Ships in the Night (Budapest to Esztergom)

Well dear reader I think you may be too young to remember this song. It is truly appalling but it is an apt title for today. If you have a desire to hear it, this is it. Vicki Lawrence, all the way from 1974.

Our stateroom

Our first night on the ship was at a mooring in Budapest. Sadly we had an early start the next day and had to be on the bus by 8:30am. There is  not much to report from the first half of the day. We discussed not going on the tour because we had covered everything that was on offer. That is the downside of arriving early. However, we weren't sailing to our next destination, Szob, so we opted to stay with the crowd.

First stop was Heroes Square with the Vajdahunyad Castle and from there to Buda to climb the stairs to the Fisherman's Bastion. Since we had stayed there for the last 5 days, there wasn't much for us to see so we, bravely, foolishly, went for coffee at what is reputedly the oldest coffee house in Budapest. We ordered two espressos and I don't know what came out. It was small like espresso, but ... yeah, anyway, it killed some time. Back onto the bus and to the train station to board the Grand Empress.

The Grand Empress is a steam train, like the ones I caught when I was a kid. In this case, big, black and dirty and spewing smoke. Apparently some people find this link back to less refined times charming. And it was burning coal. Although they did say it was environmentally friendly. Not quite sure how that works.

The environmentally friendly Grand Empress

I'm still unclear as to the purpose of the train journey. Maybe it was to allow time to get things organised on the ship, maybe it was to see the countryside, maybe it was to meet more people. We achieved the latter and lunched with people we hadn't previously spoken to. Lunch was a three course, silver service event. All very tasty and well executed. The wait staff needed to be extremely well balanced to pour the wine in a rocking train.

Into Szob and onto the bus to travel briefly though Slovakia and then back into Hungary, to our final destination for the day, Esztergom. It was the capital of Hungary in an earlier iteration of history and remains the capital of Hungarian Catholicism. It is both the birthplace and coronation location of St Stephen, the first king of Hungary. The Basilica, imaginatively named the Basilica of Esztergom, dominates the landscape. It is also called the Cathedral of Our Lady and Saint Adelbert. It, like most of Hungary, is under restoration and the new parts of the bronze dome are blinding in full sunlight.

The Basilica

The altar

Inside it is not as impressive as the Basilica of St Stephen in Budapest, although it is certainly larger. It contained all the things you would expect and some that you may not. In one of the side chapels, there were two religious relics, which is not unusual, but these were skulls. Clearly visible. One belonged to a priest who was beaten to death by the communists. It seems Hungary was perpetually at war with someone and didn't often come out the victor.

Not weird

Not weird at all

Leaving the Basilica we were transported back to ship where it was time to refresh and relax, prior to the welcome dinner. So much food, too much food. I can't keep up.

Sunset on the Danube

We sailed through the night towards Vienna and passed through our first loch around 1am. Yes, we were awake. It was quite a fascinating process to observe. The loch filled very quickly and in a matter of minutes we were on our way again. This was the first of around 64 lochs that we will pass through. I assume the novelty will wear off after the first 20 or so.

Hence today's title. Ships passed frequently in night, as we waited to enter the loch and again as we exited. I'm  not sure it's enough to make you listen to Vicki Lawrence, but you don't have to push play.

And then it was sleep time again, being rocked to sleep by the thrum of the engines and sound of the water.

Until tomorrow.