Budapest (Sunrise/Sunset, Lady Liberty Statue, Aquincum)

Because we spent our first night in Budapest on the river cruise ship (our last night on the ship), we had the opportunity to see sunrise on the Danube River in Budapest.

After disembarking from the cruise ship for the last time, we boarded the bus for our half day in Szentendre. On our way there, we made a stop at the Liberty Statue (Szabadság Szobor or Statue of Liberty).

The hill upon which Liberty Statue resides provides more stunning views of Budapest and the Danube River. Our (now former) Gate 1 cruise ship is in a couple of these photographs, which shows how convenient its port was to Budapest.

Although we did not have the opportunity to stop there, we were able to see the ruins of the Roman City of Aquincum from the bus.

After returning from Szentendre and checking it into Hilton Hotel Budapest City, we took a short night cruise on the Danube River. We had seen the splendor of Budapest as we cruised into Budapest on the Danube in the morning, but this was an excellent complementary experience because it allowed us to see the city on the river at night. Sadly, my photographs don't do it justice.

Even with a decent chunk of the day spent in Szentendre and checking into the hotel and walking around downtown Budapest, we still got to enjoy the beauty of the sunrise on the Danube River, the Lady Liberty statue with its views, the ruins of the Roman city, and a gorgeous evening cruise.

Budapest (Heroes' Square, Fisherman's Bastion, Matthias Church, St. Stephen's Basilica)

After cruising into Budapest, we were able to spend three nights in that city (one on the cruise ship and two in the Hilton Budapest City). This allowed for us to spend more time in Budapest than we were able to spend in any of the other cities and towns we visited on the Danube River cruise. Because of this, I will have more than one post covering Budapest and this post will highlight Heroes' Square, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion, and St. Stephen's Basilica. Fisherman's Bastion and St. Stephen's Basilica provide outstanding high-level views of Budapest.

Although the several bridges over the Danube connecting the Buda and Pest sides of Budapest are amazing as one cruises into the city, there are different perspectives of them from land. These images show the Liberty Bridge.

Heroes' Square (Hősök tere) is Budapest's largest public square. I was happy to not be driving in the area as the roads going around this square were numerous, busy, and not laid out in a way obvious to visitors. I would have liked to have seen this monument with fewer people present, but all of the tour buses drop off large groups of tourists here to take photographs.

Matthias Church (Mátyás-templom) is located near Buda Castle.

Although Fisherman's Bastion is impressive to view, the views from it are even more impressive!

St. Stephen's Basilica (Szent István Bazilika) is a beautiful building inside and out.

For a small charge (that had to be paid in Hungarian Forint when we were there), one can access the observation deck at St. Stephen's Basilica. The next image shows one piece of the stairway to the observation deck and a small elevator carries folks up partway as well.

The ascent to the observation deck of St. Stephen's Basilica provides a spectacular view of the surrounding Pest side of Budapest.

On this first day in Budapest, we were able to see some of the most famous attractions in Budapest and saw some sweeping panoramic views of this magnificent city.