Budapest again

The final night of our boat cruise was rather memorable. We had Hungarian dancers and musicians entertaining us, then a Hungarian type dinner with the boat then doing a slow night cruise up and down the Danube. We were treated to the fantastic lights of the different bridges and the buildings on both sides. Plus it was a warm evening so pleasant being up top and watching the lights.

Our exit from the boat was rather fast! Our hotel was about a 30 min walk down the side of the Danube, but too far to pull our bags, so Dave was off at 8am in a taxi with our bags to drop them off, then raced back to the boat again (walking) so we could go with the others by bus to the opp. Bank and spend the day doing the touristy things. We got the hop on hop off bus and were able to see and hear about much more of the city than before. It was rather hot though, 30 degrees, so exhausted by the time we finally got back to our hotel (45 min walk back!!). That was at 9pm that night so no wonder I was dead on my feet. Today was a couple of ‘first’ adventures for us both. We both had our first tube (metro) experience to get to the big train station to sort out our Euro rail tickets etc. Quite interesting getting tickets on the metro (Dave pointing to places on the map, how many stops? Etc) then brave the hordes and try and work out the right train (hey – Hungarian is not the easiest to read!). After we managed it the once and got off at the right stop it was fairly simple after that! The second ‘first’ was finding our way around the ‘international ticket’ section, whereby we stood waiting for ages and then noticed that everyone else had ticket numbers in their hands, and when the number was called out, then it was your turn! So then it was another long wait with our precious number in our hands. The good part was we encountered a lovely lady (who actually looked like a witch with bright red hair, pointy nose, glare etc) but ended up being so helpful. She sorted everything out for us for our first train trip to Prague and made it sound so easy; we were able to relax a bit. The rest of the day was at the St Peters Basilica (big cathedral) with an amazing dome in the middle.

and the ‘House of Terrors’. Now this was a very interesting place, esp. if you didn’t know anything about Hungarian history during the war, and after with the Russians. This was a rather ordinary house on a busy street where firstly the Germans set up headquarters towards the end of the war, and then the Russians used it afterwards as their headquarters. The torture chambers and prisoner cells down below are downright frightening (they have turned this place into a museum to depict the horrors carried out by both nasties). The sad thing was most of the nasty stuff was actually carried out by local Hungarians onto themselves. I.e. the German Hungarian supporters formed a ‘special squad’ to get rid of traitors ( Hungarian against Germany) the Russians carried on by getting a local communist group to form another ‘special squad’ to kill the first squad members and then go on to torture and kill some more locals! The cells were left in their entirety, some with small holes with doors (solitary confinement) the torture room with electric prods, pliers, whips etc and then came the hanging room! (this was accompanied by a video clip on the tv on the wall from the man who helped do the hanging explaining in great detail how they did it.) the sad part was this museum was supposed to represent the Hungarian Jews that were sent to death camps towards the end of the war, as well as the others (and there were hundreds of thousands) that suffered at the hands of the Russians (sent off to ‘work camps’ in Siberia etc. Of the exhibition area (3 floors and the notorious basement) only one half of a room was for the Jewish remembrance. Shows how much they really cared I think. The rest of it though, was an eye-opener into what life was like up until the 1990’s, which was when the communist rule stopped. So …….. Great way to spend the afternoon! so rry not photos allowed! The last day in Budapest was our blob day, which we needed after all the frantic trips on the boat etc we lazed in, went for a walk to Margaret Is. (an island in the middle of the Danube nearby, and you get to it by bridge. It’s their recreational area, so think a lovely leafy park with boats going past both sides). We got caught out here by a ferocious thunderstorm! Lots of thunder and lightning – very close- and tremendously heavy rain. Think Pacific islands (30 degrees, 96 % humidity) etc in the middle of Hungary - rather unexpected. Last night was a lovely meal down below in a basement under the road! Yes it sounds strange, but it was close by the hotel, in the local area and we kept noticing locals going down these steps through a thick door, so decided to see what it was. A quite big restaurant with leather walls and dark lighting etc. so we ended up having a cheap meal (local prices not tourist) and lovely beer too. Nice way to end our stay in Budapest.