James was adamant that we visit Citadel Hill. We didn't have time for much of anything in Buda, but that's the one thing he wanted to see. Accordingly, we took the tram down the river and exited near the Hotel Gellert. The climb was very unkind to Liz's knees and to my general lack of good health, but the view from the hill is excellent.



Erzabet Hid (Elizabeth Bridge) from Citadel Hill.



Budapest, looking north from Citadel Hill. I took shots in each direction from the south side of the Citadel as the sun set. Liz and James disappeared while I was shooting through a roll of film. Eventually, I packed up the camera and realized they'd gone. I walked along the road around the Citadel and saw a small bar set up in a row of food and souvenir stands. The two of them were at the bar sipping wine. I went to join them, but stopped when I saw this:



Buda Castle, from Citadel Hill.

When I joined James and Liz, they were talking with the bartender, Martin, about Budapest and the US. They were two drinks into the survey of Hungarian alcoholic drinks. We continued through the survey and when James told Martin that we had yet to experience Gulyás, we were invited to join him for dinner. He and his uncle had a pot on in the back and were getting ready to eat. We had a wonderful dinner of Gulyás and red wine (Egri Bikavér or something similar) and a couple more drinks to follow up. Eventually, we settled the bill and began the trek back down the hill.



Pest, looking south from Citadel Hill.