Hungaria and Slovakia

Finally we have some free time (without missing out on tours) and an opportunity to try and get up to date. The difficulty now is remembering what we did where and when.
Our first day on board we spent in Budapest, my favourite city up to now. Maybe that is because it was our first reaquaintance with old world culture, but I think it may also have been because Budapest has such a rich mixture of cultural treasures. On the Buda side of the river were the fortresses and churches of the wealthier people of yesteryear, when the Pest side was flood prone and left for the peasants. More recently buildings have arisen on the Pest side, which became the commercial centre. The people on both sides of the river love their statues and monuments and it would be hard to find a spot where you cannot see one or more of these on squares, in parks or on building fronts. we were also able to visit a beautiful Reformed church on the Buda side, right opposite the Parliament house on the Pest bank. We heard that it had some 500 people come for worship every week.
During the night our boat sailed on to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Here we went on a "communist tour", where the guide in a humerous way  informed us about the blessings of communism. Fortunately the communist era bus we were to have taken refused to start in the 40 degree heat, so we got an airconditioned modern bus instead. Bratislava was a poorer and paler version of Budapest. Like the latter, most churches were dedicated to St. Stephen, who was (one of?) the first to bring the Gospel to the area. Slovakia is mostly Roman Catholic.
The pictures below are of Budapest and Slovakia.