Budapest to Budapest

Here I was thinking I had finished tormenting myself and anyone else who has been following our journey but realised that I would have to complete some comments being back in Budapest considering the title Budapest to Budapest. When we left three weeks ago, it had started to rain and that led to floods in the city. We did see some images of water up to parliament house. There were thoughts that our river cruise may have been affected but fortunately, that did not happen. When we returned, we could see debris left behind.

We were unaware that we were actually on an extension which included a bus tour of the city yesterday morning when we left the ship, and we had a show and dinner last night – a gypsy show with a meal, dancing and singing. Of course, we were thinking, not another bus tour. But we were lucky as the bus seemed to have some sneaky little ways to travel and we had different viewpoints for the palace and views of the city. It was a glorious morning and Budapest is a beautiful city so we took it all in. The hot air balloon was operating – that’s how good the morning was.

Our second stop was at Heroes Square. No change had been made since we were here a few weeks ago as the statue is still fully wrapped up. It was interesting to see that, where we saw paddle boats being used, there was no water, just concrete. Apparently, the area has now been drained and is being prepared so that it can be used for ice skating. We were unaware that the ‘fairytale castle’ that stands behind the artificial lake could be visited. The architecture was there to admire.

Back in the city, the guide familiarised us with the main shopping area which we had seen a few weeks back. We had a good look at the cathedral that was near our hotel, The Dorothea. We also sampled an ice cream from the Chimney cake shop. The ice-cream was nice but the cone part was a big dough.

Our last day in Budapest meant we had time to finish some shopping. The area we went to was new to us and we were unaware of what it had to offer. We found a shop that was run by a lovely lady by the name of Marianna. She was keen to speak to us and talk about her family which was lovely. Of course we bought some goodies and headed off.

At the end of this mall was a place with a tiled roof. Inside there were three levels of markets a bit like Melbourne markets. Of course, the vendors say that the folklore items are made in Hungary and we knew that was not true. They can be seen in many shops so are mass produced.

To finish our stay in Budapest, we drank some champagne and red wine with our new acquaintances from Brisbane and went to a pizza place to have pizza, pasta and Hungarian goulash soup. Budapest is a beautiful city and I would be happy to visit it again.

Waking to rain and wind was not what we wanted for our last day on board, but at least our chosen excursion catered for the weather.

Our first stop was the paprika farm at Dunapataj. The farm itself was huge with sheep grazing as well as horses and large white cows. The other excursion was to the horse show and we could see the other tour, plodding through mud. Even the horses seemed to be saying, ‘Yuck, my feet are muddy.’ It was very interesting. To me, they just looked like chillis. Growing paprika has been an industry in this area for a long time. We bought some paprika souvenir but we aren’t sure if we can bring it through customs.

The area around Kalocsa is noted for its Hungarian traditions – traditional handicrafts, needle work, hand embroidery. Our guide told us that the young ones are not interested in doing the embroidery so the old people have to carry on that tradition. They do use a sewing machine to do parts and it is amazing to watch – very intricate. The young ones are happy to continue to learn the traditional dances, so we were treated to a dance performed by a young boy and girl. They even showed us how many layers of petticoats are worn to make the skirt flare out.

Today has been our coldest day, 12⁰ being registered in the bus.

Waking in the morning and sailing on the Danube is pretty special. However, what we did notice was that there was evidence of flooding as some property on the northern side was underwater due to recent rainfall. The water flow has lots of eddies so we are very lucky to be heading in the direction that we are.

Our mooring was at Vukovar, Croatia. There was a sand quarry at the start of the town but above it was a tower. We noticed immediately that it had concrete missing, scars of the war. Vukovar looked like quite a nice little place with markets open but there was no stopping as we were bound for Osijek. It’s been almost 30 years since the war here in Croatia ended but there is still evidence of the war as mentioned in earlier blogs – shrapnel marks, bullet holes and buildings in disrepair as people have not been able to repair their buildings or they have been abandoned.

The Church of the Holy Cross provided the perfect place for a musical performance. Dora sang for us and her voice was beautiful. The acoustics of the church provide the perfect surrounds. It was quite dark inside the church as it was overcast and threatening to rain. At least it kept us warm too.

Tvrdja Fort and old city was an interesting spot with refurbishment happening here and there, but some buildings are yet to be repaired. It has a beautiful central square with a monument plus many buildings that showed different types of architecture. We had two musical presentations, one from a chap playing a piano accordion and one playing a tamburica. We were also treated to a wedding. She thought she had some extra wedding guests.

For lunch, we drove further into this agricultural bowl to the small village of Laslova. Three families were hosting lunch. We were house two, with our host David. His wife had done the cooking, but she had to go to work. Our interpreter was a young boy called Vito who was in Year 7. He learns English at school as he said ‘it is important’ but he has taught himself more through National Geographic on YouTube. He was amazing.

Back on board, three musicians entertained us until the boat set sail. In fact, we were 30 minutes late leaving and the guy was getting pretty keen to move them on. Two guys were the same as today playing the tamburica and the other the piano accordion while the third played guitar. They sang lots of folklore songs and we had no idea of what they were saying but the music was very infectious.

Overnight, we cruised to The River Vana which joins the Danube in Belgrade. We could see from the map that the fort was not far away, but we still went by coach to the top of the hill for the walking tour.

The fort has been rectified in most places and it offers a great view of the city from the rampants. Our guide, Milos, was a bit of a character, making comments from a very touchy area of politics. Following the walk through the fort, we were given 40 minutes to peruse the mall area. The architecture once again, was crazy. It is different due to the many influences over the centuries.

Once we were back on the bus, we travelled around the city looking at some important landmarks eg Tito's garden where he rests, until we arrived the Serbian Orthodox, Saint Sava Church. This church was very impressive having been completed recently. Many images are made with tiny mosaic tiles. The artisans must have been very skilled as the ceiling has several large domes. The guide told us that Jesus’ hands are 17 metres apart in the image over the alter. No matter where you stand in the church, his eyes are watching you. We were told that the images were put together on the floor first to ensure accuracy as he said, ‘if you put up there wrong, it would be a mess’. As I said, he was a character with a dry sense of humour. It was surreal to stand and watch people go about their worship, kissing the deity images and placing money in the boxes provided. All I could think about was COVID but they don’t seem to be too worried about germ transmission. Of course, you must remember, this is Novak Djokivic’s country!

Back on board, I chose to have tenderloin and salad for lunch. Just beautiful. Once refuelled, we headed back to the city centre, taking the 60 steps to get us up to the higher area. The mall area that we had been to in the morning was abuzz with activity – such a contrast to the morning. The buildings offer some shade and protection from the heat. A school of younger children were parading in head dresses and costumes that they had made. I was drawn to watching the teachers and kids as they paraded around proudly. Seeing another country working with the students was a blessing. Parents and grandparents were there taking photos, smiles etched on their faces. I asked one excited father if he spoke English. He told me he did but he needed to take a photo. Then he took the time to come back to me and explained that it was celebration of the start of Autumn and the students had all made their own designs. He was very happy with what the school did for his child.

Some younger lads were setting themselves up for a jam session in the mall. They were playing violins, piano accordions and bass guitar. Amazing traditional style music rang out. We were lucky to see them put one set together but for some reason, they were packed up when we came back. There was another singing stage with very young students so it may not of been possible for them to busk while the other celebrations were happening. It made me think of how proud these kids are to embrace their traditions.

After quite a walk we headed back on board for an early dinner as we had a special concert to attend back at St Sava Church. Their choir sang for us in the crypt. Their voices were amazing. Once again, they sang acapella, but they also had Igor, a very accomplished pianist. The acoustics of the crypt were amazing, every sound was clear even though we could not understand a word. A soprano sang Ave Maria. Captivating!

Belgrade at night is worth seeing. Our guide, the new Milos, explained that Serbians like to party and are happy to do so during the week as it’s too long to wait until the weekend. First part of the night is spent eating then the party starts around midnight until early hours of the morning. Sounds like home! He also explained, once again, that schooling happens in two shifts as they do not have the facilities to have all the students together at one time. School starts at 8 and ends at 1 then the next lot start and end at 6pm. The following week, they swap around the start time.

Today was an opportunity to sleep in. Well that didn’t happen. With the change of time zone, we were out of sync. It was a good opportunity to savour breakfast. The rooftop was quite glary and warm. We passed lots of villages, mainly on the southern side being Bulgaria until we finally crossed the Serbian border.

It was a day to catch up on blogs and chatting to others. The Danube was beautiful throughout the day. There were a couple of talks to go to but we didn’t really worry too much. We had our first lock crossing in the morning and another in the afternoon. They are certainly large in this area. After lunch, it was nap time.

The biggest excitement for the day was reaching the Iron Gates, which was known as the border between Serbia and Romania. It was once marked with a chain and it was a customs point. We only just made it before dark. I was a little ignorant around the story behind this carving in the rock and was always of the opinion that it was an ‘ancient’ wonder. It is a rock sculpture of King Decebalus but was only completed in early 2000s. It was really beautiful out on the top deck.