New Cruise, Same Ship

The ship docked in Budapest while all but 11 passengers from the first week disembarked and new passengers arrived. While that was happening we toured Godolloi (pronounced good-oo-loo, roll your l’s) in the town by the same name.  

Here we learned about Queen Elizabeth, best known as Sissi and her husband King Frank Joseph, of the Hungary-Austrian Empire.  The castle was a favorite place for Sissi.  One area was a baroque theatre that is over 300 years old. The walls are painted to look like marble and beneath the floor are huge machines that move the scenery panels on either side of the stage.  Also the stage is tilted towards the audience to give one a three dimensional impression.

We walked through the Emperor’s bedroom, his study, and saloon, the ballroom and then the Queen’s saloon, study, dressing room, bedroom and study.

The beloved queen was assassinated in Greece at the age of 61 in 1898.

Medals line the wall and fill the floor under glass.

Our next stop was as the Lazar Brothers Ranch where they train horses to care for their riders and to pull wagons at top speeds.  We watched a demonstration of the wagon pulling and horses lying down while their riders lay on top of them.  One rider stood on the backs of two horses while holding the reins of three more so guiding 5 horses.  These are pure bred horses.  They have won hundreds of trophies over the last 20 plus years.