ON BOARD IN BUDAPEST

Budapest Hungary was the first  City on our river cruise vacation.

We cleared customs  at Brussels Airport and then transferred to Belgium Airlines for the final hop to Budapest.    Viking had arranged a car to transfer us to our River boat, the Viking  Skirnir.    It seemed like it had taken a long time from Fort Myers  — we transferred at Newark before crossing the ocean to Belgium and we were a bit jet-lagged.

But  we arrived at the boat mid-afternoon  Sunday and had the rest of the day to get organized, check out the boat (eat and relax)    — and  even take a short guided walk in the fresh air.    

 

Chain Bridge (between Buda and Pest) 

 On our brief walk that first day, we saw with our own eyes  that the Danube River divides the two parts of this great  city — Buda and Pest.  The Boat would be docked here all of the next day and until evening the day after that, so we knew we'd have more time for sightseeing in this beautiful City. 

 

The Skirnr docked in Budapest near the Bridge

(Not a great picture of the boat, but it shows how close we were to the Bridge and town.   Great location for walks — but in this picture buses like the one at the left were lined up ready to take passengers on the panoramic tour of the  city – the one we took on the second day .)

Back on board that first evening, there was a welcome talk , with a brief overview of what to expect on the voyage.  We would be traveling along three different rivers — the Danube, the Mine, and the Rhine.   The reason these rivers are relatively easy to navigate is because of the lock system.   Locks work by raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels.  This system  makes a river more easily navigable or allows a canal to take a more direct line across a country that is not level.   

We would be locking through the first of these very soon after the ship set off the next day.

This chart from an on-board book in our cabin  (also sent to us as an E-Book) identifies the twelve  locks through which our ship would pass between Budapest and Passau Germany.   The gray bar represents the elevation at which the ships enter the lock, the red bar the height the ship would rise or lower while in the lock.   In all, during the entire journey on the three rivers our ship would navigate through 68 locks.

 

 

Parliament Buildings on the Danube

The picture above and those following are from the  bus and walking tour we took on the second full day.  This overview tour was included without additional cost — a feature that was  available at each city where  we docked.   Optional excursions at a cost were also available instead or in addition, depending on the length of each stop.    

Castle Hill

 We walked through narrow streets and shops in Old Town — many of the buildings dated from medieval times. We visited the Castle Districts and Matthias Church .  We were pleased with the historical overview our guide painlessly provided.  And also that we were given  some time to explore on our own as well.

 

View as the ship left Budapest

This beautiful City was a  grand start to our "Grand European Tour."   

 

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;  SAY CHEESE;   TUESDAY TREASURES;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS;