Funny story. Our wonderful bus driver left us last night to return to Prague. Andy asked our guide how long it would take him to drive the trip and Tommy replied 5 or 6 hours. Andy’s response was “why did it take us 4 days?” I can tell you at least half that time was for bathroom breaks.

Our first stop from Bratislava was in Austria at the Roman ruins at Carnuntum. I have seen lots of Roman ruins in Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Sicily and Italy. What made these ruins different is that they reconstructed the ruins as the archeologists thought they looked like 1,700 years ago. I was not a fan at all. Give me Volubilis, Pompeii or Ephesus any day over something that looked like they ordered paint from Sherwin Williams.

Back on the road again to stop at the little city of Gyor and then on to Budapest.

We arrived at our hotel in Budapest in a very vibrant neighborhood filled with hoards of young people. No one seemed older than 30 and it was just wonderful. Those of you who know me well know that I am very aware of my surroundings and vigilant about unsafe surroundings. I never thought twice about feeling unsafe. Part of the sad part about Budapest is they are basically a poor county that does not have the financial resources to restore the glory of these marvelous buildings to what they once were. After World War II the Communists certainly had no interest in this and now the country has so many other problems including some corruption. No easy answers here.

Our hotel was very centrally located near shopping, restaurants and the transit system. Free for anyone older than 65! Only Tommy had to buy a ticket. What was also neat about this neighborhood is they have what is called “ruin cafes.” These bars or cafes open in dilapidated buildings. Below is the entrance to one of these establishments near our hotel.

First morning was the normal city tour. Who knew that on one side of the Danube was Buda and the other side was Pest. We were told many times that if we got lost just go to the river and then you would know where you are. But how do you know if you are on the Buda side or the Pest side? By the way the word is said like Budaphest.

We spent lots of time on our tour looking at wonderful churches, castles and monuments. We even went to the castle district that had no castles. Who knew?

After lunch we went on a tour of the Great Synagogue, the largest in Europe. This was very special to all of us as we were supporting our friend, Laura, who is Jewish and deeply affected by being in this part of the world and the horrific things that happened here.

Our evening ended with a wonderful cruise on the Danube River.

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

On our last day in Budapest we had a tour from a Hungarian woman whose family had been living here for many generations. Although she spoke of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 she was not yet born. The Hungarian Revolution lasted two weeks and basically was organized by students who wanted to peacefully demonstrate against to Soviet Communist regime. One of the members of the Hungarian parliament found out about the students’ plan and traveled to Moscow to tell them about his countrymen’s plans. Soviet tanks showed up at the rally and thousands were killed. During the short lived revolution 600,000 Hungarians emigrated from Hungary.

Our last stop on this tour was at the famous Shoe Memorial. During WW II most of the Jews in Budapest were basically left alone. Several months before Budapest was liberated members of Hungarian Arrow Party, that had strong connections with Nazi officials, found out that the Soviets were advancing very close to the city so they rounded up approximately 20,000 Jews between November 1944 and January 1945 and brought them to the banks of the Danube River. They were made to strip in sub zero weather and hold hands. The reason for holding hands was so they did not have to waste ammunition to shoot every person. They could shoot every third or fourth person and they would drag the others into the freezing river.

In 2005 a memorial was installed called “Shoes Along the Danube” that basically referred to the fact that the only thing that remained from this massacre were the shoes left behind. There are no words to describe how horrifying this memorial was.

We ended the morning at the covered market. Basically the vendors were selling fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. We were there on a Saturday so there were many people doing their weekly shopping. Tourists were there buying cheap souvenirs and eating in the food court.

We stayed one day later after the main tour ended. Mainly this was because our airfare to leave on Sunday was extremely high. We spent a chilly morning walking through a craft show in an alley filled with “ruin cafes.” Kind of like The Villages, beer was being enjoyed at 11:00 AM on a Sunday morning. Early afternoon we took an Uber to the New York Cafe that was highly recommended by Sally Palmer.

The inside of the restaurant was something out of a Hapsburg palace. It originally began as a branch of the New York Life Company and then as a gathering place for the artistic and literary types in Budapest.

So we order Bellinis and Bloody Mary’s before lunch. We have this darling waitress named Greta. She comes over to our table and asks us if we had breakfast. Kind of a strange question. Then she asks if we like sour cherry, apricot or plum. Therese and I are thinking dessert. Wrong! She is taking about 60% liquors on the house. So she hers me call Andy by his name. I have a strange way of saying it with the Rochester flat A’s. Doesn’t she mimic my accent to a tee! So Greta wheels in this big cart.

Now mind you, she did not offer this to our other friends sitting at the next table. We all know it was because of “Andy.”

Next came lunch and finally dessert.

So back to the hotel to start packing for tomorrow’s flight home and for 1 more round of margaritas in the lobby bar! Another great vacation in the books with my peeps.

Next up Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania in July 2026.