Nic and Sue’s Euro River Cruise and some bits on the side. Autumn 2026. Day 6- Budapest.

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A magnificent sleep for me last night. Sue got some good hours too.

Our day started with a small breaky before The Great Market Tour with Andrew.

Just Sue and I – bonus, small group turns to private tour.
Andrew our guide is a foodie/chef. A 40 ish young fella of the 80’s. He provided a great tour with several food tastings and lots of information about Hungary, the market, history, food and his life.
We kicked off with a bang with another thing ticked off the list Lángos = flaming, a Bread base with sour cream and cheese. It was good, better than good actually. Andrew chatted to us about lots of things.
We were advised not to eat too much prior.

Andrew shared that his Grandmother has seen a lot of history at 93 – still living at home. Has seen Russian takeovers and lots of war and trauma and change over the years.
During the 50’s everything was socialised including food. Restaurants were all issued with the same cookbook. They were also issued set amounts of food eg. 80 Pork chops – which went to the regulars then they used whatever cuts of meat they could get for others.
Lángos was deep fried bread and was common during these years, cooked over the fire originally, now fried. Sour cream is a common cultured Hungarian dairy. Yoghurt is more common – yoghurt pots have been found in archeological digs. The cheese is Trappist cheese (after the monks) originally from Serbia and bought to Hungary. In 1942, there was a decree that 60% of cheese made has to be Trappist. (It’s a made up decree he reckons but a good story)
Pálinka- Bulgarian Fruit Brandy ( Apricot @42%)
Egészségére! ( cheers).. Made by Andrew. Not bad at 9:33am. The alcohol was BOOM, the flavour hit second and was very nice.

Sue asked about the river levels and Andrew showed us some photos of the river and floods from last year. Climate change is playing havoc.

The Market itself has been changed over the years, there is now much less groceries and more souvenir stalls.

We stopped in at a stall selling traditional embroidered goods. Older women do the tatting and embroidery- very detailed work and beautiful- certainly not my cup of tea but I can appreciate the skill and artistry. Unfortunately a dying art. There were also machine stitched pieces everywhere.

Our next taste was Cured meats.
Pork, beef and horse. We ate them all. Pork was my favourite, the horse was spicy. They don’t farm horses, the meat trade is from horses at the end of life so that made it a little more palatable.

Lots of offal, nothing going to waste. Salted pork fat is a thing, looks yuk. It’s used in many classic Hungarian dishes, or eaten thinly sliced on a charcuterie board. A favourite is fried down with onion and paprika which makes a great base for many dishes.

Andrew bought us a couple of choc bits – favourites from his childhood – firstly a Dark Chocolate Konyakmeggy:  Dark chocolate filled with cognac and sour cherry liquid – it was a generous amount of liquid too – I managed to slurp all of mine, Sue luckily caught her drips in the foil. The second small tube shaped bar was Túró Rudi: cottage cheese chocolate bar. Andrew told us it’s the most polarizing thing on his tour and that tension is worth understanding – interesting and I figure healthy too.

Onto the poultry section. Goose Foie Gras is grown here with 90% emanating from Hungary. The goose is still a migratory bird so naturally fattened ready for migratory flight which differs from the French Foie Gras which is chicken and force fed.

Further along the poultry section was Duck heads and rooster testicles. Andrew indicated these catered to the Asian trade. He wasn’t sure what they were used for!

Thankfully I did have a little breaky as the next stop was Strudel (rétes) Apricot for me and Apple and Cinnamon for Sue. Very tasty. Andrew also purchased a selection of Pogácsa: three kinds of biscuits: cheese, potato, and pork crackling. (He gave me the bag for later – we were filling up) turns out we had the same cheese biccies on the breakfast spread at the Marriott.

The last food taste was just me, Pickles: baby watermelon, green tomatoes, pickled plum, sauerkraut. In Andrew’s words “I know it’s odd to eat them at 11am, but Hungarian food is heavy and fatty and pickles are the solution that took generations to figure out, not a garnish, a system.” He was right, it acts like a pickly sorbet. The sauerkraut was the best I’ve ever had it was crisp and tasty, not mushy.

All too quickly the tour was over. It was a fantastic way to learn about food and culture and the life of a local.

We left Andrew and had a look around the souvenir part of the market. I bought a new drink bottle as won’t be getting our Scenic one on the cruise and a long sleeve t shirt. Sue made some purchases too.

A short taxi back to Hotel, before heading out along the river (tram ride along the Danube – Sue rides free, I whipped back to the hotel to get a ticket) to the Hungarian House of Parliament. We had a
45 minute audio tour.

Again super ornate and so much history, I will let the pics do the talking except for the main section which hold the Holy Crown jewels. We weren’t allowed to take photos.

Walked along the Danube to the Shoes on the Danube Memorial. Such small feet and the significance of the shoes representing the souls of Jewish people killed during the Second World War was quite moving.

Another walk to visit St Stephen’s Basilicia – lots more amazing opulence and decoration. The hand of King St Stephen is kept there and is on show in a glass case. I’d never really heard of people collecting relics like this. But we’ve come across it a few times. The organ also has some big pipes and horns – would love to hear them played. Might have to google that.

Yet another walk from St Stephen’s to the Jewish Quarter to check the ruin bars. One of these has won the 2026 top bar in Europe. Szimpla Vert. It was quirky, way over the top quirky. There were bars in many of the ruined rooms of this ramshackle factory.

From there up the lane to a little Spanish restaurant- Fuego. We
picked it based on a review that said good potatoes and the best butter. We shared a chicken breast with mojo picons sauce, goulash soup and fries. The chicken was the most tender I’ve ever eaten.

Then a bolt home to start to pack up for our last day in Budapest before flying to Scotland.

Plan C hits the ground running tomorrow arvo.