The only agenda I had pre-cruise was to visit one of the famous thermal baths. I thought this would soothe our traveling muscles and because as Koreans, we love saunas. So we left the hotel and enjoyed the fresh morning air of Budapest and observed the hustle and bustle of the city:
For breakfast, I had researched the Drum Café, but when we arrived it was touristy and they still needed another 30 minutes to open despite their published opening hours. So we enjoyed lattes and croissants at a bakery next door and then ordered a Bolt which is like an Uber popular overseas.
Our driver was confused as our destination was in the middle of the city park. He asked us, “are you sure you don’t want the spa?” I said we were going afterwards as we wanted to visit the monument to Ahn Eak Tai - the writer of the Korean anthem who spent time in Budapest. His statue is in the same park as the spa:
The spa is called Széchenyi Thermal bath and is located in a large baroque complex. There were several options in the area, but this is the most iconic. Per Wikipedia, Budapest is considered the spa capital of Europe with more than 100 medicinal geothermal springs and the largest thermal water cave system. Here’s the building and a photo of the lobby:
The complex had volcano, aroma, and salt saunas plus dozens of pools at different temperatures and three large outdoor pools. I did a quick swirl which was like a spa ride and then headed inside where we spent several hours. I only took this photo of the outside pools as we were leaving as I didn’t want to carry my phone and for privacy reasons…
We decided to take the metro to downtown. My mom benefitted from the free public transportation as 65 and over ride free, even for foreigners. We got off the metro and walked through the downtown, passing this statue of the “Paper Boy”:
We had reservations at Costes Downtown which is a sister restaurant to Costes. I was excited to have a simple meal à la carte, but to my surprise, when I adjusted the headcount from three to two as Rachel didn’t end up coming, I managed to book the chef table. I didn’t want a tasting menu, let alone the special chef table. But as it was prepared for us, we ate the artistic meal and observed the kitchen:
Here, the chef lays scallops on a beetroot frame making art:
We also brush off the Jerusalem artichoke powder off this apple dessert:
After lunch, we walked over to the riverbank to see the famous "Shoes on the Danube Bank", a memorial honoring Jewish victims that were were forced to remove their valuable shoes before being executed. There are 60 pairs and we said a little prayer:
We were on the Pest bank of the Danube River, but here’s a photo of Buda Castle in the drizzle:
Budapest is actually two cities that were unified in 1873 - Buda and Pest. Previously, it was also called Pest-Buda and split by the Danube River. We’ve only been on the Pest side and will visit Buda tomorrow.
We hopped on a #2 tram along the river and returned to our hotel to retrieve our luggage and board our boat. The Uber ride was just five minutes as I diligently looked for our boat, Avalon’s Imagery II in the rainy darkness.
We checked into our Panorama Suite and were double docked, so will take photos later. We also immediately settled in, so I decided to upload a photo from the website so you can see the layout and floor to ceiling glass or panorama:
After resting and unpacking, we explored the boat and then joined the welcome toast and safety briefing. We met a mom and her two daughters from Ottawa and listened to the cruise director’s funny spiel. Short story - be careful of low bridges, don’t touch the locks as we pass, and when looking out your window be mindful of the boat’s direction and look both ways. Also, when double docked, keep the curtains closed!
For dinner, my mom and I weren’t hungry due to our chef tasting menu so we headed down late. We were seated with a lovely couple from Missouri with their son and daughter-in-law from Arkansas. They all love to travel and were absolutely lovely.
My mom and I had cauliflower soup and consommé, respectively and then shared Túrós Csusza or savory Hungarian curd noodles with bacon and cottage-cheese sour cream and Fogas Korhel, pan-fried fillet of river perch with korhely broth and semolina dumplings. Boris, our waiter, insisted we order Zserbó, a Hungarian Gerbeaud Cake with an apricot walnut filling and chocolate glaze. A compilation below:
The Missouri mom said she only travels on Avalon as they are known to have better food than the Viking cruises. The meal was absolutely tasty and we’re looking forward to the experiences this five night Christmas Market cruise has to offer!
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