Today we have a few activities planned for our last day in Budapest. We started off by heading down to breakfast where it is served buffet style. Besides the usual bacon and eggs, there are cold meats and cheeses. Very European.
While looking for things to do, we found Budapest Tuk Tuk. They will take you around the city in a three wheeled vehicle. We thought it would be a fun way to see some sights of the city. It was a big group which also included Drew, Kerrie, Theresa and Maria. Therefore we had five tuk tuks that came and picked us up at the ship. You got to pick your driver and we choose Ben. First thing Ben said was that he had blankets for us. We learned last night that we had to be back onboard at 1:45pm. We initially thought that we had until 4:00pm. Therefore we made some adjustments to our itinerary. We asked if some of us could get dropped off at the Basilica Advent Celebration (aka Christmas Market), while the others would head back to the ship. They said it would be no problem. Let’s go.
Everyone got in their respective tuk tuks and we began the drive up Gellerit Hill to The Citadella. Along the drive Ben would give us information about the area we were travelling through and life in general in Budapest. The Citadella is a fortress that was built back in 1851. It actually closed for renovations but the view from it is stunning. Zoltan (tour leader) gave us a ton of information regarding the history of Hungary and Budapest. What I remember the most is that Communism ended just in 1991. Zoltan also thought we must have been from the United States because when he was taking our pictures, he kept saying stars and garters.
Our last stop was the Castle District which includes Buda Castle, Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion. Robert (one of the tuk tuk drivers) gave us a brief history lesson of the area. I have to say all of the tuk tuk drivers are a wealth of information. We had about twenty minutes to take a quick look around. I said to Karen while we were there, I wish we had given ourselves more time to explore Budapest. I will definitely be coming back.
The tour ended at the Basilica Advent Celebration which is in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica. This is the largest Christmas market in Budapest. With over 120 exhibitors, you can pretty much find everything from traditional Hungarian food, beautiful crafts and of course, chimney cakes. We had about an hour before we had to make our way back to the ship. We each managed to get a small bit of our Christmas shopping done here.
Karen and Marie got directions on how we could get back to the ship from their tuk tuk driver. It was only a five minute walk to catch the streetcar which cost us in total 1800 forint for the four of us. The ride took twelve minutes and it was only a five minute walk back to the ship.
After having lunch, the rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent relaxing. Some of us hung by the pool, while others had a nap back in the cabin. We decided to go to the port talk at 6:30pm to learn about tomorrow’s activities in Bratislava.
Tonight’s dinner was a six course meal which everyone enjoyed. We capped off the evening poolside. We had the entire place to ourselves.
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