6 Sightseeing - Heat - Budapest

Friday, 10.8.2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 3 (Budapest)

Distance covered: 0 - Rest day

Highlight of the day: Visiting the Castle District with the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus

Today we had a slightly different program: instead of cycling, we had a sightseeing day in Budapest. First, we relaxed and then had a fruit salad for breakfast. After that, we both made plans. We set off around 10 o'clock. It was already 35°C at that time. First, we wanted to go to the pharmacy to buy something for Julius' knee (Voltaren), cortisone for his rash, and shower oil for me. We got everything without any problems!

Then we headed towards St. Stephen's Basilica. It is impressive! Visible from afar on a large square. The only downside was that there was no shade. You could have gone up to the dome, but we skipped that. Instead, we went inside the church. Everything was full of gold! Unfortunately, the photos don't show the full splendor of the colors. And paintings, great altars, and probably an electronic hymn board. This building was truly impressive! And full of Asians... when we went outside again, we wanted to go to Andrassy ut, a shopping street, but it wasn't anything special. Just expensive luxury stores. The buildings were impressive from the outside, but that's the case throughout the old town. Therefore, we decided fairly quickly to go towards the Parliament. Holy crap, it's huge! And full of bay windows, all built upwards, in top condition, clean, just like the square in front of it, apart from some camping activists. The police were present. There was a fountain and a small green area overlooking the Danube and the other bank. We stayed there in the shade for a while. Thanks to the heat, we were exhausted at noon. Thanks to the city air, it was difficult for us to breathe.

After a longer break, we decided to look for something to eat. We didn't actually want to sit anywhere, just take something with us. So we went into an alley next to the Parliament. But getting something "to go" wasn't that easy, so we walked a little further through the alleys, passed a park, and finally found a small, cozy shop where you could also eat directly there, but its main business seemed to be takeaway. The shop was run by two young women in their early 30s who prepared all the dishes themselves, fresh and in front of the waiting guests. We bought 2 pizzas and ice-cold drinks. We then sat down in the park and looked at the map together.

Finally, we set off again. It was still oppressively hot. We passed a brick city stream with a war memorial and finally reached the Danube promenade, where we followed the promenade to the famous chain bridge. We crossed it and took one or two photos. On the other side, we originally wanted to go into underground tunnels that we had read about, but we couldn't find them and we stood there quite clueless, so soon a guy promoting Hop-On Hop-Off buses approached us, asking if we were interested. The tour only includes 4 stops on Castle Hill and the Fisherman's Quarter, but it was also inexpensive. We immediately agreed. We just wanted to save ourselves the walk up the mountain in nearly 40°C heat. Once we arrived at the top, we visited the castle, as well as a cathedral, several museums from the outside, and government buildings. All very impressive! The view from the top down to the other side of the Danube (where the cathedral stands) and the Danube itself was amazing. We saw a lot, took our time, and walked around everything. There were so many Asians! Finally, we had seen everything and went to the bus stop to go to the next stop.

That was the Fisherman's Bastion. Consisting of a church with a colorful roof, a fountain, and a damn beautiful fortress. We sat on the fountain, enjoyed the breeze, the atmosphere, and the view, and finally strolled along the bastion. The church was unfortunately closed. Then we went a bit into the neighboring quarter because there was a large building there that attracted us, and also because we were awake again and it was getting cooler. And besides, there was water and a carpet cleaner on the street that sprayed water. In the end, we didn't go all the way to the building but turned back before and went to the bus stop. And the next bus station was - the big building from before. It was a museum, with cannons in front. Well, it doesn't matter, with the next bus, we continued, down the Castle Hill. The next stop was on the banks of the Danube, where we continued along the river until we reached the bridge. Then we went back to our accommodation, showered, and looked for a restaurant in the side street. We were hired by a caller and it was very cozy and delicious. Later on the way back, dark clouds were gathering.