Budapest

After our wonderful dinner cruise in Budapest on Christmas Eve, we woke up the following morning and set out to explore the city in the light of day. Even though it was Christmas Day, a lot of stores and restaurants were open, and they were many tourists wandering the city. We started the morning with a stop at one of their Christmas markets for food and a little shopping.

I couldn't tell you now exactly what we ate other than this sausage, but it was all yummy and most importantly, hot on a chilly morning!

We discovered that hot chocolate in Eastern Europe is more like pudding than a beverage, but it was delicious all the same.

The fog from the night before had lifted, and we spent the rest of the day walking around the city. I swear it felt like we walked ten miles that day, although Don assured me it was closer to seven! Our ultimate destination for the day was Budapest Castle, but along the way we stopped at several statues.

The climb up to this guy was no joke!

The best statue was this one of Queen Elisabeth! Remember me telling you about SiSi during our time in Vienna? Well, not only was she the Empress of Austria, she was also the Queen of Hungary.

Next up was the Budapest Castle Complex

We rode the funicular to the top and got to see the changing of the guards.

The church in the castle complex is The Church of Our Lady, or Matthias Church. A church has existed on this site since 1015, but the current church building was begun in 1370. Unfortunately the church's bell tower collapsed during a service. Reconstruction was overseen by Matyas Corvinus, known as the People's King, in the late 1400s. The church is known as Matthias Church because of the great contributions of this king in the rebuilding of the church.

The church is stunningly beautiful on the inside and the outside. The second floor of the church houses some historical artifacts, including this bust of SiSi! 

Surrounding the back of the church, facing the Danube River, is a beautiful terrace called Fisherman's Bastion. It was built between 1895 and 1902, but it gets its name from medieval times when instead of a beautiful terrace, thick stone walls were located here as part of the castle's protection. Historians say this part of the wall was protected by a guild of fishermen who lived beneath the wall. The fishermen would sell their catches in the fish market up in the castle complex, but during war time they would defend "their section" of the castle wall. The terrace is beautiful and offers sprawling views across the Danube to the other side of Budapest, including a stunning look at Parliament.

How amazing is their Parliament building?

Making our way back down to street level, we got one last view of Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church.

Going back across the Danube, we walked across the amazing Chain Bridge which we had seen lit up the night before.

We had one last stop to make before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner - St. Stephen's Basilica, named for the first King of Hungary. Stephen's "incorruptible" right hand is said to be housed inside the church.

The following morning, we headed out to the next country on our itinerary, but not before having a closer look at the Parliament building and a WWII memorial. This memorial was created to honor Jews who were shot into the Danube on January 8, 1945, after being told to remove their shoes. It is definitely one of the more moving memorial to the Jews that we've seen.

A foggy walk around Parliament was the perfect way to end our trip to Budapest.

Our time in Budapest was amazing! We loved every minute of it, and it is easily one of my top three favorite European cities so far. If you're in Europe, you definitely need to add it to your list of must-sees!