Our pre-planned itinerary for our three nights in Budapest was uncharacteristically sparse; we waited until we arrived and borrowed guidebooks to plan out our sightseeing route. The one thing we planned in advance, however, was a river cruise: how could we miss such a highlight in the city dramatically set on the Danube?
We booked a very classy 20 Euro cruise that lasted an hour and included a free drink, wifi and an audio guide with Legenda, one of the most popular companies. I recommend booking your departure time so that sunset will fall during your trip – just like at Fisherman’s Bastion, we got to see the city in three different lights!
We arrived ridiculously early because we were nervous about not finding the correct dock, but once we made it we settled in to some primo chairs and requested the classiest drink we could order, champagne, which led us to reminisce on our amazing champagne cruise down the Seine in Paris. We were in for a treat.
The rain, my lack of photography skills and the difficult night lighting stopped me from getting a lot of awesome photos – these are the best of the batch. The views of the city we had already explored were stunning. The river is the best vantage point for a lot of the city’s buildings, both on the Buda side and the Pest side. I can’t really speak for the quality of the audio guide as I spent most of my time either pressed up against the window or battling the rain on the top deck for pictures. Obviously taking pictures through the windows generally failed, so I had to miss out on most of the narration while running up and down the stairs to capture the amazing vistas I was seeing.
This next (crappy) picture was taken by a Texas businessman who innocently offered to take my picture when he saw me on the top deck alone, which was nice of him. However, he then proceeded to ask things like “Are you here alone?” and “How old are you?” and I quickly got a MEGA creepy vibe from him and his buddies. Slinking back down to the safety of my sister’s company, I figured at least I got a picture of myself on the cruise!
There is really nothing more magical than cruising past a city on a boat, sipping champagne and marvelling at the amazing architecture in a city that you’re quickly falling in love with. If you’re visiting a river city – check out river cruises!
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