#2973 vacation memories: day 3 - Budapest (7 Sept 2025)

on the ship - ussie pic by Lizzie

Looking back through the photos and my notes from this day, it really is a day in three acts. Here's the story:

Part 1: We explore 

Lizzie and I were up fairly early because we wanted to walk around the city a bit before our driver came to pick us up at noon to take us to the ship. The hotel offered breakfast, but through her impeccable research, Lizzie had found a beautiful cafe not far from where we were staying, so we opted to breakfast at the cafe. 

The hotel was literally steps away from the Opera House, and it was spectacular and grand. 

Hungarian State Opera House

We walked around the area. It was Sunday morning, and the streets were quiet and everything was very clean. I didn't see a scrap of garbage anywhere. We were in the ritzy part of Budapest on the Rodeo Drive of the city. There was Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel...you get the picture. We turned down a side street lined with trees and saw this interesting statue:

statue in Budapest

I just googled what it was all about, and you can too, if you are interested. I didn't really care much about "the what" at the time as about the "wow, this cool" factor. I still kinda feel that way.

Breakfast was nice. We had cappuccino and a croissant on the sidewalk watching Budapest wake up on a Sunday morning. We heard the bells of St. Stephens. I could see the gorgeous Opera House to my left. I felt very satisfied and happy. The inside of the cafe was lovely. I've got a thing for chandeliers.

inside Muvez Kavehaz

Lizzie and I both love to visit local bookshops, and she'd found one about a 15 minute walk from our location. On that walk, we might have walked down the ugliest street in Budapest, then through a cute little park and into a sweet little bookshop with a cafe and a back garden. Since we'd just had breakfast, we didn't get another coffee, but we did buy a couple of postcards and I took this photo:

Massolit Books and Cafe, Budapest

From the bookshop, we took a different route through pretty streets with pretty buildings, and got back to our hotel with 15 minutes to spare before checkout. (oops!) We hung out in the lobby until the driver came to take us to the Viking dock.

Part 2: welcome aboard the Viking Aegir

Because there was a half-marathon happening in Budapest that morning, our ship was docked in a spot that was not it's usual berth, along with all the other river cruise ships that were in Budapest that morning. Our driver did try to drop us off a a different Viking ship, but I wasn't having it, and had him keep driving until we got to our ship, the Aegir. (It wasn't too far from where he wanted to drop us.) Crew members quickly came to the car, took our luggage, and escorted us on board. We were invited to go the the Aquavit dining area for a buffet lunch. I had the trofie pasta with pesto and a salad, along with a glass of white wine. I think Lizzie had the same. This was our first meeting with Leslie, a server from Budapest who would become a favorite of ours. He was funny and kind, and when he brought me that first glass of wine, I told him he was my new best friend, and that was that. 

After lunch we walked around the ship to get the feel of our home for the next seven days. It wasn't super fancy, but it was very clean and easy to get around. The guest capacity is 190, so compared to some ocean cruise ships with thousands of passengers and hundreds of staff, the Viking ship felt intimate and cozy.

Cozy is exactly the word I use to describe our stateroom. We were below deck, and there was a window, but all we could see were trees, mostly. We did have a stowaway spider on the outside in the window who spun a big web and rode along the entire trip. 

Here's a pic of our room (109) and a view of the ship from the upper deck:

room 109

the Danube River with Margaret Island on the left

We didn't leave the ship because it's location would have required us to get a taxi and we didn't know where we would go anyway. After we unpacked and got settled in, we sat up on the sun deck and continued to drink wine. It was sometime on the sundeck that I had the bright idea that we should take a night cruise on the Danube. Lizzie, who is/was not a fan of boats was up for it (probably because wine), so I booked the excursion, and we arranged a taxi through the customer relations desk on the ship to pick up us and take us to excursion dock. We had some dinner, which I really only know because I have pictures of it (chicken paprikas) and more wine, and then it was time to see the city at night. 

Part 3: night cruise on the Danube

The taxi came and took us to the dock where the cruise boats were. The price included a listening device in our language and a drink. I did not have the drink because, well, I fell asleep, or maybe more accurately, I passed out, just for a little while. I'm not proud of this, but it happened and that's that. I did wake up in time to see the Hungarian Parliament Building and it is glorious.

Hungarian Parliament Building

There were other buildings, too, but seeing this one was worth every penny of the price of that excursion. It's just stunning at night.

Luckily, our cab driver was there to take us back to the Aegir after the boat ride. I think Lizzie made the arrangement with him. I don't remember all that much about the rest of the night except that I was really happy.

The best part of the day was spending time day-drinking on a cruise ship with my sister.

I don't have any regrets. I'd do everything just the same way if I had a do-over.

travel journal

In the next post: learning about Pest and Buda, exploring on our own, and setting sail.