Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary, May 14-15, 2013

Tuesday morning we were docked at a small island about 2 hours by boat upstream from Budapest. Horse drawn wagons greeted us as we departed the ship. A 10 minute ride took us to a working horse farm, Bodor Major, where we spent the rest of the morning. Our first stop on the farm was a zoo like area where indiginous animals to Hungary were on display. Particularly impressive were the large grey cattle, the locals called them oxen, with particularly menacing looking horns. There were also buffalo that were not as big as an American bison, but Tim still did not want to meet one without a fence between them. Also of interest were sheep that had horns that looked like corkscrews. After a brief stop to look at historic (read old and uninteresting) carriages we were shown into a dining area. Our hosts greeted us with very small glasses of plum brandy. They assured us not to be offended at the small size of the offering. Any thing larger and we would not remember the rest of the day. How right they were. The alcohol was so overwhelming that it could have been asparagus brandy for all we could tell. We were then escorted to an outdoor kitchen where Hungarian Goulash Soup was being made in a very large cast iron pot over an open fire. In addition, loaves of bread were being put into wood fired ovens. We also sampled hungarian style pizza which was basically a soft slice of bread with a variety of toppings such as bacon, tomato, onion, and spinich topped with cheese. There was no tomato sauce. The italian pizza industry has nothing to fear. It was back to the dining area where we were offered samples of three different salomes each with varying amounts of paprika and two different strawberry wines. The salomes were ok. The dry strawberry wine was undrinkable and the sweet strawberry wine paled in comparison to Boone's Farm. Next was the highlight of the morning: the horse show. The show began with a roman style chariot pulled by four large horses roaring around the demonstration ring. We could see why these chariots struck fear in the hearts of the Roman enemy. This was followed by a wagon drawn by 4 of the large oxen we had seen earlier. While interesting, the oxen could have shown more enthusiasm. They are in the entertainment business afterall. Next came a demonstration of the horse skills of the Magyar warriors from Hungary's past. The finale was a horsemen riding standing up on top of two horses, one leg on each of the animals. There were three more horses harnessed in front of those two. The rider and his team of horses made several trips around the ring increasing the speed on each circuit. Very impressive. The whole show was great fun and the horses were beautiful animals. The final activity was a lunch of the Hungarian goulash soup and bread we saw being made earlier. The soup was good but was nothing more then vegatable and beef soup with lots of paprika. The bread was heavy, yeasty and delicious. As we filed out to our wagons for the trip back to the boat we were offered the opportunity to buy wine and salome. Fear not, family. There will be no Hungarian wine under the Christmas tree with your name on it.

The two hour boat trip into Budapest was wonderful. The sun was shining and the scenery was gorgeous. Don and Tim watched our arrival in Budapest from the sun deck. They agreed that arriving by boat was much nicer than by plane. At one time in Hungary's history Buda and Pest were two seperate cities. At some point they were combined into one municipality. Pest is located on the east shore of the Danube and Buda on the west. The beautiful St. Mathias Cathedral sits atop a hill in Buda overlooking the Danube River. The equally impressive House of Parliment building sits on the river's edge in Pest. It may have been the most memorable arrival in a city in all of our travels. Once the boat was docked we took a bus tour through both sides of the river. There were only two stops; one at Hero's Square in Pest and the other at St. Mathias in Buda. Hero's Square is dedicated to the seven most important men in Hungarian history. We won't bore you with the details, mostly because we can't remember them. Mathias may be the most important of those seven men as he brought a love of literature and culture to Hungary that had never existed before. The interior of the Cathedral is of interest because the cathedral was actually built by the Moors. Once the Moors were sent packing and the church converted to a catholic church someone wisely decided to maintain some of the moorish decor as a reminder of Hungary's history. The tour lasted three hours and Tim's falling asleep had nothing to do with the entertaining tour guide nor the beauty of the city.

We have enjoyed the evening meals on board so far. Unlike past cruises, this cruise has gone out of its way to feature local dishes on the menu each night. For example, last night we had chicken paprikash. There are other more traditional choices each night for the less daring diners.

Wednesday was a free day in Budapest. We both took the opprotunity to sleep in and then after breakfast joined the Johnsons to walk to the Central Market. The main floor of the market was for food stalls. We saw stall after stall of gorgeous looking produce. There were also numerous stalls of meat featuring mostly pork and poultry. We did not see much beef. These stalls had every part of the pig for sale and we mean every part. The only thing we did not see for sale was the squeal! Finally on this floor were the spice stalls. Unlike the Spice Market in Istanbul where the spices were in large open containers, here the spices were pre-packaged. As you can well imagine paprika was the predominant spice being sold. For whatever reason Tim did not understand that paprika comes from a particular chili pepper. He had a "duh" moment when he saw bunches of the peppers for sale. We are sure a serious cook in Hungary would not dream of buying pre-ground paprika. Upstairs in the market were clothing stalls featuring knit goods, leather goods and crafts. There was also a food court on this level that had some fascinating dishes for sale. After leaving the market we did some additional shopping. We are excited because we have some of our Christmas shopping done. Being worn out from all this shopping we went back to our boat for lunch and a nap. After lunch we walked down the main shopping street of Budapest. It is a pedestrian way with a nice blend of high end shops and souvenier shops. The people watching was excellent. We stopped at a Cafe that reputably had the best strudel in Budapest. We were under the impression that it had many varieties of strudel so were disappointed in finding only apple strudel available. Our disappointment was somewhat assauged by the excellence of the strudel.

After dinner we went to a show that featured Hungarian Folk Music and Dance. Much of it was based on gypsy music and dance. It was easily the highlight of the day. The orchestra of 11 musicians were excellent and played the entire hour and a half of music from memory. There were 10 dancers who put us in mind of a Hungarian "River Dance." The costumes were colorful and the dancing energetic. We were exhausted just watching. This production took place in a 100 year old rocco theater. Its historic beauty made you forget that the theatre was located in a Four Seasons Hotel. After the show we had a short after dark bus tour of Budapest. This tour ended at the top of a hill overlooking Budapest. It was a breathtaking view and reenforced our feeling that Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities that we have visited in the world.

Leaving the theater we had a "its a small world" moment. Lynda let out a cry of surprise as she ran into her secretary, Sharon Zuzka and her husband, from when she worked for the state. Unfortunately, because we were with a tour we could not stay and chat.

It is with a sad heart that we leave Budapest. Both Johnsons and Crandalls have vowed to come back when we can stay longer.