Our B&B was a small, basic, and somewhat grungy one a fair distance from the city centre, on the Buda side, as it was just too expensive to stay in the heart of Budapest over New Year's. However, it afforded us a good view of the many NYE fireworks displays on the hills around the city; they went on for hours!
Unfortunately, this part of the trip was my turn to be feeling under the weather, so we didn't do most of the sightseeing I'd had in mind. But here's what we did get up to...
On two of the three nights, we walked to a restaurant at another B&B about 20 minutes from ours. Both times we had interesting and tasty Hungarian meals, and Finley spent a lot of time charming the manager!
On Thursday afternoon we rode the Children's Railway (Gyermekvasút) up in the Buda Hills. This is not a railway FOR children... but a railway RUN BY children! (With the exception of the train driver and - I think - some supervisors.) Children's railways were a popular "extracurricular educational institution" in the Soviet era, and there are still a number of them operating in eastern Europe today.
The railway is 11.2 km long, but we only rode part of it as otherwise we would miss the last train back. The view from the train wasn't particularly exciting, but it was an interesting experience, and Finley enjoyed holding hands with one of the teenage conductors (photo below)! One of the best parts was watching the young staff line up and salute the train as we departed from each station. We didn't manage to get a good photo of them all doing it, but one boy held the salute for long enough that we caught it in one of the shots below.
Budapest was originally two cities, Buda and Pest, with the Danube River dividing them. After our train ride, we parked near the Danube on the Pest side and walked along on foot beside the river. It was dark by this time and we had the vague idea of taking a boat tour, but the area was fairly deserted and we didn't find anything suitable. As we drove back to our B&B, first on the Pest side and then on the Buda side of the river, we enjoyed some breathtaking views of Budapest's most famous buildings.
City sights as seen from the Pest side...
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| Gellert Hill |
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| Buda Castle |
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| Buda Castle |
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| Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion |
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| Hungarian Parliament Building |
And from the Buda side...
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| Hungarian Parliament Building |
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| Hungarian Parliament Building |
And that was all we really saw of Budapest... I hardly feel like I've been there at all! Oh well, we'll just have to go again... ;)
3 comments:
Wow, Budapest looks beautiful!Love the views with the lights over the water! & can't believe how big & grown up Finley looks! Even more so now I guess! :)
oh i LOVED Budapest!!!! Totally want to go back :D our first night's stay was in the Hilton at the Fisherman's Bastion - the view was AMAZING from there!!!!! Totally gorgeous all lit up just like your photos!!! *sigh*
How awful that you were sick. I am impressed that you still got out and touristed it up. Hey, did you ride the cog train up to the children's train, or doesn't it operate in winter?
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