Note: click photo for larger view. ©2014, David A. Porter

Click photo for larger view. Public Domain Photo from Wikipedia.

It’s December 6th, and it’s a cloudy, drizzly day in Budapest with the thermometer topping out around 45º.  Tonight, we’ll board the Viking River Cruises longship Alsvin, and begin our 8-day cruise up the river Danube.

While the rain was only intermittent drizzle, and as this was our scheduled day to explore Budapest, we opted for one of those hop-on hop-off bus tours to see the major sites of the city instead of walking around in the cold.

For a couple of hours, we rode through the cities of Buda and Pest, listening through the bus’ headsets, as we learned about the history and ogled the beautiful architecture of the beautiful city of Budapest.

After seeing the sights of Buda, we opted to walk across the Chain Bridge back to our hotel.  Towards the middle of the bridge, I turned around and snapped this rainy day photograph with my iPhone.

If you click my photo above, you’ll enjoy a better view of the bridge, the Buda Castle on the hill, and even the funicular transporting people up and down the Buda Hill.  Also, in stark contrast, click on the black and white photo to observe the bridge and castle in ruins after allied bombings in World War II.

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge , István Széchenyi being a major supporter of its construction, was completed in 1849. The Chain Bridge was the first permanent bridge to link Buda and Pest (later becoming Budapest), and has become one of the most iconic landmarks in Budapest.  If you see a photograph of Budapest, it’s very likely that you’ll also see the Chain Bridge.

To give you another perspective of the beautiful Chain Bridge, here’s a photograph that I shot from our hotel room at the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace.

Note: click photo for larger view. ©2014, David A. Porter

If you look close, you can also see three Viking River Cruises ships under the bridge.   We’ll tell you more about our Four Seasons and Viking River Cruises experiences in future posts.

You know, having only a small taste (2 days) of Budapest left us wanting more.  Much more.  Carol and I greatly enjoyed Budapest, and we hope to enjoy a much longer stay sometime in the future.  We highly recommend Budapest, and hope you’ll stay tuned as we share much more about this fabulous city dubbed the “Paris of the East”.

Disclosure: our river cruise experience was provided by the kind folks at Viking River Cruises, and our hotel stay was provided by the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest.  Thanks!
 
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