Since we had only one full day in Budapest, it meant we had a lot to see in that day. Having visited the Fisherman’s Bastion the previous night and our first Christmas market on this day, Boxing Day, it was time to find the second Christmas market we planned to visit. We knew it was close by, but we were having a little challenge finding it. However, getting lost only allows one to explore the area even more, and we did. We wandered past some interesting buildings eventually coming across an outdoor ice skating rink. Most of the skaters there didn’t seem too skilled, but they were having fun.
A nearby tourist info place finally pointed us in the right direction. We had to go down a street called Fashion Street. It had a lot of high end, expensive fashion stores. We saw the street was decorated with numerous lights so we determined we needed to come back at night to see it all lit up. At the end of the street was the other Christmas market. In the center a large snow dome dominated the area. It looked to me to be covering a statue that was perhaps already in the center of this square.
This market had shops that were more artisan in nature, more unique. We actually bought a print here showing some of the major points of the city. Of course a number of food places were doing business as well.
It was here that I fulfilled my second food interest, roasted chestnuts. As a kid I wondered what it would be like to eat a roasted chestnut. The words, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” sparked this interest. No one that I knew roasted chestnuts, and I always wondered how they tasted. I was about to find out.
Some booths had big bags of chestnuts, but I didn’t want to buy too many as I didn’t know if I would like them. Andrea wanted some mulled wine, another common Christmas drink at the markets, so she found a place that had both.
They had just started roasting a batch of chestnuts so they told us to come back in 20 minutes. We did. I bought a small bag of chestnuts and ate two of them. I was not impressed. The taste was kind of bland, almost like mashed potatoes, and the texture was rather strange. They left a bad taste in my mouth that lingered on. Although disappointed, at least I now knew the answer to my question.
With the markets covered, we decided to go back to our hotel and rest some as we still had a very long evening ahead of us. The walk back along the Danube River and over the Chain Bridge offered a number of interesting sights to see.
Since today was Andrea’s birthday, we had purchased tickets for an evening dinner cruise on the Danube. The cruise did not start until 7:30, but we wanted to check out some of the lights before heading over for the cruise so we left in plenty of time. The sun set before 4:00 so it was easy to get out and see the lights in the dark. We had walked about eight miles in the morning. Nevertheless, we persisted and again walked down to the city. We now had night views of the Castle Hill area and the Chain Bridge over the Danube River to take in.
Our main objective in revisiting the downtown area was to see Fashion Street all lit up. However, it seemed everyone else wanted to do the same thing. People crowded the street, and everyone was trying to get a good angle for their selfies or photos of their friends. It was crazy. Overall Budapest had seemed a busy place, but this night certainly topped it all. We worked hard to get our photos, but we were glad to get out of the crowds of people at the other end. (Yes, the Fashion Street sign is hanging over the street)
We then headed back over to the skating rink area as they had lights in the trees that hung over the rink. They also had two lions made of lights. We had noted that lions were a frequent sight in Budapest. The most famous lions grace the four corners of the Chain Bridge we crossed into town. Visitors can also find statues of lions around the city often engaged with a dragon or serpent.
After exploring a little more of the area, we headed back to Fashion Street and walked down to the market. We then took a side street through town just to see what it had to offer. We eventually ended up near the Danube River where I took photos of another church with the typical architectural towers. It was still early for our cruise so we found ourselves just killing time.
We finally walked over to get in line for our cruise on the Danube. The line seemed very long. However, it turns out not everyone was going on the dinner cruise. Some were going on a separate boat cruise without any dinner.
The crew finally admitted us onto the boat. It was a nice setting. There were two piano players who alternated playing throughout the night and would sometimes play together. A woman vocalist also did some songs throughout the evening so there was always music going on.
This was a three course dinner. Thankfully the dishes were not too unique, and we chose options that we enjoyed. First was a soup course. The main course followed. The portions seemed small with that, but it was quite tasty. We all had chicken. Finally we enjoyed the dessert course. They held off serving that course quite a while to stretch out the evening.
The cruise was advertised as three hours. I was expecting that we would go up the Danube River for quite some distance and then turn around and come back on the other side of the river. That’s not what happened. Basically we just went around in the same circle five times. We went under a bridge and turned back as we approached the next bridge. We went back under the bridge again and then turned around at the next bridge.
This route did offer plenty of opportunities to photograph the city buildings along the Danube River. Our seats were not by the window, but we could go outside to take pictures with an unobstructed view. As expected the Parliament Building was particularly popular as we went by it.
After an hour and a half the boat returned to the dock. Some people got off, and others got on. We were a little puzzled by that as we hadn’t seen anything about an hour and a half cruise with food, but apparently this was something that could be done.
At 10:30 we returned to the dock. It had been a long day, and we still had to walk the fifteen minutes or so back to our hotel. By the time we arrived we had reached a total of nearly thirteen miles of walking this day, and our tired bodies felt it.
We had seen a lot in a day and a half, but we still had a half day left in Budapest before leaving for Prague. Next week I’ll share the rest of our Budapest exploration. In the meantime feel free to ask any questions in the comment box below. I’ll do my best to answer them from my experience. Until next Wednesday…
Credit: Silvette Lee took the photos of me buying chestnuts and our meal on the cruise.