On the Beautiful Blue Danube.
I’ll start this section with these questions: Does my header for this section have you hearing this?
And if you weren’t hearing it before, is it an ear worm now?
I am not, as Barbara did, going to recommend a specific nighttime Danube cruise but I will suggest that if you ever visit Hungary’s capital city you should choose to do this. There’s real beauty on both sides of the river and seeing the dramatically lit buildings from the river is an experience you’ll long remember.
After taking some time to reframe our state of mind, Pat and I met Connie, Geanie, and Jackie in the hotel lobby and we set off on the 15-minute walk to the Legenda pier with each group catching up the other on our very different experiences from that day. When we reached the ship, we realized we’d made a wise choice when we’d purchased our tickets a day in advance because the deck was already full.
We’d all purchased the inclusive dinner package for 18,600 forints (about $62) that included a welcome drink – wine for the women and a beer for me – and a four course dinner. The cruise was scheduled to set off at 19:45 or just as dusk settled over the city. It lasted two hours and, while there was a bubble above us, the sides were open and by the end of the evening most of us would be under a blanket. We also had a bit of extra cruising time because after starting a few minutes late we had to pick someone up who’d gotten on the wrong boat.
The Legenda does a spectacular job with their menu. Everything sounds delicious and the photos of the various dishes are spectacular. My meal was tasty but didn’t generate any notes so I’d guess it wasn’t quite as special as it looked and sounded.(But then again, as I write this, more than three months have passed since that meal. It could be that I intended to make notes when I returned to the hotel but failed to do so.) In addition to the dinner, we had live entertainment with a young woman accompanied by a keyboard player quietly singing songs that were generally familiar to American ears.
Beyond that, the cruise makes several passes between and under five of Budapest’s bridges and makes a circuit of Margaret Island (which Patricia and I will visit tomorrow). Sailing back and forth allows the passengers on each side of the boat a clear view of either Buda or Pest. Now it’s time for me to allow some pictures to speak for themselves.
I’ll start with the Elizabeth Bridge,
And move on to the Liberty Bridge,
from which Patricia picked up this lovely detail.
Then we’ll go farther south to the Rákóczi (or Lágymányosi) Bridge that uses elevated mirrors to light it. The building is the new National Theater and it’s on the Pest side.
We’ll return north to the Chain Bridge with Buda Castle behind it
and, staying on the Buda side, look beyond the rather prosaic PetÅ‘fi (I think) Bridge, to see Matthias’ Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion.
Finally, near the southern tip of the cruise, stands the 14-meter tall (on a 26-meter high pedestal) Liberty Statue (also called the Freedom Statue) atop Gellert Hill.
This statue was originally erected in 1947 ostensibly to celebrate the Soviet “liberation” of Hungary from Nazi rule. At that time, the statue bore an inscription in Hungarian and Russian that read, “To the memory of the liberating Soviet heroes erected by the grateful Hungarian people 1945.” After Hungary’s 1989 transition away from communism, the inscription was changed. It now reads, “To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.”
Turning back to Pest’s side of the river, the most memorable sight is that of Parliament.
If you look very closely just to the right of the top of the central dome, you’ll spot two small dots. They are part of a remarkable phenomenon that apparently occurs nightly and for which I could find no explanation. It’s better seen in this short video.
Only a single day of adventure remains. To be concluded…