Budapest or Buda and Pest

After leaving the Four Seasons after lunch we took an eveniong flight to Budapest arriving in darkness so this view with J of the Houses of Parliament across the Danube from the hotel door (left) first thing the next morning was all the more dramatic - and from the Royal Palace even more striking - but not much sign of the 'blue ' Danube

Heroes square (below right) the memorial to the 1956 uprising when students tried to knock out Russion tanks with molotof cocktails

Our only full night in Budapest started the musical theme which stayed with us throughout the rest of the trip. The 'Operatta Boat' paraded up and down the Danube while we ate dinner, looked up at the lights of the city (left below) and watched with two Transylvanian Israelis and three Norwegians (on our table) music and dancing ranging from high opera (right below), violin solos, Irish jigs through to ...................

to Turkish belly dancing and racy 1930s American!!

J in action - first posing by the Citadel overlooking the Danube and second attacking a must do in Budapest - a Hungarian goulash!!

Every place has its little surprises as with this copy of Dracula's castle (the original is in Transylvania which borders on Hungary) and (right) a double decker bus turned into a cafe looking down on the Danube from the old Citadel

Budapest is a spa so your average public swimming pool looks more like a mosque - or an opera house - see later.

The 'silver weeping willow' behind the Dehany Street synagogue is one of many memorials across eastern Europe to the many thousands of jews who perished in the second world war. This striking example is to the 600,000 jews who were killed by the Germans in Hungary.









The final shot of Budapest is this 'tongueless' lion for no particular reason except Jacky liked it. It was sitting at the end of one of the supports for a suspension bridge