Day 9 - Budapest (Part 4)

DANUBE RIVER CRUISE

By a stroke of good luck, we bumped into a young lad promoting the Hop-On-Hop-Off tickets between the Danube Promenade and Petofi Ter. Following his direction, we arrived at the respective dock to begin the river cruise. There were several cruise companies operating from this side of the Danube.

The few raindrops became a light drizzle and those sitting under the sun on the open deck rushed to occupy seats in the boat which were sheltered from the element.

Left twin spires of Church of St Anne

Buda Castle Quarter Palace complex of Hungarian kings Built 1265

Buda Calvinist Church Church of St Anne on right

Church of St Anne twin spires

Left - Matthias Church
Roof made of colored shingles and elegant pinnacles
Right - Fisherman Bastion
Built 1905
with 7 towers representing the 7 Magyar clan leaders
who first entered the Carpathian Basin

Upper Deck, River Cruise Background - Rock Chapel, Gellert Hill

Rock Chapel, Gellert Hill

Parliament

Tisza Istvan Monument South Entrance : Parliament

Commercial Blocks

Peeled Plaster or were those the damage left behind by Air Raids during the war?

St Gellert was an 11th century bishop from Italy who was invited by King St Stephen to help convert the Hungarians to Christianity. A mob of resisting pagans rolled him down the hill in a barrel into the Danube in 1046. Gellert Hill was named after the good bishop.

The Statue of St Gellert Gellert Monument

The red tower structure north-west of Gellert Monument peeking from between the green canopy

This tower structure wasn't a tourist attraction. Curious to know what it was, an ancient ruin perhaps, forgotten by History, I investigated. The exact location of this tower structure turned out to be Orom Utca 4

Statue of Liberty The Citadel, Gellert Hill

Statue of Liberty standing at The Citadel on Gellert Hill (liberation from Nazi rule)

Chain Bridge (Oldest Public Bridge)
Siklo Funicular Service on the right
Clark Adam Ter

Hilltop residential

Margaret Bridge Second Oldest Public Bridge Leads to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube

Massive statue of galley prows

below Margaret Bridge

During the middle ages, Margaret Island was known as Island of Rabbits. It was the royal hunting reserve. King Bela IV founded a nunnery on the island after the 13th century Mongol invasion. He vowed to send his daughter (Princess Margaret) to a Dominican nunnery if he could rebuild his kingdom which was devastated by the Mongols. As the story goes, the Mongol invaders were suddenly recalled to their homeland and the good king proceeded to reorganize and rebuild. Remembering his vows, the king sent the 11 year-old Margaret to the convent on Margaret Island. Not the nunnery where Princess Margaret was sent to. This is the Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget

Tip of Margaret Island Water Tower Margaret Island

At this point, the boat turned around and returned to the dock. Clearing out, we crossed the street and ended up here at Petofi Square. This is Stop No: 5 of The Pink Line.

Petofi ter

The statue at the center is Sandor Petofi, a Hungarian poet/politician. The pink coach on the right is one of the coaches operated by The Pink Line. 

Meanwhile, raindrops are falling on my head so I whipped out the disposable raincoat we had brought along for contingencies such as these.

PART 5

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