City Bus Tour: random images
Parliament Building
Shoes on the Danube Memorial
A visit to the Central Market
Our afternoon Discovery was a walk across the Danube to the beautifully-tiled entrance of Budapest’s Great Market Hall. The soaring, three-level cast-iron structure was designed and built by a Hungarian architect — although the influence of Gustav Eiffel seems unmistakeable.
Our quests were two-fold: Rob (and V who joined up with us) were looking to purchase bags of Hungarian smoked paprika — size yet to be determined. I was looking for a mini Hungarian flag. We stopped at all 1,300 paprika shops under the market’s canopy (Maybe there’s been a slightly exaggeration there!) before they both made purchases from one the first stands we visited.
The second level of the market was my destination. And it would have delighted Peg Neeson to no end. It was a maze of end-to-end miscellany shops, stuffed with the kind of souvenir “crap” gifts one brings home to relatives and dog sitters. She would have been in paradise. I eventually found an appropriately-sized Hungarian flag and called it a day.
Leaving the market, acquisitions in hand, Rob and V decided to explore an intersecting street just outside the front entrance. I headed back across the Liberty Bridge on foot, dodging bicycles and scooters all the way back to the ship.
Dinner shipboard
After dinner, I left the ship to walk along the riverbank after dinner. The lights of Budapest were illuminating the buildings along the Pest side – a preview of what was to come tomorrow night.
Eastern Europe: Black Sea to Budapest 