Three Days in Buda and Pest

May 16, 2026

Friday, May 15

As you probably remember reading/hearing at some point in your life, the capitol city of Hungary was once two cities divided by the Danube River, Pest on the east and Buda on the west. Pest is flatter and generally more commercial, while Buda is hillier and more historical. Those are generalizations, and there are lots of exceptions, and the two cities are now one.

The View up the Danube

Nice room at the Hilton

The Views

The Distinctive Hungarian Parliament Building

Our Viking Var docked on the Pest side

Looking south past the Chain Bridge

Beautiful lighting at night

Saturday, May 16

The Var heading back upriver toward Vienna this morning

A beautiful thing in Budapest is that all public transportation (trams, buses, local trains) is free to anyone over 65. And their transportation system is amazing, goes everywhere. So a decision was made to take advantage of this feature and explore the city without any particular goals in mind.

A local farmers market

A perfect timing coincidence, walking along the river. Happened to see our next boat, the AMA Magna, arriving in Budapest. We board it tomorrow. It’s the widest boat on the Danube.

The famous Budapest Market Hall,
located in the old train station

Gotta buy some paprika to take home

Scenes of Budapest

Long day, starting to rain harder, gotta finish with the Budapest specialty, a chimney cake:

Nutella filling

Rolled in cinnamon

YUM!!

Sunday, May 17

It's been raining even harder today, thus a day meant for relaxing, reading, and catching up with the blog. Breakfast and a light lunch in the lounge at the Hilton.

A shame, really, because there's so much to see and do in this city. Never got to visit the famous baths of Budapest, or the inside of the Parliament building, or many other sites. The good news is that Budapest is a city worth revisiting. I’d like to come back here, spend more time. People are very helpful and friendly, many love to practice their English, prices are relatively reasonable, and the food is good, especially if you're fond of paprika.

But time rolls on, and soon, Zoltan, the pre-arranged taxi driver arrived to provide transport to the ship waiting on the Danube. I'm including the first evening on this page, as the ship is in Budapest until 10 pm.

The AMA Magna

First impressions on board were very positive. AMA is clearly more “elegant” than the Viking Var. Surprisingly, though, the cabin is just about the same size as the cabin on the Var. There is a balcony, however, which will add to the living space. Being on the main deck is a plus, also, as the views from the previous basement cabin were non existent.

There's an orientation and safety talk meeting, followed by dinner in one of the four restaurants on board. That should do it for today, but I took a few photos to share to wrap up the stay in Budapest.