Budapest: Part III

I don't know about you but I wasn't overly enthused by the obnoxious fire alarm blarring at 7am on our final day in Budapest but it did do us the favour of ensuring we didn't sleep in and got off to the quick start we were after. We were out the door smartly with plenty of time to check out and finally make it to Chain Bridge, Lánc hid, the first bridge to be built to connect Buda and Pest.

Chain Bridge

As you pass the lions that sit at either end of the bridge, all you have to do is literally look up and you can see the Royal Palace up ahead on the Castle Hill, to be fair it is pretty much visible from most places in the city. Once across the river, it is possible to walk up but with time against us, we took the Funicular up to the top.

It was a little more overcast than the last couple days but we were very lucky with the weather really. It was a bit nippy but the rain held off all weekend until the girls made some comment about how it hadn't rained, inevitably it started to rain pretty soon after that.

All aboard

Ready?

Can't quite handle the excitement

View from the top

The easiest way to see the sights up on the hill is just to go at your own pace. With it being a Monday, museums are closed so that already makes decisions easy and it was more a matter of seeing the buildings and ticking the boxes on our 'Too See List'.

This included the Royal Palace, home to the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum and the National Library. Around the building are the Lion Courtyard and a bronze statue of King Matthias, Hungary's ruler from 1458 to 1490, among other things.

Can't take her anywhere

Royal Palace

Matthias Fountain

A short walk away along the cobblestoned roads finds you at St. Matthias Church, named so mainly because he kept getting married there, and Fishermen's Bastion which was only built about a century ago to honour the fishermen who proctected this part of the city. As well as having excellent views of the Danube and Pest, there was also a guy playing around with an eagle and a falcon, much to the delight of Egan.

Trinity Square and Fishermen's Bastion

Looking along the Bastion

St. Matthias' Church

Just a bit more Bastion

With flight time looming, we headed to Vörösmarty Square to have a coffee at the popular Gerbeaud Café before indulging with one last meal at the Christmas market. Transit booked, we were whisked away to the airport to easily make our flight back into Stansted and time to reflect on a busy but entertaining weekend with great food and company. I think I'll have to go on family breaks more often.