We reved up and we started our night wandering  the streets of Budapest with the Tigers sounding like roaring lions beside the Chain bridge. We passed from the side of Buda admiring the different appearances of the buildings. The belly began to ask for food so we ended up in a nice luxurious restaurant we had seen the day before, between the main square and the embassies.

The pianist    saw our shirts with the Greek flag, so he began to play ¨never on Sunday¨ and we sang along smiling. The menu was a bit  confusing  and with the help of the waiter we ordered three different regional dishes and salad accompanied by a lager   ... but because of the ounce of prevention (in this case the Greek one) better be late than sorry, we ordered pizzas to be sure that we will meet our gastric protests.

Content with our meal,  we climbed on the bikes and took the road leading to the hotel in the empty streets of the city at night...

 

We left the boat after an hour ‘s tour through the pedestrian road and arrived at Big Burger to grab  a snack  . We returned to the hotel for an afternoon siesta.

Following the pavement we  found ourselves in a huge square where we chose a restaurant, almost a touristic one to eat. The menu consisted of soup ,( the famous goulaz), goose and  rice, variety of meats cooked on  a huge skewer and all that accompanied by a lovely black beer which we could not rediscover throughout the rest of our trip. Prices slightly stiff. 

After dinner we decided to walk to digest .  Some buildings were occasionally  lit by some  strange lights. We followed them and found ourselves in front of  a huge ferris wheel in the main square   as the one they have  in London. Despite her  fear of heights Sotiria was persuaded to get on since the rest of us strongly desired to do so . The view from above  in the evening cannot be  described ... dazzled all three enjoyed our mobile stroll admiring the floodlit buildings of Budapest.

Before 2 pm, we went to Budapest, often called at the films as the Paris of the East. The constructions  made  in town for mounting rails for trams have brought upheaval, big traffic jams and dust. Eventually the system we saw in Istanbul, is adopted   and rightly so, by many European capitals. Despite the current modern  perspective, the stigma of Budapest lies in its history, marked by alternating periods of great wealth and prosperity and devastating eras, political and social unrest. Our hotel is located next to a picturesque Catholic church from the side of Pest.

We arranged our things in our  cosy  and neat    apartment, and rested . The afternoon we began our ride to the city center. We walked along the tram tracks  towards  the underground metro. We went down  and tried to get tickets from  the vending machine using our  credit cards. It  was  very easy since  the instructions were in English and happy with a stack of tickets, to have for all our transportations, we got on  the old but perfectly maintained compartment  of Metro. Going up to the surface with the enormous staircase, what  we saw was something that left us speechless. 

Astonishing  buildings, nice roads, perfect building architecture, fabulous sculptures that decorated their facades,   enough greenery  and pretty clean town. The modern Budapest was born in 1873 when Buda joined the Óbuda and Pest. Today the city consists of 23 districts. The Buda and Pest (Buda and Pest) are still distinct, representing two different characters of the city. The historic Buda Castle district offers medieval streets and houses, museums, caves and Roman ruins. The dynamic side of Pest, the largest Parliement building in Europe offers walks along the river, flea markets, bookstores, antique shops and cafes.

We walked up to  the Chain bridge. Nine bridges connect Buda to Pest but the Chain Bridge is the first and most famous, with solid arches and lion statues. Completed in 1848, and launched in 1849, allowing the unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1872. After significant damages caused by the Nazis, the bridge was repaired and opened again in 1949.

After that  we walked in the huge square which was full of young people drinking beer and sitting   on the grass watching the World Cup match on huge screens. Many people   happy faces. At that time the match   ended and everybody  with exemplary reverence took their cans of beer and all kinds of scrap and placed them near garbage bins which were overflowing of course.

Walking until after midnight, we came back to the Chain Bridge, where we took a taxi to take us to the hotel. Another  wonderful day trip had come to an end ..

The next morning we went   to the hotel ‘s lounge for  breakfast. Perhaps the best breakfast  ever .Perfectly cooked eggs in a great variety  . We left at 9 seeking Metro station, Forgach. 

Something about the breakfast, something about the very nice route, we were distracted and took the wrong way. So the 10 minute walk was a nice half hour among  bicycles  ,since    a bicycle road with huge trees reaching the sky on the right and left urged us to walk listening, every now and then ,the hovering bells of bicycles which wanted to pass.

We reached the center and while discussing what to do and where to go, we were approached by a gentleman offering us   a round trip around town with an openbus for Pest, the same in the city of Buda and cruise day and night on the Danube  at the cost of E17 per person  . And all this in only  two days. We  found this  package  particularly attractive so we got three tickets and we hopped on the bus. The sun made its  ​​  presence   and  we sunbathed on the tourist bus to get   a tan ...

In 500 meters ahead two cars bumped into  each other slightly , with the driver of the first vehicle getting out  of his car extremely angry shouting and swearing at  the other driver. In the adjacent intersection was a traffic policeman who came running to see what had happened. 20 seconds later   a police bike  came and  two more after 10  seconds  . Before the completement of two minutes from the time of the incident   two patrol cars and other  three motorcycles had come. Impressive response ! This shows how seriously they have invested in the product called tourism and leave nothing to chance ... as we Greeks, do of course ,don’t we ….????

We continued our sightseeing tour of the city. We saw the Royal Palace standing on the Hill of the Castle from the 13th century and has remained through time and wars. Inside the partially restored palace is a vast museum complex, the History Museum (also known as the Castle Museum) and the National Gallery of Hungary. We marveled at the Heroes Square which is one of the most important squares of Budapest, with a  rich historical and political touch. The spectacular complex of statues, the Monument of the Millennium, completed in 1900, the square was named "Heroes' Square" in 1929 and is dedicated to the name "In memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our national independence". We crossed the Andrássy boulevard, a broad avenue of 2,310 meters long with several buildings of unique architecture which connects the city center to the park. Here are the most expensive and rich houses of Budapest and the opera house stands out for its architecture. 

We were greatly impressed by the building of the Dohány synagogue. It is the second largest synagogue in the world, linked to the synagogue of Amsterdam which is Europe's largest. It was built between 1854-1859 in a romantic style. The building consists of three major corridors with seats for more than 3,000 people. Built with colored bricks which are very impressive with strong oriental elements. Next to the synagogue is the Jewish museum with many historical, religious and cultural objects. The tour became tedious but hilarious listening to the translator via headphones telling us about local attractions with an accent like the Google translator, seemed quite strange...

We got off the bus and sat  for coffee and refreshments hopefully to recover. Having taken plenty of energy  and without having lost our appetite for more learning, we decided to go for a day ride by boat on the Danube. This was the final blow for the men of the gang !!! The boat  was delayed and we sat  on the deck to best enjoy the view however  we got dizzy by the strong midday sun  .... Without second thought we got inside the boat which had air conditioning and since there were few people    we closed our eyes a bit leaving Sotiria taking photos trying to surpass  the Japanese tourists ..

After a while of course we recovered and we enjoyed the impressive buildings by the river ...