Cruising the Danube

Royal Palace atop Castle Hill in Buda

One of the most popular ways to see Europe, especially for Americans, is through a River Cruise.  The ships are long and not very tall in order to travel under the bridges.  These are not the giant cruise ships with thousands of people that most people think of -- these are smaller and more intimate with perhaps only 200 passengers.  There aren't casinos or shows, and you don't have 20 different restaurants to choose from.  Instead, you are blessed with gorgeous scenery and grand European cities as you travel the Rhine, Seine, or Danube.

We aren't on a river cruise, but we did take a one hour boat ride along the Danube as part of our hop-on, hop-off bus tour.  This is such a great way to see Budapest and the weather cooperated beautifully.  Abundant sunshine illuminated the sites, showing off the architecture of the bridges and the grand buildings along the riverbanks.

Look familiar?

If you've seen a commercial or print advertisement for a river cruise (think of the Viking River Cruise commercials on PBS), then you've seen the parliament building in Budapest.  We also were treated to great views of the Castle Hill, the Royal Palace, and Mathias Church.  We also saw many of the River Cruise ships docked along the river as folks were touring the city.  Mom wants to do one of these now, although she says we've been to a lot of the places these cruises go already.  Somehow, I don't think she'd object to repeating a few, especially since you're experiencing it from an entirely different perspective.