Drove through Tihany on lake Balaton which is a famous tourist trap in Europe. There were millions of people walking the streets and a lot of tour busses. So we turned around and headed for Györ. Saw hills just covered in sunflowers and several castles.

Arrived in the northern part of Hungary in the early afternoon. It is a heavy industry area and not very attractive. Most of the huge plants appeared to be deserted. The political change has caused a lot of hardship in this area. Stopped for lunch around Sütõ, and then at Esztergom to look at the old cathedral.

This was one of the ancient capitals of Hungary and the place where St.Steven King of Hungary was born. He was the king who Christianized the Magyars who were raiding all over Europe. He was canonized. His skull is on display at the cathedral.

Several English monarchs spent years of exile here. After sightseeing we headed for Visegrád.

Visegrád during the Mongol invasion was the capital of Hungary. King Mátyás ruled from the castle which is situated on the side of the mountain overlooking the Danube bend.

Drove by the castle and arrived, further up on the mountain, at hotel Sylvanus. Went to check in at the desk, and was told that we had no reservations.

I had corresponded with the hotel several times when I was arranging the trip on the Net, and showed the clerk the E-mail’s I had received confirming the reservation. They found a room for us and we proceeded to take our luggage up. It was a smaller room in the middle of the building with a beautiful view of the Danube bend. However it was too small for a third bed. So I went back to the desk and asked for a larger room. There was none available, but after the two clerks shuffled the reservations of people who had not yet arrived we ended up with a larger room. It was at the North end of the building having the same view as the other room, however the view was partially blocked by the corner of the restaurant.

After freshening up we went for a drive along the Danube looking for a restaurant. They were all closed so we went back to Visegrád and found a tiny bistro. It was really tiny and we decided to look for something else. Drove around town, couldn’t find anything, so we ended up having dinner at the hotel. It was a beautiful restaurant with a magnificent view of the Danube.

Wednesday 15 July 1998

Had buffet breakfast at the restaurant packed and were of to Budapest. Stopped at the castle and I posed with a falcon on my arm for 50 cents,

Rita bought a pair of Jade earrings at a shop by the parking lot. Drove through St.Endre and arrived in Buda around 11:30 a.m. Drove by the Roman ruins (Called Aquincum by the Romans - Meaning abundant water, because of the many natural hot springs that occcur in Budapest.), should have stopped but we didn’t. We should also have looked at the Roman ruins in Szombathely (Called Savaria by the Romans), but we didn’t. I guess it wasn’t a Roman holiday.