We were supposed to be up and breakfasted for a scenic sail (with commentary from Bram) into Budapest. However there were 2 problems with that. Firstly it was both cold and rainy. Secondly we didn’t arrive when we were supposed to. Evidently we were held up at a lock for 2 hours overnight and then had engine trouble which the captain sorted out. Net result is that we didn’t arrive into Budapest until 9.15 which is when our city tour buses were ready. The buses don’t have anywhere to park so it was a bit of a scramble to get us docked then off the boat in about 5 minutes.

We did get a commentary as we sailed in but not many ventured up to the sky deck. Budapest is also very grand with lots of huge buildings lining the Danube on either side and some very grand bridges.

There is a small island (Margaret Island) in the river which is popular with locals for the hot springs and spas and it means you can sail around it and do a loop. We didn’t do that! We just sailed up to our berth, turned around to face upstream (no mean feat itself given the boat is 110m long) and then got off!

The buses took us for a tour first of the left bank (facing downstream) and then the right. Budapest is a combination of two former city states: Buda (right bank) and Pest. It’s pronounced Budapesht. Buda is hilly and Pest is flat. Buda is the posh side where the locals want to live but actually Pest is pretty grand and has the central business district so I preferred it.

There are some huge markets and lots of grand squares and buildings.

Many of the streets are lined with Horse Chestnut trees that were all flowering. It’s a city of many beautiful trees.

There is also a thriving Jewish quarter with lots of synagogues, one of which looks exactly like a cathedral, complete with towers and organ – which gets played each week by a non Jew because that’s judged to be work!) and many of the inner city buildings still have clear signs of gunfire from the war.

Hungary is not so wealthy as Austria, having had 40 years of communist occupation so there is still a lot of infrastructure and restoration work to do but it’s a lovely city, even in the rain.

We were told to be careful of pickpockets (also in Bratislava) but didn’t see anyone or thing of concern to us.

The bus dropped us off on top of the hill at Buda which is the site of the medieval castle and one of the many churches.

We had about 40 minutes to look around and most people sought out a cafe as the drizzle got progressively stronger.

You had to pay to get inside the church so we passed and unfortunately the view out over the river and city was not great. On a nice day it would be truly lovely.

There is this post war liberation monument erected by the communists which is the only one to remain. It is right on the top of a hill above one of the bridges and the locals call it (affectionately I think) the bottle opener, for obvious reasons.

They have a grand bridge called the chain bridge, which was the longest span of its kind at the time of construction.

They also have an amazing parliament building that looks fab when lit up at night.

Fortunately the weather improved and we had an evening cruise around Margaret Island after dinner to see the city all lit up.

We had decided to do some optional trips in the afternoon. Brenda and I went on the wine tour (no surprises) and Mike went on the city food tour. There was no way I could do justice to a food tour.

Brenda is into wine and was keen to visit the three (actually it turned out to be just two) different vineyards but to be honest I was just as keen to get out and see a bit of rural Hungary. The guide was 30 minutes late as couldn’t find the boat and that was problematic later in the day. The vineyards were not that far from Budapest – maybe a 40 minute drive but it was interesting travelling along. Rural Hungary is very like the Waikato to look at, though the buildings are rather different.

The 2 vineyards were interesting and quite different. The wine at each was good but the scale is very different from what we see in NZ. The first place was quite a modern venue which has a function centre and cafe. It is not unlike the style of some of the Martinborough vineyards but not so polished. We had a brief tour then tasted 3 different wines. They had some breads and spreads to accompany and the young woman doing the talking was well briefed. The winery has gone into branded bottles and merchandise using a stylised version of some local patterns and a number of people bought aprons and cushion covers. They have the winery underground with glass windows through which they point out the barrels and tanks. Quite a good way of doing it as anyone that knows about wine doesn’t need to see the barrels close up and those that don’t know about wine won’t be any wiser from seeing them either.

It was a shame that the drizzly rain persisted as it would have seemed a lot more chic on a sunny day. The next place was very old and quaint with nice views out over the valley from the front and a large rose garden terraced up the hill behind. It is booked out as a wedding and function venue and we were hosted by one of the owners – a former stockbroker who sold his company 10 yeas ago and took up with a new young wife and has an ego the size of the room we were in. They have a couple of different vineyards and produce a mix of red and white wines from the 2 different areas. We tasted 4 wines, each matched with an excellent canapé and he talked a little about the wine and a lot about himself. I enjoyed the wine.

Still it was drizzling as we finally got back to the boat just before dinner, but miraculously it cleared and the evening cruise around Margaret Island to view Budapest by night was spectacular. We wrapped up well and enjoyed the tour from the sky deck on our final night.

Sadly we missed saying goodbye to Rita and Carol. Rita had a 2.30 or 3am pick up to the airport and Carol at 7.30am but hopefully we will catch up with them some time in the future.