Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
 

Sightseeing in Budapest

G&B were out for most of the day. I decided to do a quality control check of the mini-bar and sample the vodka, the gin, the whisky and the rum. And the chocolates and the crisps. Then the beer and the cider.<br>I decided to have a little nap. But I was disturbed by the steward coming in to tidy the room. So I did my “stuffed toy bear lying on the bed” impression. And watched her  as she re-stocked the mini bar! I think this might be a really good holiday…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tuesday 22nd April 2014
 
When we returned to our cabin after breakfast, we were greeted by the first of several creations, from the lady who cleaned and tidied for us twice daily.

There were three included tour choices in the programme for the morning, but we decided that as we had been to Budapest before and had done the tours then, we would set off and do some independent exploration.

We were moored on the hilly "Buda" side of the river, so we decided to start sightseeing on that side and duly set off up the hill on foot, armed with our umbrellas and waterproof jackets, because it was a rather damp day.

After quite a strenuous climb, we found ourselves on Castle Hill.
 
We walked along the cobblestone streets taking in the sights, one of which is the Matthias Church
 
 
 
 
 
 
We also admired the views from the Fishermen's Bastion
 
 
 
 
 
A couple of hours later, we walked down the hill again via a different route and went back to our ship for lunch. We were intrigued to see what looked like a bus floating on the Danube. We later found out that it is an amphibious vehicle and that we could take a ride in it if we wished to ( http://riverride.com ). We didn't.
A lovely collection of treats was always available in the ship's cafe. Light meals were also served (just out of view and to the right of this display) for those who didn't want to go to the main restaurant. For some reason, we were ALWAYS in the mood to go to the main restaurant, but we often had some cake, a macaroon or some ice-cream inbetween times (just so that we didn't faint from hunger or waste away from malnutrition, you understand!)
After lunch, we set off again. We walked along the river bank to the Chain Bridge.
 
 
We walked across the bridge from Buda to Pest.
 
We didn't really have any sightseeing goals in mind so we simply mooched along taking in the sights.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We returned to the ship in good time for the "all aboard" time of 16:45
 
 
Tea time!
At 5pm promptly, we were off!
 
 
 
Video: Scenic Diamond leaving Budapest en-route to Amsterdam
 
One of the first things we did after leaving port was attend the mandatory life-boat drill on the top deck.
That evening we were treated to a Hungarian folklore show. For us the "treat" lasted all of fifteen seconds before we decided that we had another engagement! Later that evening, the ship made a technical stop at Esztergom so that the entertainers could disembark. At this point the Danube forms the border between Hungary and Slovakia and early tomorrow we would pass Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble