Danube Bend

For today we had pre-booked a day-trip out of Budapest to the "Danube Bend." This is an area northwest of Budapest, very near the border with Slovakia, where the river makes a fairly sharp "S" curve. The area was formerly the Hungarian capital and remains the center of Hungarian Catholocism.

We were picked up promptly at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. as promised. The taxi stopped at one other nearby hotel to pick up another couple (Australians) and brought all four of us to the meeting point where our tickets were checked and we were put on a very nice, large motor coach.

There were several Canadian couples on the bus, as well as a family from India. We didn't really meet many of the others, but the English language tours tend to attract many for whom English is a second language. There are tours in Spanish, French, German, and Russian, but not in Danish or Polish, for example. So people from those countries, and some Asians, find the English tour their best option.

Leaving Pest, we crossed to the Buda side and drove along the river for about 90 minutes to Esztergom, a village on the right bank of the river overlooking the Slovak town to Sturovo. A thousand years ago Esztergom was Hungary's capital city, and the Slovakian side of the river was also a part of it. The castle of Hungary's first king, Istavan, was built on this high hill, and a cathedral was built right next to it.

When the Turks finally succeeded at conquering Hungary (after nearly 200 years of trying) in 1526, the castle became a ruin and the cathedral a mosque. When the situation was reversed in 1699, the capital was moved to Budapest, but the archbishop remained at Esztergom. The current church was built in 1856, incorporating some parts of older churches dating back to pre-Ottoman times.

After touring the church, we drove over the bridge to Sturovo, setting foot in Slovakia for the first time, simply for a photo stop.

Returning to Hungary, we retraced our route back to Visegrad, and then up the mountaiin for a three-course lunch and a great view of the valley. The food was better than expected. The old guys supplying the live Hungarian music, we decided, must have been deaf. We can't remember hearing such awful music played by supposed "professionals." They couldn't keep a beat, couldn't stay together, and couldn't play in tune. It was painful. They should have taken the hint when they finished a piece and no one clapped, but they kept on with the torture through the meal.

Back on the bus, we continued backtracking toward Budapest to the village of Szentendre (St. Andrew), where the bus left us for the final time. We had a brief guided tour of this quaint, but extremely touristy "artists' village," then we were turned loose to spend money. We actually fulfilled that expectation, at least to a small degree.

Promptly at 5 p.m. the last boat sailed down the Danube from Szentendre to Budapest, and if we wanted to get back, we had to be on it. No one from our bus group appeared to be left behind. The trip was pleasant enough, but there wasn't a great deal to see other than kayaks and rowing shells.

I've heard that a waltz was written called, "The Blue Danube." Nice tune, but the Danube is no longer blue. Rather, it's more of a muddy brown. We were deposited at a dock just blocks from our hotel.

After a very fine meal we strolled back to the riverbank to see the city lights along the river, then called it a day.