Bike & Barge, River Cruise - 2019
Cruise: Budapest
Amawaterway's Amamagna is unique, as of now at least, in that it is twice as wide as other river cruise ships. The catch is that it is restricted to the Danube where the locks are twice as wide. It had its maiden cruise in May of 2019 and was christened (smashed champaign bottles and all) during our cruise.
Since were were too early to occupy our staterooms, we headed to the smallest of the ship's 4 restaurants for lunch. It's called Al Fresco because it is on the front of the ship; and its windows can be opened.
After lunch we rested on the top deck.
The iconic Hungarian parliament viewed from the top deck. My brother the amateur historian tells me that not nearly as much of the building gets used now compared to the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Then supposedly it housed representatives from the whole empire, except Austria itself.
After resting up we checked out bikes for a short ride along the river bank. Parliament building up close
North side of parliament house
Later during the customary welcome aboard ceremony in the lounge, if you didn't keep you champaign glass covered, it would be automatically refilled. I thought this was great, until the next morning when I didn't feel so good.
Being entertained during the first night's dinner.
Budapest at night. A so-called illumination cruise was scheduled for the first night. But since the accident where a Viking cruise ship and a smaller tourist boat collided with many deaths, these have been outlawed.
The ship even had a pool and hot tub. I never saw anyone use it. It just wasn't warm enough most of the time
The next morning I opted to take the Budapest tour again and glad I did. It covered things I had not seen last time; and in any event Budapest is worth seeing twice.
Lady Liberty, Hungary's version of the Statue of Liberty
Traffic jam, Hungarian style. Everywhere you look, it was like this; but traffic seemed to move.
This time we got out of the bus to get a better look at Hero's Square. The center of attraction is statues in the background of the Seven founding chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes in the foreground, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Another look at the obelisk and 7 horseman in the center of Hero's Square
That classic looking building in the center background is the museum of modern art. Go figure.
Museum of Fine Arts to the left of Hero's Square
After touring the Pest side, the coach dropped us off at Castle Hill on the Buda side. Instead of following the tour guide and crowd on foot to Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, we walked the other way towards the old castle grounds. We had seen them last year and the crowd was horrible.
Carmelite (former?) Monastery to the left; Sandor Palace, the office of the president of Hungary, to the right
We happened to come upon the changing of the guard in front of the president's office
As we moved around to the side of Sandor Palace, we came upon a marching exhibition compete with drum.
The side of Sandor Palace is seen behind the gate
Prince Eugene of Savoy in front of Buda Castle, now the Hungarian National Gallery of art
Historic Chain Bridge from Castle Hill
Parliament building in the center, Margaret Bridge and Margaret Island to the left
Buda away from the Danube
On the way back to the bus, we detoured among the foundation ruins of the midieval castle
More ruins
After the coach tour we set sail upstream for Brataslava
A more modern bridge on the outskirts of Budapest
Hungarian scene upstream from Budapest
Further upstream
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