Danube Cruise and Exploration 2017 -- Day 10

Monday, August 21

Budapest, Hungary

Dohany Ut. Synagogue

What a great cruise that was. We already put down a deposit for our next one!

We got to Budapest, Hungary and disembarked after our last worry-free breakfast. The cruise had a process for leaving luggage until later in the day, and we did just that.

Kazinczy Ut. Synagogue

We immediately took a (free) walking tour of the Jewish Quarter here. The guide was great. We saw the Great Synagogue from the outside, as well as two other large synagogues.  The congregations here are named for the streets on which they are located.  For example, the great synagogue is called the Dohany U. Synagogue.  We learned a lot about the Jewish history of the city.  The guide was not Jewish, but he could have fooled us.

We stayed at a nice AirBnB in the center of town, checking in after we picked up our luggage at the boat.  It's a

whole studio apartment with a washing machine, and we washed our clothes.

The free tour of Jewish sites; our guide

We went to the Vodafone store to get a SIM card for our phones. It took FOREVER, mainly because mom couldn't remember her Apple password.

Since we have only a few days in the city, we bought a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket to familiarize ourselves with the place.  While we were at it, we added the bus for Vienna.

At nightfall, we boarded a round trip river cruise of the city center.  All the waterfront buildings in Budapest are beautifully illuminated at night, including the parliament, all the churches, and all the historic buildings.

This city is like Disneyland except it's real. There are castles and palaces everywhere and at night it is an amazing place.