Day 11 - Friday 5th June

We set our alarm for 6:30am (before the tour wake-up call) and went down for breakfast on the mezzanine level. It was an excellent breakfast as you would expect in a Sofitel Hotel - plenty of choice, a chef to cook omelets and eggs plus excellent service.

The bus left at 8:30 for a tour of both sides of the Danube River - Buda and Pest. Once again, Eva was our guide. She was very entertaining and told lots of relevant jokes. For example, she told a joke about Zsa Zsa Gabor - she had numerous husbands and she was a good housekeeper because, after every divorce, she kept the house.

The bus crossed the Chain Bridge and went up the hill (Castle Hill) and parked below a village. We walked up the hill and through the village to the Matthias Church. There were plenty of photo opportunities both outside and inside the church.

Outside the church, there was a stonework terrace called Fisherman's Bastion that has a panoramic view of the Danube River and the city below including the parliament building. Nearby there is a statue of St Stephen.

After visiting the various sites, there was time to walk through the plaza and back down the cobblestone street towards the bus. Suzy stopped at various souvenir shops along the way while I took photos of the scenery.

Next we drove to Gellert Hill which has the reputation for providing the best views of the river and the city. It was very crowded with people, cars and particularly tour buses. It was a real challenge for Ference to manoeuvre the bus up the narrow roadway to drop us near the lookout.

The bus then took us back over the Chain Bridge, past our hotel and into the Pest side of the city. We stopped at Heroes' Square which is a large plaza with numerous impressive monuments and statues. Next we drove along Andrassy Boulevard which is lined with beautiful buildings.

Finally we reached the central market where we got off the bus to walk through the markets. It is a large two-level structure containing rows of neat, well-presented stalls. The shops on the ground floor mainly sell food whereas the upper level is mainly for clothes.

We were warned to watch for pickpockets but we didn't have any problems. The tour ended at about 12:15pm and we decided to stay in the markets. Suzy and Melanie wanted to go upstairs to look at the clothes and so I tagged along.

There were a series of narrow walkways crowded with people and displays. Suzy bought some gloves.

For lunch we found a little shop on the top level where you order from the counter and eat at benches and stools next to the railing. I had goulash stew and the girls had goulash soup.

I left them to continue shopping in the market while I walked back to the hotel along the pedestrian mall, under the bridge and along the river. When I got to our hotel I continued on and walked across the Chain Bridge taking lots of photos of the bridge and the view.

There were statues in the park opposite our hotel and they were setting up for an event. As I strolled back to the hotel, I noticed a small group of girls in bikinis in the park enjoying the sunshine. Suzy was already back at the hotel by the time I got there. Soon afterwards she decided to go back to find a famous pastry shop.

At about 6pm, we decided to take advantage of the free drink vouchers that the hotel had given Suzy last night when we arrived. Some of our tour group were also already in the bar in the front of the hotel near the Chain Bridge.

David had organised for the entire tour group to have drinks in the hotel bar at 6:30. There was plenty of beer and wine for us all to enjoy.

We got chatting to David in the bar. It turns out he is doing a PhD in a philosophical area looking at people's attitudes and cultures. He referred us to a World Values website. It was a deep and meaningful discussion.

Then we decided to have dinner in the hotel's open-air patio area with many of the tour group. It was a very pleasant meal in an attractive location. We were in bed by about 11pm.