BUDAPEST’S CENTRAL MARKET, BIG BUS TOUR AND CAVE CHURCH ON GELLERT HILL!

We finally connected with Jan and Joe late this morning.  They were up early; we were not!

We enjoyed coffee together (they had long past eaten breakfast 🤪) at a Mediterranean restaurant street-side along the Danube!  The weather was absolute perfection!  (But no rain was predicted in the near future.  Uh Oh!)  First stop on our agenda was Budapest’s Central Market!

John picked up a Hungarian Chimney for a quick, easy breakfast.  We all had a bite and declared it to be YUM!

The Market had rows and rows of vendors selling Hungarian delicacies to touristy souvenirs—it was certainly a sight to behold!

We grabbed a City Sightseeing Budapest bus and rode through the streets of Budapest.  We are staying on the Pest side but took in the Buda side as well.  It was a delightful day to roam this beautiful city.

We stopped for lunch at a delightful restaurant, the Varosliget Cafe.  Its’ theme was “Where time takes a break,” which sounded good to us!

It was a darling restaurant with delicious food!  We had a gorgeous view of the Vajdahunyad Castle and Varosliget Lake.  In the winter, the lake turns into a popular ice skating arena, which explained the ice skating decor throughout the cafe.

On the way to the bathrooms, we had to pass through a room that was being set up for an event.  One young man had a ruler and we watched as he measured where to precisely place the utensils (I kid you not!)  Another young man was ironing the wrinkles out of the tablecloth!  Very interesting!  And a very beautiful room!

We enjoyed delightful music during our lunch — it proved to be the perfect choice of restaurants!

Back on the Big Bus we continued our tour!

Joe had read about a Catholic church that was built inside a cave and (you know John wouldn’t miss this) we all agreed we wanted to see it.  So we figured out where to get off the bus and walked up a path to the amazing Cave Church on Gellert Hill!

The views outside the church were beautiful!

And the church itself was really cool!

On our way back to the hotel, we heard LOUD PARTYING GOING ON before we saw this tour bus drive by!  It was called the BEER BUS that offered “city sightseeing while the city is looking at you”!  FUN!

We all met up at the lobby bar of the Intercon, a while later, and enjoyed well earned drinks!

Four ice cold beers later (and after solving all the problems of the world), we walked several blocks to a square that was brimming with people coming and going, chatting and shopping and drinking and eating!  After all, it was Saturday night in Budapest!  We chose what looked like a popular little restaurant with outside seating.  It wasn’t long before Joe was in his Happy Place!

The food was good and the people watching was THE BEST!

It was a LOVELY day and night in Budapest!  We sure missed you, Mary and Steve!