Day 14 - Vienna to Budapest

 Our 14th dry ride in 14 days and another day of mid to high twenties temperatures,

We only had about 160 miles to go today and hotel check-in again, was a late one, 16:00, so we didn't need to rush. The last two rides have been less miles together than the Zakopane to Bratislava day.

We had a stop at the Hungarian border for the usual border sign pic, followed by our first fuel stop. I've no idea how many Florints it was to fill up but in the thousands. I wasn't feeling too good today, so we made a stop so I could buy some water. Grizzly also stocked up on shower gel and body spray.

A first for both of us, Hungary

We made the usual coffee stop, with about 50 miles to go and killed some more time. Now it has come to my attention that people are questioning our visits to McDs and the frequency of them. It's simple really, why we choose this outlet. We can order on a screen, so there are no language issues, we can hook up to free wifi, we always know there'll be a toilet, and most importantly, Grizzly likes the latte! We have, thus far, avoided having a meal there, though that's not saying we won't at some time. For now though we'll keep it up our sleeve.

Fighting our way through some heavy traffic, again in 29 degrees, we made it to the hotel. A quick turnaround was required, as I had quite a full itinerary planned. Plus, we had to fit dinner in somewhere.

We headed to the metro, and this time, took the right train. In fact everything tonight went perfectly, trains, trams and buses.

First, we made for the Buda side of the Danube, solely to get a picture of the Hungarian Parliament building. It was certainly worth it.

Hungarian Parliament

 Back to the Pest side of the river, we made our way to the Shoes on the Bank of the Danube memorial, in memory of people who were killed by fascists in WWII. It's a lovely tribute.

Shoes Memorial

Now before we left the hotel, I'd identified a restaurant, near to the shoes, that did authentic Hungarian food, so we made our way there. A table for 2 was had but only just. Not long after, they were turning people away. Food was nice, beer was nice but the live music, played by an old chap on a zylophone type instrument, with what looked like bits of rag on the end of sticks, left a lot to be desired. It was very hard to work out what he was playing.

Fed, we took a tram along the riverside, then got a bus to take us over the river again, Here we got the funicular up to Buda Castle.

Grizzly on the Funicular

Once at the top, we wandered around and took some more pictures. We came across a large group of people dancing. It seemed to be well organised with music but they weren't professional performing dancers and it looked like anyone could join in. A bit of fun in the early evening.

Back down on the funicular, this really was a whistlestop tour, we went back over the river to see Budapest's oldest tree, dating from 1789. Why not, we were so close to it.

Budapest's Old Tree

From the tree we walked a short way to the Cathedral Square, for more photos, before making our way back to the metro and  'home'. City tour complete!

St Stephen's Basilica

I was really pleased that we got to see everything I had us down for and Grizzly seemed to enjoy it too. From waht we saw in a few short hours, it's a really lovely city, with plenty to see and do. Maybe worth another visit? 

As we neared the hotel, we felt a few spots of rain, hardly surprising, it was so warm and humid. Hopefully, if it does rain, it'll be gone by tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we are making our way 230 or so miles to Zagreb. Another first, another country, another capital.

Till then.