We had a few relatively quiet days. On Friday we left Prague just before 8am for the long journey to Budapest. We left Bohemia behind and travelled south into the Moravia region. This is the hilliest area of the Czech Republic which has a mostly flat landscape. The hills were still coated in a layer of white following 15cm of snowfall overnight. This is a fertile farming community that is home to many vineyards. We stopped for lunch in the small town of Velké Pavlovice at a charming vineyard restaurant. The houses in this region are quite different to those in Bohemia. They are very drab and boxy looking and are often attached to the neighbouring houses. Most of them don’t have fences because the Moravian people have a very easy-going and trusting disposition and don’t see the need for barriers for privacy or security. On the hillside not far from the restaurant there is a grouping of modern apartments that break the boring mould. They are a very unusual design. The facades are multi coloured and, from a distance, resemble cartoon faces.
We arrived in Budapest around 4pm but when our bus driver tried to park near our cruise ship there weren’t any empty spaces. He made a couple of circuits and then double parked for a while so that we could get off and wouldn’t have to walk too far to the boarding ramp. Even though we had done nothing but sit on a bus all day I was feeling very tired.
We chose a standard cabin as we couldn’t see the benefit of paying extra for a French balcony in winter. The cabin is small but adequate and there is plenty of storage under the bed for suitcases and the wardrobe and bathroom are both a good size. After settling into our cabin and receiving a briefing in the lounge we had dinner in the restaurant. The family at the table next to us were from Newcastle. Well, Dora Creek actually. What a small world.
After dinner our ship sailed down the Danube to Margaret Island and then sailed back to our dock past all the beautiful illuminatedbeautiful, illuminated landmark building that you can see on both sides of the river. The Jewel in the Crown is the Parliament Building that is indescribably stunning. It is the second largest parliament building in the world (Westminster, in England is a few metres larger). It is a long rectangular building featuring a central dome flanked by tall towers, then square towers on either side and a further two square towers at each end. The dome and towers all have spires and the facade has arched and circular windows along the entire length. It is a beautiful building by day but at night it is breathtaking. Most of the passengers were out on the top deck, braving the chilly conditions, to take in the best views. As we cruised along the speakers were blaring out music from classical waltzes to modern day classics. It was a great way to finish the day
The following morning, we went on a bus tour of the city. Unfortunately, we didn’t get many photo opportunities and didn’t get to visit Fisherman’s Bastion or any of the other popular sights high up on the Buda side of the river. We learnt a bit more about the history of the city and drove past one of the saddest memorials I have ever seen. It is an iron sculpture made of 60 pairs of shoes placed haphazardly along the riverbank. The shoes are of the style worn during WW2 and many are ladies or children’s shoes. They represent the thousands of Jews who were slaughtered on the riverbank during the winter of 1944-45. Each night, over a period of about 6 weeks the Hungarian Nazis would go to the Jewish ghetto, round up people of all ages and march them to the riverbank. At the riverbank they would make them take off their shoes, then shoot them and throw the bodies into the river. The shoes were either sold or kept by the perpetrators for their own use.
We had a short stop at Heroes Square and then a longer stop at St Stephens Cathedral. After viewing the inside of the cathedral, we meandered along the nearby Christmas market stalls. Vicki and I shared a chimney cake. These cakes are quite famous in several countries in this region. Many different countries claim them but apparently, they originate in Romania. They are similar to donuts made in the shape of a large ice cream cone. These days they fill them with cream or ice cream plus just about any combination you could desire of sauce, fruit, chocolate. We chose the one with ice cream, caramel sauce and twix bars. The cake is not as light and fluffy as a donut but quite crisp. Overall, it was very sweet. Glad I tried it but probably wouldn’t go back for another. We returned to the ship and left Budapest around 12.45pm. As we cruised along on our way to Vienna we passed the Parliament Building so we had the opportunity to view it from the river in daylight.
This featured blog entry was written by caties55 from the blog Winter Wonderland.
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