Today was a very long day! We got up early, had breakfast on the go and got on an early train to Budapest. The trip lasted about two and a half hours, so we were there before 11 am. We decided not to waste time, so we caught a taxi to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths.
What an amazing place. The buildings are stunning, and the baths looked fabulous. There were hundreds of people going in. Unfortunately, they would not allow us to go in just to have a look, so we had to make do with walking around the building.
From there we headed across Varosliget Park to Vajdahunyad Castle. The buildings around here are just beautiful.
We were now close to the river, so we headed that way to look for the “Shoes on the Danube”, a moving tribute to the Jews who were marched to the edge of the river, ordered to take off their shoes, and then were shot.
From there we caught a ride up to Fisherman’s Bastion and the stunning views of Budapest.
After a spot of lunch at the nearby Piknik Pavilion, we wandered around Buda castle precinct and ended up at the Labyrinth, once used as a jail that included Vlad the Impaler as as prisoner.
From there we headed across the top to the President;’ Palace, and the main castle. the architecture just gets better and better!
We then caught the bus up to Citadella for a panoramic view of the city, before walking down the other side of the hill to Gellert Thermal Baths, the other beautiful bath house in the city.
At this point we were exhausted. It was getting toward 7 pm and we were conscious that we had a two and a half hour trip back to Vienna, so we caught a taxi back to Keleti station. All in all an exhausting, but very enjoyable day in Budapest.