Budapest, Hungary

In March, I was lucky enough to go on a river cruise with my mom. I am my mom’s associate as a travel advisor so this was a “work trip.” Before we hopped on the boat, we stayed one night in Budapest at Matild Palace, a boutique hotel. After our stay at the Matild, we walked onto the Avalon Envision where my mom and I would spend 5 nights on the Danube River. The cruise sailed to Bratislava, Slovakia; Esztergom, Hungary; Visegrad, Hungary; and back to Budapest, Hungary.

The Matild Palace

The Matild Palace is such a gorgeous hotel. The lobby has beautiful velvet couches and golden framed pictures all over. When we walked into our room it was like a dream. There were massive windows that looked out towards the Elizabeth Bridge, the tallest ceilings you could imagine, two beds for me and my mom, an entire mirror wall (that was also the tv), and the bathroom had the BEST tub/shower room. I want to go back just for that shower.

Free Time in Budapest

Since we had a free day in Budapest before the cruise, we decided to do a tour. The day we flew in was in the late afternoon so we just explored on our own, but when we woke up the next morning it was go time! My mom found us a tour with Tours by Locals and we did a Jewish Heritage Tour. It was a 4-hour tour where we walked all around the Pest side of Budapest learning about the Holocaust in Hungary and then doing some extra exploring as well. The first two hours were solely Jewish Heritage based so we went to synagogues, the ruin bars, and learned a lot about how the Jewish people of Hungary were treated before, during, and after the Holocaust. During the second half of the tour, our guide, Rashad, took us exploring around the rest of the Pest side and we even took shots of Palinka (Hungary’s famous drink) right by the gorgeous Parliament Building. Although this tour was quite sad, it was probably my favorite tour from the whole trip. I would highly recommend Tours by Locals. After our tour, we found the Cat Café and had some coffee while hanging out with the Maine Coons in the café. That evening, we hopped on the cruise and set sail towards Slovakia that night.

Bratislava, Slovakia

We woke up and looked out our window to beautiful Bratislava. That morning my mom and I had separate excursions. She went on a tour of the city and hiked up to the castle. I spent my time in a quaint shop painting a version of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe piece. Our group from the cruise had a room to ourselves where a lady from Bratislava walked us through the steps of how to paint like Andy Warhol. It was so peaceful to sit in silence, drink a glass of wine, and make art (that we got to take home). After the painting, my mom and I met up on the ship for lunch and then went back out. We sat and had a drink in the square and shopped around. We found a store that sold honey wine and it is delicious, so of course we had to buy some. After eating dinner on the boat, my mom and I went back out, walked across the bridge, and went up the “UFO” tower that looked over all of Bratislava. The castle was lit and it was so cool to see everything with a view up high. We made our 10 pm curfew to be back on the ship and prepared for the day ahead of us.

Esztergom & Visegrad

The next day, we woke up in Esztergom, Hungary. We had an early morning because our excursion was a hike in the mountains of Esztergom. The hike was pretty moderate. It was so green and we were walking through trees almost the whole time; it seemed like a fairy forest. During our hike, we had two “surprises.” One surprise was a lady playing the soprano saxophone and the second was a meditation. Both surprises were beautiful and peaceful and helped bring clarity to our minds while we hiked. Right after the hike we got on the boat to sail towards Visegrad. Here, we were treated to a knight battle in the castle where these battles used to ACTUALLY take place. They served us wine and cheesy pogacsa (a traditional Hungarian pastry snack). Watching the battles was quite entertaining and at the end they let us shoot arrows and throw axes on our own! We got back on the ship after that and sailed back to Budapest. That night they had an excursion to go to the Ruin Bars but my mom and I were too tired and went to bed soon after dinner.

Lastly, Back to Budapest

Our last two days of the cruise were spent docked in Budapest. On the first day, my mom and I went to the Gellert Thermal Baths on the Buda side. We took swimsuits and a towel. When you get there you pay for the baths and a changing room. If you want to use the swimming pool it is extra and you have to wear a swim cap. Two sides of Gellert have two different temperature baths. I think you are supposed to go from hottest to coolest, so that’s what my mom and I did. We then went outside and you have to make sure you find this one. The outside bath is nice, but the best part is the sauna right next to it. I sat there for about 10 minutes and then dunked myself in the small “cold” bath which took my breath away. After we were done with the baths we hiked to the Citadel, which I do not recommend if you go up the backside. After lunch on the boat, my mom and I paid for an extra excursion… a wine tour! We went to a wine region about 45 minutes outside of Budapest. There we went to 2 different wineries and had 5-7 tastings at each place. My mom is more of a wine connoisseur than I am so for me I just enjoyed the yummy wine and chatting with the people at the table. After everyone was full with wine and very happy, we headed back to the ship for dinner. After dinner, we had a party with everyone on the ship and I stayed out later than I should have.

On the last day of the cruise, my mom and I canceled our original excursion so we could wake up whenever and explore on our own. We went to the Central Market to shop and then walked around on our own. We made our way to Szimpla Kert, the coolest ruin bar in Budapest. We walked around all the art and random things in the bar and found a place to sit and enjoy a drink. We decided to walk back over to the Buda side and walk around the Buda Castle area. The main castle area itself was pretty good, but the best part was the Matthias Church. You have to pay to get in but it is so worth it. The architecture outside is already incredible, but once you get inside the arches and colors of everything will blow you away. Later that evening we decided we didn’t want dinner on the boat so we walked to Pizza Me and WOW… I didn’t expect a chain pizza place in Budapest to be so good. That evening our boat sailed up and down the Danube so we could get a view of the Parliament building at night. Oh man, it was so so gorgeous! My mom and I then had our final slumber on the Avalon Envision and woke up at 4 am to catch our flight back home.

Thank you, Mom

Overall, I had SUCH a fantastic trip in Europe. I highly recommend going on a river cruise if you ever get the chance. The excursions are included (unless you want to do an extra one) which makes it so easy to just hop on and not think about anything. River cruising is such a marvelous way to see Europe. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you so much, mom!

Don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email if you want to book a river cruise, or even just ask me questions about it!