River Cruise on the Danube - Budapest, Hungary

One of the highlights (and we had many) of our time in Budapest was to take an afternoon river cruise on the Danube River.

It was a rainy afternoon and we thought the view would be poor through the windows of this boat.

But, I think the rainy mood made the trip all the more enjoyable.

There were only a few people taking the cruise.  It was early March and the weather was still VERY cold and the tourism was low, which was nice for us.

First, we cruised south down the river before we turned around and headed north to Margaret Island.

 This is the Budapest Castle (Buda Castle) and Castle Hill on the Buda side of the river.

We spent the morning exploring here.

The views of the city are spectacular from the top of the hill.

This is the first bridge we went under and also the first bridge we crossed by car when Agnes picked us up at the train station.

It is the Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsébet in Hungarian), the third southernmost bridge from the city center.

This is the Liberty Bridge (Szabadség in Hungarian), sometimes called the "Freedom Bridge".

It is the second southernmost bridge from the city center.

All the bridges in the city are different and unique.

 This is the the Gellért Hotel and Gellért Spa.

It sits just south of Buda Castle along the river.

We had a wonderful afternoon at this spa...those photos will be posted soon.

It seems that every spa is special in its own way.

We didn't see any two that were alike,

This is the Margaret Bridge (Margít Híd in Hungarian).  

Margaret Island is now appearing on the left side of the boat.

 ...getting closer

and under!
Sally and I walked across this bridge on our last night in Budapest.
It was late at night and the city glowed in beautiful lights.
This bridge is also spectacular with its lights which we could easily see from our hotel room.

We continue north up the river towards the north end of Margaret Island.

The sky is very dark in the distance but the sun is peeking out over Budapest.

The light was spectacular!

This is enough for this post...more tomorrow!