Pre and Post Tours

During this full day tour you will discover the main attractions of the Hungarian Capital: Heroes' Square with the Millenary Monument, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and the Opera House. We will visit the Parliament building inside.

The Budapest Parliament Building, constructed in the most fertile times of city building fervor of the late 19th century, is an amazing edifice. Its pure size, belying its role as the National Assembly of a pretty smallish country, is overwhelming. It is a reminder of bygone days, when Hungary was three times the size of today with superpower aspirations... Nevertheless, the building was erected and richly decorated with tons of gold. Its 96 meters high dome (reminding us of 1896, the thousand years anniversary of the Hungarian Conquest) is dominating Budapest's skyline. Inside, you will see the Congress and many other rooms and gilded staircases of this magnificent building while an expert guide gives you background

information on how the legislation and government work in Hungary.

Continuing on to Buda, you will visit the medieval Castle District, including the Fishermen's Bastion and the old Matthias Church, followed by a ride to Gellért Hill, where you can enjoy the beautiful panorama of the whole city. Lunch included in a local restaurant.

The tour begins with an approximately 75 minute coach ride, along the Danube River, driving north to ESZTERGOM, the cradle of Hungarian history. Once the capital of medieval Hungary, Esztergom, today is a midsize rural town, but still the country's ecclesiastical center. The huge Esztergom Cathedral is the largest church in Hungary; it is also the Archbishop's seat in this predominantly Catholic country. Inaugurated with Liszt's Inauguration Mass in 1856, it also houses a stunning Treasury, full of richly decorated clothing and old artifacts. Esztergom is also home to Hungary's most interesting Museum of Christian Art and a medieval Castle, from the ramparts of which, you will see a circular panorama. Neighboring Slovakia is just over the river, a couple of miles from where you stand.

From Esztergom, you will proceed back towards Budapest for the next stop: VISEGRAD, a steep bluff with the renovated ruins of one of the earliest Hungarian forts, the castle of our King Bela IV from the mid-13th century. The Citadel offers an unsurpassed view over the Danube Bend, a sharp turn in the course of the mighty river below where it hits the northeastern mountain range and is, thus, forced to detour from its eastern course to the south. The medieval Royal Palace of Hungary's most beloved, flamboyant ruler, King Matthias, was one of the largest Renaissance palaces of the contemporary Europe.

After getting off coach, you will walk to through the gate of Salamon Tower into the yard. You will take a seat and the tournament begins. Some 30 players, all members of the Budapest St. George Order and active practitioners of medieval warfare, will perform an intact medieval tournament, complete with man combat, target practice with bows and arrows, a royal court. The show will take some 45 minutes, after which onlookers are encouraged to join in and try their own hands at the various weapons. The tournament is followed by an authentic Renaissance feast in a beautiful restaurant next door, called, very aptly, Reneszánsz and decorated accordingly. All personnel is clad in period costumes and the menu is also from the 15th century. Throughout the evening a lute player entertains.

Proceed to SZENTENDRE, this jewel of a Baroque town, also one of the most exciting artist colonies in the country, only 10 miles north of Budapest, in the picturesque Danube Bend region, right on the river. Founded by fleeing Serbian settlers who left their homeland in fear of the oncoming Ottoman Turkish armies in the 16th century, present day Szentendre is a charming town with cobble stone streets, an armada of galleries, quaint little museums, cafes and excellent shopping. In the immediate vicinity of the town, Hungary's largest outdoor Ethnographic Museum is to be found, which essentially, is a collection of peasant farmsteads and community buildings from the different regions of the country, arranged like an early 19th century village.