our group did not get our luggage when we arrived in Budapest! We’re exhausted from our lack of sleep and then we had to fill out forms for our lost luggage. Many of us had air tags in our bags so we knew exactly their location-still on the runway in Amsterdam. We always travel with extra clothes (2 days worth) in our carry on bag so we didn’t worry about clean clothes.

We met our tour director for the trip after we went through immigration. Karolina lived in Prague but took the bus to meet us in Budapest.

The bus picked the 13 of us up and took us to our hotel, NH Budapest City Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel and the staff was so friendly. Our rooms were ready and we had time to relax or take a walk before dinner.

I realized that our virtual friends accidentally were left in Amsterdam. Marina at the hotel desk was great and helped us recreate our friends.

Once our friends were ready, Dave and I walked to the Chain Bridge and went past parliament and then back to the hotel. Round trip was about 2 1/4 miles total.

Statue of Imre Nagy, former Prime Minister of Hungary
Hungarian Parliament Building
Hungarian Parliament Building
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Shoes on the Danube Bank
Across the Danube river
Chain Bridge
Chain Bridge
Lions at the Chain Bridge have no tongues!
Dinner was provided at the hotel restaurant and it was a traditional Hungarian meal.

Our tour director was told it was my birthday so at dinner I was surprised with a card signed by our travel group, a dessert with a lit candle and Happy Birthday was sung!

After dinner we were exhausted so we went to our room and it wasn’t long before we were sound asleep! The phone rang and it startled us out of a deep sleep. The hotel desk called to let us know that our luggage had arrived. It felt like the middle of the night but it was only 10:00 PM when the front desk called! It was nice to have our luggage earlier than expected because now we had our currency converter to charge our devices! We learned a valuable lesson to pack the converter in our carry on luggage. In all of our travels this was the first time both of our bags didn’t arrive at the airport with us! We even packed half of our clothes in each other’s suitcase. This was a great thing to do in case one suitcase didn’t arrive but unfortunately this was a unique situation.

We went back to sleep so we would be rested for our tour of Budapest!