Our ship arrived in the morning and were quickly off to our bus/walking tour of Budapest. This helped us to get acclimated to the city a little as we would be spending a few extra days in the city on our own.
St. Stephen’s Basilica 
Sisi, Empress of Austria beloved in Hungary
That afternoon, we took one of the optional excursions, the Hungarian Horsemen. It was an enjoyable afternoon on the Lazar farm. The Lazar brothers have won numerous awards in chariot racing and are quite famous in Hungary.
He’s standing on the backs of 2 horses and controlling the whole team of 5.
Twisted Sheep 
Racing Chariot
Our last night on the ship. We really enjoyed our time on board and were sad that it had to come to an end.
In the morning, before we had to leave the ship, I got to watch another Viking ship come into dock. Like ours did a couple of days before it headed down river and then did a 180° to back up and dock. It was very fascinating to watch. Our time was up, we got our taxi to the hotel and dropped off our luggage.
We had a few hours to kill before our afternoon tour. Our hotel was in the Castle Hill district on the Buda side and our guide had told us the day before that there were a few museums within walking distance.
First, we went to the Military History Museum which was free that day. Will thought it was good, but it was a little too dry for my taste. Then we made it to the Hospital in the Rock. There are limestone caves under the Buda Castle, and it was in some of these caves that an emergency hospital was commissioned during WWII. It was eventually used as a nuclear war bunker and opened as a museum in 2007. It was a really interesting tour with many of the exhibits still original from its time as a hospital.
We headed back to the hotel for a quick bite before our Trabant tour. A Trabant was an East German car built from 1957-1991 that was made from Duroplast. Duroplast is a resin-based plastic reinforced with fibers. It’s no wonder that the Trabant was often referred to as the “Paper Jaguar”.
It was a great tour. Chris took us to various neighborhoods that the big buses aren’t allowed. He structured the tour based on where we wanted to go. And he asked where we would like to end the tour at our hotel or the city center. We chose the city center which let us explore further on our own. He also gave us a great recommendation for a gluten-free restaurant, Bohémtanya. It was amazing to walk in and have a whole restaurant that was entirely gluten-free. We ended up talking to another couple having dinner next to us. They were going to be leaving on a celiac cruise. Yes, an entire weeklong cruise where everything is gluten-free. I had no idea they did those.
Beef Goulash with Dumplings and of course a lot of paprika.
We wanted to visit the House of Terror and we ended up there on Hungarian’s Independence Day. The House of Terror is a museum that has exhibits about the fascist and communist regimes in Hungary. A lot of the exhibits are interactive and while the museum covers a very grim subject, it is very well done and provides some great information about that period in the 20th century. Because it was their Independence Day admission was free, but we opted to also get the audio guide. I recommend getting the audio guide. They have written guides in both Hungarian and English in each exhibit room, but I felt it was a much better experience with the audio playing as we entered each room.
We headed over to the Hungarian State Opera House. The Opera House was under renovations for the last 5 years and just opened again in March 2022. We had been told that it beautiful inside. So, we booked a tour to check it out. And yes, it was indeed beautiful.
We were also witnesses to a street fight.
While the Tube in London is the oldest subway, Budapest has the 2nd oldest, built in 1896. It’s only 2.7 meters or not quite 9 feet underground.
After the opera tour, we made our way over to the Budapest Retro Museum. It’s an interactive museum that provides a glimpse of what life was like in Hungary during the communist rule. It was fun, but I thought the ticket prices were high for what was there.
WG Anchors News at 10 
For our final day in Budapest, we started the morning at the Budapest Central Market. It’s located in their Great Market Hall which was built in 1897.
We also took a detour to visit the Shoes on the Danube Memorial. This sculpture memorizes the spot where 60 Jews were shot and thrown into the river by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944 and 1945.
Then we visited the Szechenyi Baths. We enjoyed our time relaxing in these medicinal natural hot spring baths. Hungarian doctors will also prescribe the baths as a treatment option for various ailments.
We found another gluten-free restaurant on the Pest side. So, of course we had to give it a try. I really enjoyed my paprika chicken from the Kata Restaurant.
Well, after close to two months are vacation finally had to come to an end. It was a pretty uneventful flight home and we’re already thinking about our next trip.