At the end of our first (part) day aboard the Egdir we had an orientation session, a lifejacket muster and a great first dinner. It's open seating so you can sit with your group, if you have one, or just sit with random people an enjoy conversations with folks from all over the world (but mostly from the U.S.). Most people are at least in their 60s but more are significantly older. Some are experienced cruisers, some are first timers. Most are like us, some experience but not an extensive cruise ship lifestyle. After the U.S., the largest contingent seems to be Australians.
After breakfast at the start of our first full day we boarded a bus for a tour of Buda and Pest. BTW, Pest is pronounced Pesht. Say it that way and people will know you are a sophisticated traveler. We toured Pest first, on our side of the River (Danube). Shopping areas, historic areas, cultural areas and more. Several palaces of different eras and the synagogue. Interesting fact: a large section of the city was torn down and rebuilt in a more modern way in 1876 to celebrate 1000 years of their founding. Speaking of rebuilding, a lot of construction and reconstructing is going on. They are still undoing some of the effects of WW 2 but most of it seems to be undoing the effects of Soviet era construction. We then went over the river to Buda. The bridge closest to our boat is the Chain Bridge. It is the only one that is not known by its color and we could not use it as it is only open to city busses, taxis and pedestrians. No cars, no commercial busses or trucks. Castles and churches on the itinerary in Buda. Plus some walking and unstructured time (shopping). The inside of the RC church was beautiful and the views overlooking Budapest were amazing.
The return trip, over the Yellow Bridge this time, took us past the Parliament Building, the 2nd largest in the world, and the iron shoes along the river. After the tour and after lunch and a nap, we walked back to this memorial to pay our respects.
At this location the Nazis would have the victims, too young, too old or too ill to be taken to the Concetration/Work Camps, remove their shoes before shooting them and allowing their bodies to fall in and be taken away by the river current. The iron shoes are a remembrance of those atrocities. There are modern remembrances of pebbles, yellow ribbons and photos of victims of current horrors around the permanent shoes.
In the evening there was a welcoming champagne toast and speeches from the Captain and some of the other officers then an outdoor dinner with some new Aussie friends, Peter and Wendy. We were also brought a special 50th Anniversary cake and had our wrists bound to each other as the maitre d sung love songs to us. Totally unexpected. Only slightly embarrassing.
We got had gotten underway just a little while before the evening activities so we were on our way upriver by the time bedtime came along.
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