Budapest Day 3 - Buda Castle and Bridge to Bridge

We planned a big walk up to Buda Castle today, so we got up early at 6:30 a.m. to avoid the warmest part of the day—it’s supposed to reach 27 degrees later.

There’s a funicular railway heading up the hill, but we were too early—and too frugal—for that. Taking the steps was our preferred option. That got the heart and lungs pumping, but the hill wasn’t too big. We were soon at the top, enjoying the view back over to Pest. We also had our first close-up view of the castle. It’s an impressive building. They certainly know how to build beautiful things in Hungary. We wandered along, down, and up again before finding our way into the inner courtyard, which was great to see. It’s hard to describe the building, but we took a few pictures that will hopefully do it justice.

Eventually, we made our way back down some new steps to street and river level and set off for the bridge in the distance. It looked a long way off, but given it was only 9 a.m, we had plenty of time and didn’t need to rush. We tried—unsuccessfully—to find a couple of geocaches that I suspect were missing, given the recent logs… or perhaps we’re just completely out of practice. There was a pretty church beside the road too. 

We crossed another bridge and returned to the Houses of Parliament from a different direction than yesterday. There was some sort of military parade forming on the square—soldiers, horses, and a band—all waiting for something. Police and what looked like the local equivalent of the secret service were keeping watch. There was even a red carpet. A quick Google search suggested it was a meeting of Secretaries of State, and this was the welcome ceremony. We waited a few minutes, but nothing seemed to be happening, so we headed off toward home.

We hadn’t gone more than 150 metres when the band started to play. Naturally, we hurried back to watch and listen. A black fancy car pulled up, and a couple of dignitaries got out and walked up the red carpet into Parliament. No idea who they were, but clearly important enough for the ceremony. Sarah later found out the man was a member of parliament from Botswana visiting Hungary. 

We left—again—and this time made it all the way back to our apartment, stopping at the Spar for Cokes and ice cream. Once home, I checked the Strava tracker, only to find it hadn’t recorded a bloody thing. Shoot! I’ll figure out how far we walked some other way and let you know. My phone’s step counter says only 15,000 steps, but it felt like our biggest walk yet. My feet certainly think so!

Update: My route planning app says we walked just over 10km. Mocked up route from the planner is shown below. 

The afternoon was spent doing not much at the apartment. TV watching, reading, etc and a game of  Five Crowns which I lost. That makes the score 1 all so far. 

We went to a Lidl supermarket to get supplies for dinner. Rump steak, lettuce, capsicum, tomato, and fresh bread. We opened the can of beer we purchased two days ago to wash things down.  The steak was not very tender but had a good taste. Sarah thought the steak was $20/kg when we picked it up but actually it was $70/kg! We only just worked that out now. Ooopps. But even then the total cost of the meal was only $27.