Tag Archives: Budapest

Eating in Budapest

On Saturday February 28th we walked from St. Stephen’s Basilica to the Jewish District looking for Mazel Tov. We had reservations for a meal at 4:30 but we wanted to see if they would slip us in at 1:30 instead since our dinner reservations at Retek Restaurant were for 7:30 on Saturday instead of Friday. (Did you follow that?)

The area had a lot of interesting murals.

We arrived tired and thirsty from our 1.6 k walk in the sunshine. They graciously changed our reservation and we joined the crowd of diners for our meal. We met someone from Costa Mesa, California who is studying abroad. That was fun.

 

Our meals were both delicious. Greg ordered the DIY Falafel Sandwich and I ordered the spicy lamb shank ragout, couscous with root vegetables, raisins and red onion chutney.

We had another long walk (1.6k) ahead of us to get back to our hotel. We were entertained by interesting buildings on the way.

Our dinner reservations at Retek would be a 1 k walk so we opted for a taxi ride to the restaurant and then we’d walk back to the hotel after dinner.

We went traditional at this very popular restaurant.

Hungarian Beef Goulash with the fresh bread.

Chicken Paprikash

Cottage Cheese Dumpling and Grandmother’s apple pie for dessert.

A delightful all around experience. This was all my kind of comfort food.

This statue was the beginning of history we would learn all through our cruise about the Habsburg empire.

The year 1795 saw Archduke Josef, son of Emperor Leopold II and brother of Emperor Franz, being appointed Palatine of Hungary, a post he held for more than half a century. As such he was the deputy of the King of Hungary – who was of course none other than the Emperor in his capacity as the head of the house of Habsburg. 

The streets we walked at night in Budapest seemed safe.

I’m saving St. Stephen’s Basilica which we visited on this two restaurant day for another post.

Budapest Pre-Cruise

We arrived in Budapest on the afternoon of Friday February 27th. There was an AmaWaterways Kiosk just outside of the baggage claim area where we checked in and met a few of our fellow river cruise passengers before it was time to board our bus to the hotel. When making our arrangements for the cruise we chose the 2 day pre-cruise option and we are so glad that we did. On our bus ride to the hotel we were able to get our first glimpse of the Danube.

When we arrived at the hotel we were pleasantly surprised at the luxury level of the hotel.

The Matilde Palace is a luxury hotel and part of the Marriott properties. This is not the type of hotel we would book for ourselves. There were automatic buttons for everything including the curtains and sheers.

Matild Palace, an iconic gem of Budapest, was envisioned in 1902 by her Imperial and Royal Highness, Maria Kotild of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as part of the twin Kotild Palaces, a beacon of the Bell Epoque Era. Standing proudly beside the Elisabeth Bridge, these two majestic landmarks were designed to inspire and sere the social heart of the city. Over the decades, Matild Palace has borne witness to profound historical moments. From the grandeur of its early days to the trials of two world wars and the Hungarian revolution. Following a meticulous restoration, it emerged reborn in 2021 as a masterpiece within Marriott’s luxury collection.

Today, Matild Palace invites guests to immerse themselves in art nouveau inspired rooms and suites, and dine in exquisite venues led by the globally acclaimed Chef Wolfgang Puck.

Before dinner we had a meeting with our Tour Director for some general information. I thought I had made dinner reservations on Friday evening at a restaurant in town but come to find out it was for Saturday night instead of Friday night. We shifted our plans and headed up to the rooftop bar in our hotel and had some charcuterie and lovely views of the town at night.

 

Saturday morning we woke up early. Breakfast was included with our pre tour package. The hotel puts on an amazing buffet along with items you could choose off of a menu. We were really impressed with all of it and with the honey comb that was part of the buffet.

The breakfast view of the Elizabeth Bridge.

We had an early morning walk on streets next to the hotel. We tried to get some local currency at a bank ATM and the transactions would not go through. We hoped this was just a local issue.

So many grand buildings with impressive architecture.

The back entrance to the Matilde.

There was a excursion on Saturday morning that we were part of and into the tour we broke off to be able to buy tickets to see the inside of St. Stephens Basilica. I’ll share those photos in another post. We had time on Saturday to be on our own and also on Sunday before it was time for embarkation on the AmaMagna.

Back to the Present:

Monday afternoon was JJ time here while Addy was at dance lessons. While we were away he had to go to dance with his mom and Addy which was quite boring for him. He kept asking how many more days until we would return.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day and we will be enjoying a corned beef and cabbage meal later in the day.

We are still in recovery mode and I’m forcing myself to stay awake till at least 8pm. Hopefully sleep patterns will return to normal, soon.

Goodnight Budapest

We sailed away from Budapest Sunday evening of March 1st. Last Sunday. I am finally able to upload my photos from the past week!

We arrived in Cambridge on Sunday the 8th and my internet connections are good so I’ll add a postcard from each village/town we visited on our days on the Danube soon. We are going to take it easy on this Monday after a long day of traveling yesterday. We flew from Budapest to London and boarded a bus to Cambridge. After being dropped off at the bus stop we walked to our Apart/Hotel and checked in. We had a meal at the Baron of Beef and will now hopefully have a good nights sleep.

Happy Monday to you all.

Budapest!

What an amazing city!

More to come once I can plug my computer in on the river cruise which began on March 1st. Since being in Hungary I haven’t been able to plug my computer in at the hotel. The outlets are a little weird and our converters don’t fit. Oye. My computer is below 10% so I’m quickly getting this ready to post on Monday March 2nd. We’ve seen so much and enjoyed some great food.

Hopefully by now my computer is plugged in successfully and charging away.

We’re having great weather, too! Happy March everyone!!