Avalonia River Cruise

So today is our first full day on the river cruise. Several colleagues gush about them and I found this Christmas Market cruise that seemed short and sweet and includes Budapest and Vienna which I’ve always wanted to visit! Here’s the itinerary and our boat in daylight:





The company is called Avalon which has a reputation of “relaxed luxury”. As our cruise director said though, we leave our identities and politics off the boat and we’re together in Avalonia!

After a lovely breakfast buffet, we prepared for the included morning excursion which was called “Breathtaking Budapest” and were divided into three groups. We boarded our bus with our tour guide Dora and headed to Castle Hill, considered the first district. It can be accessed by a funicular, but we had trusty bus driver Laszlo. We couldn’t go into the castle as it’s being renovated but it houses several museums:



This area also has several government buildings including where the famous prime minister lives:



We walked through the pricey Castle district as we learned about the real estate and observed the Statue of the Independence War which was in front of the House of Houdini who I recalled was Hungarian:



Then we stopped for traditional Chimney cakes which was Mama Kim’s first time:





We ended at The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion which are lookout terraces on the castle complex. Apparently, the fisherman who lived at the bottom of the hill helped protect the castle walls through various sieges. There are seven towers representing the seven chieftains who founded the country. A view as we made our way up the hill including Matthias Church behind the bastion:



Then a photo while on the terrace:



We could see from this vantage point the Hungarian Parliament, one of the largest buildings in Hungary on the Pest side:





There’s a statue of St. Stephen:



But also statues of several Árpád-dynasty warriors, but legend is that one has traveled through time as the middle one looks a lot like Woody Harrelson! You can decide, but I think it does too…



Behind the bastion and castle walls is Matthias Church with the official name being the Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle - it has glazed roof tiles like the university we passed by (the inventor of the Rubik’s cube still teaches there) and St. Stephen’s of Vienna. Apparently, they are fireproof and leakproof:



The church also has one black wooden tower with a raven statue next to it:



We entered the church which was relatively small:



Outside the church is the Holy Trinity statue and another government building:



We boarded the bus and crossed the river back to the Pest side towards St. Stephen's Basilica, named after the first king:





We didn’t have a lot of time, but we visited the basilica while others perused the Christmas market:



Here’s the Christmas market outside the basilica:



In the middle of it all is a bronze statue of a police officer where they say you rub the belly for good luck:



We then headed back to the boat for lunch and afterwards joined the Art & Architecture tour led by Timmy. With a smaller and lovely group, the main visit was to the Hungarian State Opera House. It was beautiful and considered to have the third best acoustics in Europe after La Scala in Milan and Garnier in Paris:



In one of the niches near the entrance is a bust of Franz Liszt, the famed Hungarian composer and pianist (notice last name first!):



The Christmas tree was adorned with dancers and opera performers as ornaments:



We were escorted inside for the tour:



And treated to a short performance on the stairs:





We sat in the balcony while performers were rehearsing and listening to our guide on the whisper audio:





We learned this was the special entrance where the Royals entered:



And the largest mirror in the opera house hung at the top, so the royalty can see who was behind them without turning around which would be unbecoming:



We took a mirror selfie in these modern times:



Here’s the Royal balcony which costs a flat €3,000 to rent for 6 or 7 seats - the pricing is quite economical by NY standards and those who know, got a kick out of the 6-7 mention which our guide apparently was unaware of:





The Opera house is on Andrássy Avenue known for its luxurious shopping, theaters, embassies, restaurants, and of course coffeehouses. We were treated to sweets and a drink at Művész:



We then went underground to the oldest metro on continental Europe - the oldest being the tube in London for all of Europe. We took the same train we took yesterday, but in the opposite direction and disembarked at City Park where there were controllers checking tickets and IDs for the over-65 crowd. We learned more about the thermal baths here while admiring the building and folks were envious that we got to experience it yesterday and asked if it was worth it (for sure!).

Also in the City Park when they were celebrating the city’s millennium, they built what is nicknamed Dracula Castle which was originally temporary, but they made it permanent. It houses the Agriculture Museum which Dora said this morning was dreadfully boring:



Timmy explained that this statue was of the Anonymous Notary of King Belaor Master P. who was a notary and chronicler of a Hungarian King and rubbing his pen was also considered good luck:





We strolled through the park and visited the Hungary House of Music, which is a complex that exhibits a comprehensive history of music, designed by a Japanese architect, Sou Fujimoto. It apparently replaced some dilapidated buildings as the city invested in reviving the area:



There was also the Ethnography museum which included a large model of the city:



Then we ended at Heroes' Square' where actually Laszlo was trying to fix the bus motor. But here is the Millennium Monument with statues featuring again the seven Hungary founding chieftains and a column that is supposed to have the arc-angel Gabriel. Here’s when we drove by during the day:





And a replica of the angel that is being refurbished in the Ethnography museum:



And a photo of me in front at night:



A replacement bus came to drive us back to the boat. We passed again the Széchenyi Chain Bridge which is the oldest and the city’s icon. We passed it on the Buda side this morning observing the lions:





And illuminated at night on the Pest side:



We met more Americans on the tour including a man from Houston and a Pennsylvania duo that used to work for and had family who worked at one of my company’s tv stations. It’s really a small world!

Back on the boat, we were greeted again with warm towels and tasty tea. After the port talk, we had dinner which included the Avalon Caesar salad, Hortobágyi Palacsinta (a Hungarian stuffed crêpe with meat ragout, paprika sauce and sour cream), Christmas soup, Palócleves (Hungarian lamb chowder), Csirkepaprikás galuskával (breast of corn-fed chicken), a Trilogy of mini Lángos (Hungarian deep-fried flatbread with sour cream-cheese, tomato salsa, cucumber-garlic relish), and Somlói Galuska (a Hungarian three-layered sponge cake with vanilla cream and chocolate sauce). We were joined by a sweet couple from Massachusetts (their flight apparently was cancelled coming to Amsterdam from Boston on Monday night due to crew sickness - it’s been tough us on all!):



Afterwards, we listed to an awesome violinist and pianist duo who played Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz, Brahm’s Hungarian Dance, Vivaldi, scores from The Godfather, Christmas songs, and other delights as we cruised up the Danube river!