Day 49 - The Tourist Tour of Budapest

Whilst I had seen some of the major sights of Budapest over the past couple of days, I had decided that today, my final full day in the city, should include some of the guidebook big hitters.

As such, after a relatively chilled start to the morning, I set off for St Stephen’s Basilica, a relatively short walk from where I am staying. I got a bit confused by what tickets included what, but eventually figured it out, and began my time here by going up to the dome for a 360 degree view of the city. It has been HOT today (and I stupidly left my fan in the hotel - shout out to Maria and Kari here for providing me with said fan though!), so I was very, very happy that there was a lift up. The views were, of course, excellent.

My next part of my tour of St Stephen’s was the treasury. I can’t lie, it was hot in there and I didn’t really know what I was looking at in many cases, so I didn’t hang around too long. I was there long enough to go ‘Oooooh, shiny’ a few times though!

My final part of the building was the church itself. I have seen a lot of churches over the past couple of months, and this is definitely up there with the best of them. The audio guide bombarded me with facts but I was a bit distracted by both the beauty of the building and the fact that the audio guide reader sounded like he was slurping tea between sentences. I do, however, remember that the organ had 7544 pipes, the longest being 10.5metres and the shortest 5mm. Do with that information what you wish.

The weirdest part of the church is definitely the hand of St Stephen, which is kept there as a relic. I was somewhat bemused by this and wish to make it publicly known that when I die, I do not want my dismembered hand to be left on show anywhere. Just in case anyone was thinking that it would be a good addition to the Sixth Form Centre….

I had a necessary stop for an iced tea before then starting to make my way down to the river. I detoured quite a bit for interesting looking things and geocaches - the highlight being a geocache hidden as a padlock in this….

I hasten to add that this was just one side of three, but I am pleased to report that with some detective work, I soon had the cache in hand.

I walked along the river for a bit, and then crossed the Chain Bridge - the same bridge I had walked across the other day in search of my hotel.

Just the other side of the bridge was the funicular up Castle Hill. If it had not been so hot, I would have walked….. honest…..

The views from Castle Hill were excellent, especially on such a sunny day, and I enjoyed walking around the castle. I decided to pass on the museums as, if I am honest, I was getting a little tired and wanting a lie down in my air conditioned room.

The benefit of having already visited this side of the river was I knew the bus route to get back to my hotel. It was lovely to take a shower, drink a cold drink and have a catchup with Dad on the phone.

Suitably refreshed, I then headed back out in search of a WhereIGo cache that I had been working on (for this cache, you press a button on your phone and it tells you how far away you are. The idea is to press the button as few times as possible and find the cache), and then to find some dinner. I am pleased to report that both missions were successful!

I am heading back to Austria tomorrow, breaking up the trip to Slovenia, which is where I have decided I want to head for next before continuing westwards into Italy.