We left our apartment around 6:00 am to get the train to Prague (pronounced Pra-ha in Czech). There was some issue with the elevator the night before so we gave ourselves some extra time in case we had to carry our luggage down six flights of stairs. Fortunately, all was in working order. We walked to the train station as it was just a block away.
The train station looks just like the ones you see in all the movies. It’s a tall building with a glass dome. There was an electronic board that listed all the trains and, as a happy change from Bulgaria, the tracks were all clearly numbered. Since the first class fare was only $15 more than second class we elected to sit in first class for the 6.5 hour trip. We sat facing one another with a table in between us. Underneath there were outlets in several formats. When the train was proximate to a sizable city (about 50% of the time) we had free WIFI too. We even posted a blog message from the train.
As we were nearing our destination we received a message from our host that we should not take any of the taxis at the station but should call an Uber or use a similar service. We heard of similar issues in Budapest. “Freelance” taxis are to be avoided. They often charge ridiculous rates and have been known to abuse their riders if they don’t get what they want. Since our apartment was only half a mile from the station we decided to walk. It was a great way to start seeing the city before we had settled in.
Our host met us at our apartment and helped carry our luggage up to the fourth floor (there’s no elevator but we knew that when we took the apartment). He was very gracious and even stocked our frig with a few bottles of Czech beer. He was very disappointed when we told him that we didn’t drink beer – Czech beer is supposed to be some of the best in the world. We promised that we would try it. Our new place reminds us of a garret apartment like the one you usually see in productions of La Boheme, which is funny because Prague is the heart of the European region that, before World War II, was referred to as Bohemia.
After settling in we took a walk around our neighborhood. We’re right smack in the middle of the Town in district one. The main pedestrian way, full of all sorts of shops, museums and other attractions, is just steps from our door (after you climb down four flights of stairs).
One of our stops was at a T-Mobile store. T-Mobile has extensive coverage throughout Europe and we were able to get a plan that we could use in more than a single country. It’ll be nice to have the same phone number for more than a few weeks. We got four gigs of data for $9; that’ll last us at least a month. Their pricing in the U.S. is much higher.
For dinner we just couldn’t resist trying the street food. We found a stand that was selling all manner of bratwurst, knockwurst and sausage. We bought a bratwurst and split it in half. Deborah ate hers plain. I slathered mine with sauerkraut and topped it with a generous portion of brown mustard. We’re definitely going back to try some of the other varieties.
You may recall that we said that there was some debate as to whether Hungarians or Czechs invented the Chimney Cake. Here in the Czech Republic they’re called trdelník and we saw them for sale everywhere. Here they serve them filled with all sorts of yummy things. We had one filled with Nutella and soft ice cream. It’s a good thing we have stairs to climb or we might start to put on some weight. I think we’re going to love it here.
Seeya (SEE-ya) is Hungarian for Hello and Goodbye which is appropriate because this will be our last day here.
Deborah was still feeling the effects of her cold so she stayed in the house and I went to play tennis.I had played last Sunday at a tennis complex on the Buda side of the river and hit with a very nice woman named Veronika.She wasn’t substantially better than I was when I was playing regularly but she was up to the task of just smacking some balls with me.On Sunday it had been hot and humid and it was a challenge just to withstand the weather.Today was partly cloudy and less humid and I had no trouble keeping up.Total cost for an hour of court time plus a coach was just over $30.00; not bad.At one point I thought I might have broken a string which would have been a tragedy as I only have one racket with me instead of my normal three but everything turned out just fine. Oh the rigors of traveling.
We had planned to meet Andrea and Balazs for one last dinner but we had to cancel because Deborah wasn’t feeling well.Tomorrow we’ll be on the 7:41 am train to Prague for a new adventure.
We wish to extend a heartfelt thanks to Peter who, in addition to making countless suggestions for things to do, arranged for us to meet with his sister Andrea.Andrea and her friend, Balazs, were ever so gracious.They took the time to meet with strangers, help us with our travels and even met us for a few meals.We feel like we’re leaving good friends behind.
Distance walked: 6.3 miles
A few thoughts on Budapest
Until 1989 Hungary was still behind the iron curtain.We expected the city to have a very Eastern European look and feel.We couldn’t have been more wrong.Virtually all vestiges of communism have been erased.Budapest seems like many other Western European cities that we’ve been to.
Budapest is one of the most picturesque places we’ve ever seen.It’s an ancient city but many of the most notable buildings, in the neo-Gothic style, and have been constructed just over 100 years ago.
We found a huge number of opportunities to attend reasonably priced concerts.Many of the churches sponsor regular organ and instrumental concerts, the Liszt Academy hosts free and professional performances and there are many formal venues including the State Opera House, the Bela Bartok Concert Hall and Erkel Hall.
The public transportation system is large, convenient and easy to use.There are several trams that follow the river for several miles that make for a nice self-tour.Our only complaint was the additional cost and complexity of having to deal with transfer tickets.
Almost everyone in Budapest were accomplished English speakers.English seems to be the go to language.We saw many instances of foreigners trying to communicate with Hungarians.Several languages were often tried before all parties settled on English.It made our life much easier.
Hungary is a great place to explore food – especially if you like pork.We’ve never seen so many ways to prepare dishes from so many parts of a pig.Everything is spiced with Paprika and smothered in sour cream and yet we still managed to loose a few pounds during our stay.Many of the traditional foods struck us a very Bavarian which is probably a consequence of being part of the Hapsburg Empire for so many years.
Here’s our must do list for Budapest…
Tour the House of Parliament.The building is very beautiful and contains the crown jewels.We thought that the price charged was exorbitant but you have to go anyway.
Visit Fisherman’s Bastion / Matthius Church.Remember that you can climb the north side of the Bastion for free so there’s no need to pay for this.There is an entry fee to see the church but it’s not too bad and the inside is gorgeous.There is even a small museum there.If you’re adventurous you can climb the bell tower for an additional fee.
Visit Hero’s Square / City Park.There are many things to see and do there including several museums, a lake, a castle, a bath house and the zoo.
Visit the Buda Castle complex.There are lovely trails and parks all around.Inside there are several museums including the National Gallery and a library.
Saint Stephen’s Basilica is the largest Roman Catholic church in the city.It doesn’t rival any we’ve seen in Rome but it’s very nice.For a fee you can climb to the viewing platform.
Visit the Great Synagogue.For a fee you can tour the synagogue, several memorials and the museum.We thought that the museum is one of the nicest Jewish museums we’ve seen.
See the Shoes on the Danube memorial.It’s just along the river bank.It’s understated yet very moving.
Get something to eat at Gerbeaud.It’s a very famous old coffee house / confectionary.We strongly recommend their iced coffee with ice cream and caramel sauce.It’s actually worth the $10.00 that they charge for it.
Take a cruise on the Danube.There are many options for sightseeing, dinner and seeing other towns.
Of course there are many more things to see and explore. We hope you’ll love Budapest as much as we did.
Deborah’s been suffering from a cold so we decided to take it easy for a couple of days. We need to be fresh for Prague. We walked over to the Jewish Quarter and bought some bread and had lunch in a chain restaurant called the Humus Bar. We shared a falafel platter. It came with humus, tahini, pita bread and two different hot paprika sauces. It was very good.
Distance walked: 4.3 miles
Monday, May 28
Another easy day. We strolled down several of the shopping districts and, on our way back home, discovered a memorial to the victims of the 1956 uprising. It’s a small underground museum on the grounds of the House of Parliament. It’s a wonder we hadn’t seen it before. Entry is free of charge.
There are several films, subtitled in English, that are narrated by witnesses to the events of the day. They also have a number of static displays. In the back is a memorial monument with plaques along the walls naming those killed. The first hand accounts make a big impact and the overall effect is very moving.
(Memorial Monument)
Speaking of memorials, today is Memorial Day in the United States. We’d like to express our gratitude to all veterans. Thanks for your service.
Distance walked: 6.6 miles
Tuesday, May 29
Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary. It’s incomprehensible to us because we’re only 28 years old. How could that happen? To celebrate we decided to take a ferry up the Danube about 20 miles to a town called Szentendre (Saint Andrew). It’s a charming little town that has existed since the 9th century and is known for its many museums, galleries and art colonies.
(Approaching Szentendre)
The ferry took about 1.5 hours to get there. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the views and fresh river air. Along the way we saw people enjoying the river in boats, canoes and kayaks as well as fishing along the banks.
After disembarking we were a little surprised to see so many people there. It is clearly a destination for boat and bus tours. The main street was chock full of shops aimed at tourist dollars. We visited several establishments selling multi-colored cut crystal and fine porcelain. Our favorite stop may have been the marzipan museum shop where they sell all varieties of the candy. We bought some that were filled with cherries and were covered in chocolate. Yum! Later we went back to their cafe for dessert and had coffee and ice cream.
(Cool Refreshment for a Hot Day)
Up a hill near the center of Town we found what was once a medieval fortress. The surrounding walls are still intact but the only remaining building is the Church of Saint John the Baptist. The frescos in the church were done by local artists in the 1930s.
While we were waiting for the return ferry we walked down to the riverfront and waded into the Danube. The water was cold and refreshing.
Today was the day we tried all of the places that Andrea recommended…
We started the day with another trip to the cafe that she had recommended for rétes. We just had to try a few more flavors. This time it was cabbage (again), apple and plum. We also made our own combination by eating the apple and plum together. It was really good. We should have recommended it to the owners.
Next we walked over to make reservations at a restaurant we were told had incredible goose liver. Since the restaurant was rather small we were informed it would be best to make reservations. We found the place without any problem and made reservations for two for the following evening. Just as we were about to leave who should we run into but Andrea! She was there to have lunch. She was kind enough to ask us to join her but we had eaten breakfast just an hour before (we had attended a concert the night before, had gotten to bed late and actually slept until 9:00 am!) Instead we asked her to join us the following evening and changed our reservation from two to three people.
Now we were in search of a pastry shop. It was just a few blocks away. Andrea had recommended the cream cake (Nagymama Krémes) and the Flodni. They also had another item on our hit list: Pogácsa. These are biscuits that are made with or topped with different cheeses. We’d seen them all over the city but figured that since this place had been recommended we’d try them there. We shared a slice of cream cake at the shop and took the others home for later. We’d had the cream cake twice before and hadn’t been impressed. This one was better than the others but it’s never going to be one of our favorites. It’s a layer of pastry cream topped with a layer of whipped cream in a flaky crust. The taste is very plain. It seems to cry out for some additional flavoring like vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg.
Our last stop was at a small market that was also in the neighborhood. We were searching for a specific brand of sausage named Dányi. It comes in two varieties: sweet and hot. We’d looked for it everywhere in the large Central Market but no one carried it. Sure enough, we found it in the market that Andrea had suggested. We also bought some bread and cheese to go along with it. One of the cheeses we found was something we knew existed but had never seen anywhere else: Raclette.
Guess what we had for dinner that evening? We had purchased the hot sausage. It was firm and had a nice mild flavor. The spiciness sneaks up on you as you’re about to swallow and really has a kick. It was delicious. The trio went well with the raw red onion we ate them with.
For dessert we ate some of the biscuits and the Flodni. We had gotten two kinds of Pogácsa – ones topped with cheese (something like cheddar) and ones made with cottage cheese. The cheddar biscuits were good but to our surprise the ones made with cottage cheese were delicious.
If you Google Flodni in Budapest you find over and over again that the best Flodni comes from a place called Rachel’s. We’d already tried that and hadn’t really enjoyed it. The Flodni from this place was so much better. It was fresh and flavorful. Deborah really liked it. I was glad I tried it but I’m afraid it’ll never be the target of one of my midnight raids. (Flodni is a layers of walnut, poppy seed paste, jam and apple with a flaky pastry).
(Flodni)
Distance walked: 4.3 miles
Thursday, May 24
Today we headed over to Buda Castle to see the Hungarian National Gallery. The complex seen today, set high in the hills of Buda, dates from the mid 1700s and was the the Royal Palace until the 20th century. It houses three museums and the National Széchényi Library. It’s been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
The museum specializes in Hungarian Art starting with the 16th century and includes modern day collections. It focuses mainly on paintings and sculptures. The collections are contained on three floors. Throughout the palace there are large windows that face the Danube River providing beautiful panoramic views of the city.
(Girl at Prayer by Ede Spiró – 1840s)
Until the 19th century there were no Hungarian schools of art nor were than any distinct stylistic periods. The earlier works were a rather eclectic collection. During that time many of the most promising artists left the country to study in places like Germany, Austria and France, where the discipline was more entrenched and patrons were more easily found. One wing was dedicated to Medieval works. They were mostly wooden altarpieces from churches that no longer exist. The largest portion of the collection was from the late 19th century after the first Hungarian Schools of Art were established. The collections included a large number of portraits, landscapes and sculptures.
(The Hubay Children by Ede Telcs – 1902)
We had a light lunch at one of the cafes near the castle and then walked home, showered and changed so that we could be ready to meet Andrea for dinner. We ordered the grilled goose liver. It was served on slices of grilled apple accompanied by potato croquets. It was not like the foie gras we had expected but it was very good. Even Deborah, who really doesn’t care for liver, liked it very much. Our other entree was pork fillet stuffed with sausages on a bed of sweet pickled red cabbage with roasted potatoes. No comment required. Fortunately Andrea was there to remind us to take pictures of the plates before we indulged.
(Goose Liver and Pork Medallions)
For dessert we shared an order of gundel pancakes. It’s a thick crepe filled with walnut paste covered in chocolate sauce. We’d had these before at another restaurant and really liked them. These were ever better. We told Andrea that since she knows the best places in Town she should start a food blog.
We went to see Die Fledermaus at the Erkel Theater. This theater is presenting all Opera productions while the State opera house is closed for renovations. The theater was built in 1918 and has Art Deco light fixtures, excellent acoustics and seating for about 1,800 people.
Our tickets were for seats 9 and 10 in row 4 of the balcony. We found our seats easily and settled in for the night – or so we thought. Soon after a large group of people came by and insisted we were sitting in their seats. We showed our tickets to the usher and she pointed us to another section. We discovered that there were four groups of seats in each row with the same numbers. Our tickets, written in Hungarian, were for the right center section. We never thought to translate our tickets.
Die Fledermaus, sometimes translated as The Bat, is an operetta by Johann Strauss II. It premiered in Vienna in 1874. It is usually performed around New Year’s Eve and, although written in German, is often performed in the local language. The performance we attended was in Hungarian without subtitles. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue but this opera is about 50% spoken and if you can’t understand the dialog it can detract from your enjoyment. For us it would have been better if it had been done in German. The plot is typically silly and the jokes are very dated although many renditions update the dialog to make it more relatable. It was impossible for us to know the direction this production took.
The opera was performed by their national orchestra: The Pannon Philharmonic and the National Theatre of Pécs Chorus and Dance Ensemble. The singers were first rate but we felt that the overall impression was disappointing. The orchestra had only a casual association with intonation and many times was not in sync with the vocalists.
Distance walked: 5.4 miles
Sunday, May 20
Another day another opera. This time it was Rigoletto by Verdi. This opera, which premiered in 1851, is considered to be Verdi’s first mature work. The story is centered on a court jester (Rigoletto), his daughter (Gilda) and Rigoletto’s employer, the Duke of Mantua. This piece was also performed at the Erkel Theater by the same ensemble from the previous night. As expected the opera was performed in Italian with Hungarian subtitles. For us, Italian was a welcome change and since we knew this opera well we had no issues following along.
During Die Fledermaus the orchestra had occasionally swamped the singers. We had attributed this to our balcony seating. For this performance we were seated center orchestra and the balance was even worse due to the larger orchestra required for this work. Once again the vocalists were very strong. We found the sets to be rather disappointing. They were simplistic and unimaginative. The orchestra’s intonation hadn’t improved and the additional brass only made things worse. Neither opera performance was worthy of a national theater. Our experience at The Messiah a few days ago had raised our expectations but these performances were not up to the same level.
Distance walked: 4.5 miles
Tuesday, May 22
We started the day by eating a late breakfast at a cafe that Andrea had promised had the best rétes (Hungarian Strudel) in the city. She was right. They were wonderful. The pastry was light and flaky and they were generously filled with all sorts of things. We couldn’t resist the ones filled with cabbage as they were still warm from the oven. We also tried the sour cherry and sour cherry with chocolate. We washed it all down with a couple of cappuccinos. We plan to go back and try some of the other flavors.
(Cherry and Cherry/Chocolate Rétes. We Already Ate the Cabbage)
Afterwards we walked down along the river and inquired about cruises to nearby cities. We continued down to Central Market where were bought some sausages, bread and cheese. There are many cheeses here that we don’t recognize but we’re determined to try as many as possible.
On our way home we passed a memorial to Bloody Thursday. It refers to October 25, 1956 when the Soviets violently put down an anti-communist demonstration. The building, across from the House of Parliament, is one of many that bears the scars of bullets fired on that day.
(Bloody Thursday Memorial)
In the evening we attended a concert at the Franz Liszt Academy. The concert hall is used by both students and professional ensembles. The rather intimate theater is decorated in the Baroque style with generous amounts of gold leaf and beautiful crystal chandeliers. The back of the stage is dominated by an elegant set of pipes for the organ. An elevated choir loft is situated between the organ pipes and the stage. Tours of the entire academy are available for about $12 per person but we opted for seeing a concert there instead.
(Liszt Academy Concert Hall)
The program featured The Zuglói Filharmóniával orchestra. The program started with a choral piece that we’d never heard before. It was Mendelssohn’s Israel in Egypt, which is based on Handel’s work of the same name. It is an unremarkable piece of mostly homophonic music but the performance showed it off as best as possible.
The second piece, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, featured the conductor as violin soloist. The leaderless orchestra did its best to follow along but had difficulty with the constantly changing tempi. We would recommend that the soloist choose a single vocation as neither his conducting nor his playing were polished.
The program ended with a performance of one of our favorites: Brahms’ Symphony Number Four. It is a challenging work with exposed parts, difficult transitions and syncopated rhythms. The violists, clarinetists and bassoonists did a particularly good job with their difficult and intimidating solos. The trumpets and french horns struggled with their parts. The piece lacked a coherent interpretation. What we heard was a bunch of musicians simply playing their roles. The difficult transitions lacked finesse and the dynamics were due almost entirely to the orchestration rather than purposeful performance. We would expect a longtime professional group to perform to a higher standard.
We had tickets to see Handel’s Oratorio, “The Messiah”. Since the theater was a four mile walk from our apartment we decided to take the tram. This time we got cheeky and bought our tickets from one of the automated vending machines. This might not sound very impressive until you realize that the only language that the machines use is Magyar. We considered this a significant accomplishment (and no, we didn’t use Google Translate).
The Bartók Béla National Concert Hall is actually contained within the local Ludwig Museum. The museum complex is a beautiful modern building. Besides the museum and the concert hall it also contains a reference library, a restaurant, a book store and an instrument shop. The interior has high ceilings, grand spaces and clean lines. It reminded us a lot of Lincoln Center.
The concert hall is very large, has three balconies and seating all along the perimeter. The space over the stage is dominated by an enormous pipe organ. We sat in in the first balcony overlooking stage right and had a bird’s eye view of the entire ensemble. The piece was performed by the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra, a group that formed originally in 1990 for the express purpose of performing Purcell’s Baroque opera Dido & Aeneas. They perform regularly in this hall.
We’ve participated in and heard many performances of The Messiah and this was one of the best ever. The orchestra and choir performed as a single instrument. Their dynamics and balance were exceptional and their articulations clean and precise. The groups blended exceptionally well within themselves and with each other. Their interpretations of some of the dotted rhythms was unusual and interesting. Even the conductor’s tempi were well chosen. It never felt rushed at any time. If you have the opportunity to see this group perform we can recommend them highly to you. Here is a youtube performance of the same piece from last year. These soloists are not the same ones that we heard but the orchestra and chorus are manifestly the same: 2017 Performance. In our performance the alto/countertenor solo was performed by a countertenor.
Distance walked: 3.1 miles
Wednesday, May 16
One of the most famous Hungarian composers was Franz Liszt (1811-1886). He used his home on Andrássy Street to start a music academy. Today we visited his home which has been turned into a museum. In 1875 a new academy/concert hall was built a few blocks away and it houses the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. More on the academy later in the month after we attend a concert (or two) there.
Liszt was born in the city of Doborján, Hungary which is now the city of Raiding in Austria. Liszt always considered himself a Hungarian but never spoke a word of that language. It is said that he couldn’t even spell his name in Hungarian. His first language was German.
The museum is a recreation of how his apartments appeared when Liszt lived there. Many personal effects are on display such as family photos and portraits. We particularly enjoyed seeing several of his pianos and liked to imagine him playing them. There was a large collection of scores that composers had sent to him for review. At one point an exasperated Liszt published an article in the newspaper asking people to stop sending him scores. He said that he needed time to do his own work.
(Liszt Museum)
One of the most interesting artifacts was a composition desk created for him by the famous piano maker Bösendorfer. The middle draw contains a three octave keyboard that sounds when small hammers strike fixed sized metal sheets.
After the museum we visited City Park again. We wanted to check off a few things from our list. We saw the Statue of George Washington, donated by Hungarian Americans in 1906, and the Timewheel. The Timewheel is a large circular hourglass that runs for one year. Just like a regular hourglass it is turned when the sand runs out. The sculpture was unveiled in 2004 to commemorate Hungary’s admission to the European Union.
By this time the weather turned rainy so we decided to head over to the nearby West End Mall for lunch. The mall, which is across the street from our apartment, is very large. It encompasses three floors and runs for an entire city block. We were delighted to see it had an enormous food court.
The food court had the usual American restaurants such as McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC. We opted for something more interesting. We got a plate of fried chicken and parsely potatoes from a Hungarian booth and, from a Greek shop, we got fried catfish and Turkish rice. Both were very good. For dessert I had ice cream and Deborah had bubble tea (a Taiwanese tea drink with tapioca balls).
Distance walked: 7.1 miles
Thursday, May 17
At one time there was a Melting Pot restaurant here in Budapest but it closed. To ease the suffering the Grand Budapest Cafe decided to have fondue night every Thursday. It’s no longer a regular thing but, if you reserve a table for Thursday night and request fondue, they will make it specially for you. Guess where we had dinner?
Their fondue menu has two main choices: fondue and raclette. There is also a choice of sides that includes potatoes and a sausage plate. We just ordered the fondue which came with a basket of bread. Our fondue was mainly ementhaller cheese with a good helping of white wine. We washed it down with a few glasses of house wine. It was filling and delicious.
We planned to take some nighttime pictures so we killed some time by walking around Town. We decided to kill even more time by stopping in at Café Gerbeaud for dessert. We’d been there before and were dying to have another one of their coffee drinks. We also ordered a typical Hungarian dessert called Palacsinta Gundel. It is crepe filled with ground walnuts, raisins and rum topped with dark chocolate sauce. Ours also came with dark chocolate ice cream and a ragout of apricot. The pancake is slightly thicker than a French crepe so it can be jammed with richer fillings. Yum!
(Palacsinta Gundel for Dessert)
After dessert we walked down to the Erzsébet Bridge and started taking pictures. Next we walked back up and crossed to Buda at the Széchenyi Bridge, walked all the way back to up the Margit Bridge, crossed back to Pest and headed home. We wound up taking quite a few pictures. Some came out really well.
(Crescent Moon over Buda Castle)
The rest of the night was spent continuing to binge watch “Mad Men” on Netflix before getting to sleep around 1:00 am.
Friday, May 18
We received an email from our landlord telling us that Sunday and Monday were holidays and that many shops, including grocery stores, would be closed. We’re very grateful for his thoughtfulness. We headed out early for coffee and then hit the grocery store, where we bought enough food for the next few days (translation: we got enough cookies and chocolate bars to choke a horse).
For dinner we planned to meet our new Hungarian friends, Andrea and Balazs, at a restaurant in Óbuda (Old Buda) called Zöld Kapu Vendéglő. For this trip we walked North and crossed the Danube over the Árpád Bridge. This part of Buda had been a Roman settlement in ancient times and bore the name of Aquincum. The area it littered with Roman ruins.
Today it is a charming residential area with a pedestrian walkway featuring cafes, restaurants and shops. At the appointed time we started walking in the direction of the restaurant. At one point we heard someone shout “Deborah” from a passing street car and looked up to see Andrea whizzing by us. We only knew two people in the entire city and had just run into one of them. We had a good laugh. Unfortunately, Balazs was unable to make it but we hope to see him again before we leave.
We sat in a charming covered patio next to the garden. There was an extensive menu with a large number of interesting choices. On our way to our table we saw what other people had ordered. The portion sizes were enormous and everything looked wonderfully delicious. We ordered beef with sour cream and dill sauce accompanied by nokedli (dumplings) and fried pork stuffed with cheese and sausage accompanied by spaghetti Milanese. We ate about half before giving up. Thanks to Andrea for reminding us to take a picture BEFORE eating our dinner.
(Too Much Food)
We couldn’t leave without sampling the desserts. We shared an order of palacsinta (crepe) filled with poppy seed paste and it came with a generous portion of two different sauces – one was vanilla and one was a combination of raspberry and blueberry. We would have been satisfied with just the sauces! It was all quite delicious.
We made an attempt to atone for our sins by walking all the way home. Andrea walked with us and we talked about life in Hungary and her time in the U.S. It was a very pleasant evening.
May 13th was Mother’s Day in the United States. We wanted to send another Mother’s Day thank you to our wonderful mothers who have been following us on our blog and wondering what they did to raise such odd children. 😁 A special thanks is also appropriate to all our friends and family who are mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, stepmothers, aunts, sisters, etc. who are there every day helping to guide future generations. Your love and hard work are greatly appreciated. Remember, the youth of today will be working to pay our social security tomorrow!
We spent Sunday walking around on the Buda side of the Danube. The name Buda has an interesting etymology. In the fifth century the Huns conquered the Carpathian Basin and they named the City on the Western side of the River Bleda after the brother of their famous leader, Attila the Hun. Eventually the name evolved into the name we know today: Buda.
And speaking of names, we learned an interesting fact about names in Hungary. It seems there is a law requiring parents to name their children names from an official list. The name must be approved before the child can be named. So no Blanket or Apple or Moon Unit allowed. This law is probably more for the benefit of the child than the parents or society. 😉
Fun Fact: In Hungary names are always last name, first name. So their most famous composer, Franz Liszt, would be Liszt Frenec.
Our plan for the day was to visit the Citadel and, once we were hot and tired, to refresh ourselves at one of Budapest’s renowned bath houses. Budapest is famous for its thermal baths. It sits on a patchwork of over 100 thermal springs. The term ‘bath house’ has a bad connotation in the U.S. but in Europe it refers to spas that use natural mineral waters. If you’ve ever heard the term, “take the waters”, it refers to European style spas.
We walked over the Margit Bridge to Buda and walked south along the river. Along the way we passed the Kiraly Baths. It’s one of the oldest bath houses in Budapest and was built by the Ottoman Turks in 1565. We were only permitted to see a small portion of the inside but it had very interesting looking architecture.
After walking for four miles we finally arrived at the bottom of a large hill upon which the Citadel is located. The path up wound around the hill alternating stairs with inclines. There were many places to stop and enjoy the view. At one point the path led to a beautiful monument in honor of Gerard of Csanád, which can be seen overlooking the river from the Pest side. Csanád was appointed the first bishop of Hungary around 1030 AD. Tired and hot we finally reached the summit.
(View from the Summit)
The Citadel, built in 1851, is a fortress that was intended for the defense of the city. In 1947, during the communist era, the Soviets placed the Liberty Statue there. It is one of the highest points in the city and it can be seen for miles. Most Soviet era statues have been removed to Momento Park but this one has been allowed to remain. It has been repurposed to represent liberation from the Soviet regime.
(Liberty Statue)
On the far side of the fortress there is a park where food vendors and trinket sellers pray on unsuspecting tourists. We had lunch there. We ordered a dish consisting of grilled peppers, onions and large hunks of pork. It was quite tasty.
(Grilled Peppers, Onions and Pork)
We walked down the hill using the road that the tourist busses take and headed to the Rudas Bath. We weren’t able to see much there so we continued on toward the Gellért Hotel and Bath.
The Gellért Bath is a beautiful complex. It’s decorated in the Art Nouveau style with high domed ceilings and stained glass windows. Everything about the place said clean, modern and high class. Like most bath houses they also offer optional services such as massages, pedicures and facials. If we had our swimming trunks with us we would have jumped in the water right then and there (you can rent a bathing suit but you can imagine Deb’s thoughts on that).
By now we were pretty tired so we walked across the Szabadság Bridge and took the riverside tram back to Margit Bridge. It was a short walk back to our apartment from there. Deborah was exhausted from the day’s activities but I decided to head back over to City Park and relax at the Széchenyi Baths.
The Szechenyi Bath is one of the largest in Europe. It features over a dozen thermal pools of varying temperatures, three outdoor pools, steam baths and much, much more. I dipped my toes into just about every pool but spent most of my time in the pools with the warmest temperatures. I could only stand about five minutes in the steam room before leaving and didn’t even consider using the cold dunk pool afterwards (it is recommended).
The outside pools are very large and can accommodate hundreds of people. The younger people seemed to congregate there. For some sitting in lounge chairs was their afternoon’s activity while others played in the pools and snapped photos of their friends. Most were drinking wine and beer from the poolside restaurant. It reminded me of spring break in South Beach.
Distance walked: 12.6 miles and 32 flights
Monday, May 14
For the second day in a row we walked over to Buda. This time we crossed the Széchenyi Bridge and took the funicular to the top. The funicular is one of the most famous attractions in the city. It opened in 1870 but was completely destroyed in World War II. It wasn’t rebuilt until 1984. It cost 2,400 HUF / $9.10 for the two of us to take the one minute ride to the top. We found the view to be somewhat restricted. If you have the time and don’t mind climbing a few stairs we would recommend skipping the ride. You’ll get much better views along the way and, of course, find the best view from the top.
Fun fact: The famous operatic song entitled Funiculì, Funiculà was written in 1880 to commemorate the opening of the funicular at Mount Vesuvius in Italy. It was used in advertising campaigns and quickly became a runaway hit in its own right. Until we visited in 2016 we always assumed that it came from some obscure opera. We’ll bet money you’ve heard this one before: Listen Here.
As an aside, one of the things that has surprised us is how many EU countries don’t use the EURO as their currency. As a matter of fact, most of the countries we plan to visit in 2018 use their own currencies. Here in Hungary they use a currency called the FORINT which us usually abbreviated as HUF. It’s taken us a little time to get used to it. One HUF is equivalent to about 0.00379 U.S. Dollars. That’s a hard calculation to do in your head! Rather than using a calculator we tend to think of it this way: 1,000 HUF is roughly $4.00.
Forint were introduced in 1946 as a way to stabilize the economy in the aftermath of World War II. As Hungary transitioned to a market based economy after the fall of communism the country experienced periods of hyper-inflation which accounts for huge difference in foreign exchange rates. Once they had coins for denominations that were less than a single Forint (pennies, nickels, dimes) but they no longer exist. The smallest denomination that we’ve seen is the five Forint coin which has a value of less than two cents. It’s startling to buy opera tickets for 12,000 HUF until you realize that it’s just $39.00.
Once at the top of Buda Hill we walked over to the National Archives where we planned to take the 11:00 am tour. We saw many people touring the building but at that time there were only two people interested in the English language tour. We got a private tour! Our guide was an archivist who had previously worked at the Hungarian Embassy in New York City. He enjoyed reminiscing with us about his time in Manhattan. The National Archives building was built in the neo-Gothic style and is just over 100 years old. The designers toured Europe looking for a style to model their building after and decided to mimic one they had seen in France.
(National Archives Building – Note The Beautiful Roof)
Each floor’s interior walls are covered in allegorical secco paintings, which our guide explained to us in detail. We also saw several research rooms, libraries and storage vaults. Their oldest document is a royal letter dating from the 11th century. Hungary’s king signed their version of the Magna Carta just seven years after the English. Unfortunately no original survives but they have a copy from the late 13th century.
(Allegory of Hungarian Magna Carta)
After a lunch consisting of a lángos covered in sausage we walked over the Széchenyi Bridge and headed to the Chocolate Museum near the Parliament building. The museum had some interesting displays on the history, manufacture and packaging of chocolate over the years. At the end they had samples of white, milk and dark chocolates. Naturally they had a gift shop with many interesting items for sale but instead we had coffee and dessert at a nearby cafe. We tried another classic Hungarian dessert: somlól galuska. It’s made with three different kinds of sponge cake (plain, walnut and chocolate) and has raisins and walnuts. The entire thing is drizzled with dark chocolate rum sauce and topped with whipped cream. It was quite good but was very filling. The two of us struggled to finish one serving.😊
(Hungarian Sponge Cake: Somlól Galuska)
Afterwards we headed to the street we had nicknamed as antique alley. We perused about a dozen shops. We liked the ones that specialized in porcelain, figurines and serving sets the best. We walked away with our wallets in tact.
Back at home we finally opened that bottle of Hungarian wine we bought last week. It was a red wine made with a grape called Kadarka. These grapes are mainly from the Szekszárd region and have long been a favorite of local wine makers. The taste resembled a Pinot Noir. We killed the entire bottle.
Today we walked the rest of Andrássy Street all the way down to one of the most iconic places in all of Budapest: Hero’s Square. It also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square contains a monument celebrating the millennial celebration in 1896. In addition there are sculptures of the seven Magyar Chiefs, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and sculptures of important people from Hungary’s history. The day we visited the place was pandemonium. The area had been sectioned off into several playing fields where the International Women’s Handball Semifinals were to be played. Stands had been setup at one end and food trucks were all along the perimeter.
(Hero’s Square)
Standing in the middle you can see that it’s a large and impressive square. To each side is a large building. One contains the Museum of Fine Arts and the other is the Museum of Contemporary Art. The square is situated in City Park. We walked around the park to see all of its wonders.
The first sight we came to was Vajdahunyad Castle. The castle, originally constructed of wood, cardboard and paper, was also built for the 1986 millennial celebration. It was such a popular attraction that it was later rebuilt using brick and stone. In front of the castle is a lake where you can rent pedal boats. On the far shore is a restaurant with a view of the entire scene. Different parts of the castle were constructed to reflect different time periods in Hungary’s history and so parts are Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. The castle also houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture which is the largest agricultural museum in Europe.
(Vajdahunyad Castle)
We walked around the grounds and peeked inside the museum to get some idea of what the interior looked like. You can buy tickets to tour two of the towers but that didn’t interest us. We did find the famous sculpture of Anonymous, who in 1200 AD wrote the “Deeds of the Hungarians” that chronicles the history of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. Legend says that if you touch your pen to his then you will become a great writer. Unfortunately we use a laptop to write this blog and neglected to bring it along.
We walked around the other side of the castle and found a stream, which dogs seemed to love to romp in, and another smaller lake. To the side was a large field where food stands are setup for the weekend crowds. We ate lunch there. We had a salad with strips of chicken that had been covered in panko and deep fried along with a strawberry lemonade.
Next we saw the legendary Széchenyi Bath House. We plan to visit it at a later date and will write more about it when we do. Then it was on to the zoo.
The Budapest Zoo is the oldest zoo in Hungary and one of the oldest in Europe. It opened on August 9, 1866. Originally it was private and housed only species native to Hungary. In 1907 it was taken over by the city and has expanded in size and scope ever since. We had a wonderful time.
The zoo is much larger than you would expect when you see it from the outside and it contained many interesting displays. Most of the animals are held in naturalistic settings which are arranged to allow visitors as intimate an experience with the animals as possible.
(Baby Warthogs at Work)
The zoo’s animals are flourishing. We saw many sets of babies. One of the most entertaining was the baby elephant. He was barely six months old and loved to play in the pool. His enclosure also contained his mother and his big sister, who was obviously responsible for keeping him out of trouble. We have a wonderful video of their antics. Dad, who was absolutely enormous, was in an adjacent pen. He’d figured out a way to interact with people by sticking his trunk through a small opening between the gate and the wall in the elephant house. You could actually touch his trunk (and he seemed to like it). It was very sweet.
The original video is much longer but there are limitations as to what we can post. Still, it’s a minute in length and may take some time to download. If you want to see the entire thing send us a message and we’ll see if we can send it to you.
(Adolescent and Baby Elephant Playing)
The highlight of the day might have been the Kea enclosure. Keas are large parrots from New Zealand. They have been nicknamed ‘The Clown of the Mountains’. This seems apt considering our experience. They are curious and clever animals that love to interact with people. When we walked by one of the birds offered us some greenery by shoving it through the cage bars. At first we were reluctant to take it because the bird has a long, sharp beak but he insisted and we obliged. We then gave it back to him and he accepted it. For 20 minutes we took turns finding things like grasses and leaves to exchange through the cage. At one point he hopped along the perimeter beckoning us to follow him. We did. It was very endearing. We saw him do these behaviors with other visitors too.
We had intended to visit the Museum of Fine Arts but it was closed for a multiyear renovation. We were disappointed but figured it would give us a good excuse to return to the city in the future.
Distance walked: 9.3 miles
Saturday, May 12
Today we went to the Ecseri Flea Market. It is the largest flea market in a city known for its flea markets. The market is about seven miles from our apartment so this gave us an excuse to finally try out the mass transit system. The public transportation system in Budapest is rather complex. The choices include the subway (metro), yellow street cars, busses and trolley busses. Fortunately the cost for all of them is the same. In cases where you can’t go directly and have to change there is an additional fare. Of course residents seem to have monthly passes.
There are touch screen ticket machines but they are only in Magyar so we went to a ticket window. Based on the information we’d read ticket sellers often speak only Magyar but ours, thankfully, spoke fairly good English. We took the bus. We figured it would be like a free tour of the city.
We normally refer to the language that Hungarians speak as Hungarian. They call it Magyar and it has an interesting history. Over 1,000 years ago the Magyars came from an area in Asia near modern day Siberia. Their language was an Asian language. When these peoples migrated West some of them settled in the Carpathian Basin and became the Hungarian Nation. Some continued on to Finland. Originally the the Fins and the Hungarians spoke the same language but over the years it has diverged to such an extent that today they are completely different languages. Modern Hungarian is based roughly on the Latin alphabet but its pronunciation is unlike anything we are used to. Magyar is reputed to be one of the hardest languages for Westerners to learn.
The Flea Market resembled any other market that you may have seen only it was larger. There were hundreds of booths and stalls. We saw the usual “junk” but also saw a lot of interesting items. One booth had a fantastic collection of old camera equipment for sale. The pieces looked to be in wonderful condition and had obviously been completely restored. We were on the lookout for Herend. We found pieces from several companies that made Herend style products but we also found large quantities of the real thing. The prices weren’t bad but haggling is part of the experience. We were there for a several hours but didn’t buy anything.
On the way back we took a different bus so that we could visit the Bela Bartok Concert Hall. It is located within the Ludwig Museum at the foot of the Rákóczi Bridge. It’s a large, modern looking complex that includes a high quality restaurant. We had intended to purchase tickets to see Haydn’s ‘Seasons’ Oratorio but when we found that they were also performing ‘The Messiah’ we walked away with tickets for that instead. By the end of this month we will have seen a performance in all of the city’s major concert halls.
Just outside, near the river, there was a unique structure called The Zikkurat. It looks like an inverted cone and has a long sloping ramp along the perimeter that leads to a viewing platform. The ramp has a gradual incline which makes for an easy walk. We had a great view of the entire city from there. Granted that the location is somewhat South of the city’s main attractions but we’ve never seen it mentioned in any guidebook.
From there we took one of the trams that run along the river (it’s a great way to see riverfront). We were on our way to late lunch at a place called The Zoo Cafe. This wacky place is filled with all sorts of small animals that will visit you during the course of your meal. Let’s be clear about one thing: you don’t go there for the food. It was not very good.
There’s a sheet of rules sitting at every table. The basic idea is that you should not feed any of the animals nor should you disturb any of the sleeping cats. After we ordered one of the staff began bringing different animals to our table. We started with a colorful chameleon. After that we entertained a bearded dragon followed by a little turtle, a guinea pig and a rabbit. We had the opportunity to hold a large boa constrictor but opted for more cuddly creatures. The place was crawling with cats and most of them were huge. Typically some of them were aloof but some craved attention. We petted several. Just as we were leaving a cockatoo swooped down on to the shoulder of a person sitting at the next table. The man was quite startled. It was very amusing. All of the animals seemed clean and healthy. The restaurant itself was very clean and any ‘accidents’ were attended to very quickly. All tables were equipped with large bottles of Purell which we used quite a lot of. We can’t imagine this kind of restaurant existing in the U.S. but it was a lot of fun and worth the damage to our stomachs.
We woke up to some distressing news this morning. The booking for our apartment in Prague had been cancelled. This seemed inconceivable to us. We had requested to book the apartment at the advertised price, the host had accepted and we had paid in full. How could this happen?
We learned the hard way that AirBNB will allow a host to cancel a reservation at any time. The host pays a small penalty and we received a small amount of money in compensation. The problem was that we knew that Prague was very popular in the summertime – that was why we had booked over two months in advance. We checked back on the website and sure enough there were very few apartments available and those that were available cost a lot more that we had originally paid. I phoned AirBNB and told them that under the circumstances their pitiful compensation was insufficient and that they were responsible for making things right. They did not agree. We had to make some decisions.
We thought about staying in Hungary longer. We also thought about going to another city. The problem was that we had our hearts set of going to Prague. We’ve wanted to visit it for a long time and really didn’t want to put it off for the indefinite future and so in the end we bit the bullet and booked another apartment. It’s a nice apartment in a good location but it is also a five floor walkup and it cost one third more that we were expecting to pay. While we were at it we changed our booking for Warsaw. We’d heard from several sources that if we were to go to one place in Poland it should definitely be to Krakow. Since we had booked two weeks in Warsaw we decided to split it into one week in Krakow and one in Warsaw.
On the positive side we did some research that we got from Andrea’s friend Balazs. He informed us that there are several countries that are neither EU nor Schengen (we can only stay in the Schengen area for three months out of every six months). We’d overlooked these when we did our own research . Now we have many more possibilities where we can spend our non-Schengen time.
After all that we got a bit of a late start but we still managed to get out of the apartment by 11:00 am. Peter had suggested that we checkout Pozsonyi Street and his sister, Andrea, had suggested that we checkout a restaurant on that same street called Pozsonyi Kisvendéglő. Like brother like sister. We decided to kill two birds with one stone. The street is just a few minutes walk from our apartment and is one block from the river.
It’s a very pretty street where many of the houses are older and have interesting facades. We also found a myriad of restaurants, coffee houses, pastry shops and speciality food stores. Andrea had told us that the restaurant was well known for good food, huge portions and reasonable prices. She also said that it was often very crowded and that we might have trouble getting a table. We walked in at 12:30 pm expecting to wait. The outside tables were all full but we found several empty tables inside and seated ourselves near a window overlooking the street.
The menu had some fantastically interesting choices. We opted for a dish of boiled beef with sour cherry sauce that came with a side of potatoes and a deep fried pork cutlet breaded with sliced potatoes and garlic that was smothered in sour cream and cheese. As promised the portion sizes were huge. We ate half and took the rest home. Was it good? Did you hear me mention that it was pork smothered in sour cream?!!!
(Beef with Sour Cherry Sauce / Fried Pork with Sour Cream & Cheese)
Afterwards we stopped by a place called the Donut Library. As you may suspect the interior is designed to resemble a library – even down to the goose neck lamps at the tables. Their donuts were beautifully decorated and they had some very innovative choices. We ordered one topped with powdered sugar that was filled with Nutella and one topped with a caramel glaze filled with a caramel sauce. They were good but looked a lot better than they tasted. At about $2.00 a piece they were also a little overpriced.
We also stopped by a specialty food shop. The owner was eager to please and was happy to let us sample anything we wanted. He even opened a bottle of wine for us to taste. We walked away with two different cheeses and a bottle of wine. He also had some amazing looking sausages that we plan to try the next time we’re down that way.
Distance walked: 3.2 miles
Thursday, May 10
We had a full agenda planned. Our first stop was the Hungarian National Opera House. We bought tickets for the 3:00 pm tour. Next we stopped at a store called, “Sugar”. It’s a very popular place for cakes, candies and ice cream. It reminded us a lot of Dylan’s in New York City. Somehow we managed to walk away without buying anything.
Next was the Liszt Ferenc (Franz Liszt) Academy of Music often referred to simply as the Zeneakadémia. It was founded by the composer and is the most prestigious music school in Hungary. It also contains a concert hall where students and professionals frequently perform. As you might imagine it’s a beautiful facility where free tours are offered every afternoon. More on the academy after we take the tour.
We had seen the programs for this month and decided to get some tickets. We wanted to see a viola student’s doctoral jury performance but it was sold out. We were really impressed by that – you would never have seen that at Juilliard. The ticket agent said that we should just show up and could probably find seats anyway. Tickets were free. There was another, professional group, doing some medieval choral music but that too was sold out. We walked away with tickets to see a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto together with Brahms Symphony #4.
All of this back and forth gave us an opportunity to stroll down Andrássy Street. It’s the Fifth Avenue of Budapest with wide boulevard-like streets and lovely high end stores. We’ve visited several Herend Stores since we’ve been here but the nicest we’ve seen so far was the one on Andrássy Street.
Herend is a well known, high end, Porcelain maker based out of the city of Herend, which is about a 1.5 hour drive West of Budapest. They are famous for their hand painted animal figurines and their china. We started collecting Herend some years ago. John, our dealer in Manchester, Vermont, has been supplying our habit for years. One of the things we liked so well about John is that, unlike other dealers we’ve dealt with, he can often get items that are available only in Europe. We’ve seen many patterns in these stores that we’e never seen before. We had some thoughts about traveling to the city of Herend to do a factory tour but it’s unlikely we’ll actually get around to doing that.
Lunch was the glamorous New York Cafe. The cafe is part of the New York Palace Hotel, which was built in 1894 as the head office of the New York Life Insurance Company. Today it is a luxury hotel. The opulent interior is designed in the Italian Renaissance-style. The cafe is hideously expensive.
(The New York Cafe)
The cafe is famous as a coffee house and serves elegant pastries and desserts. The menu also contains breakfast and lunch items which no doubt is a concession to being part of the hotel. We ordered a cappuccino and a coffee drink made with ice cream and whipped cream and we shared a plate of selected meats and cheeses. Ironically, for a famous coffee house, the coffees were simply average. The food plate, which contained two different kinds of sausage, two different kinds of cheese, prosciutto, onion jam and fresh bread and butter, was absolutely delicious. As good as the food is the main reason to go there is just to experience the ambiance and the decor. The cafe also featured live music performed in several styles by piano, violin and clarinet.
(Half Eaten Lunch 😉)
We paid for the meal using a credit card. The waiter asked us if we wanted to charge the amount in Hungarian Forint or US Dollars. This is not an innocent question. You might think it would be better to pay in US Dollars but there is a catch. If you pay in dollars they automatically add a currently conversion fee of about 3%. We’ve run into this several times in our travels. It is always better to pay in the local currency. As an aside, if you’re traveling abroad you should get a credit card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee. That will also save you a lot of money.
We had some time to kill and some lunch to walk off before the Opera House tour so we headed down to the Elizabeth bridge and explored that area for a while. It was fun to meander down different streets and see the shops. We walked into some churches, several art galleries and did quite a bit of window shopping. Eventually it was time for our tour and we headed back to the opera house.
The Hungarian State Opera House was completed in 1884. It’s design encompasses both neo-Renaissance and Baroque elements. The initial funding for the building was given by Emperor Franz Joseph I on the condition that its completed size be smaller than the opera house in his home city of Vienna. When the initial funds ran out additional funding was provided by Hungarian nobility to complete the project.
The opera house is undergoing extensive renovations at present. We were able to tour the entrance area, the bar area outside the first floor seating area and the balcony. We were so very disappointed that we were not able to see the interior of the theater itself.
(Opera House Main Staircase)
At the end of the tour we gathered in the main stairway and were treated to a performance by a soprano and a baritone from the company. They were accompanied by a boom box. They each sang a solo and then they performed two duets. While performing the drinking song from La Traviata they danced with members of the audience. It was all light and fun and their voices sounded wonderful.
Afterwards we started walking down Andrássy Street with the aim of exploring Hero’s Square but we soon tired and decided to tackle that on another day.
Margaret Island (Margitsziget) is an oasis of tranquil beauty and charm within the big city: think Central Park in New York City. The island sits in the middle of the Danube River at the northern end of the city. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges: Margit hid to the south and Ápád hid to the north. All of the river crossings in Budapest are bike and pedestrian friendly, which really makes it easy to get around. These bridges also afford some of the best views in Town.
In the Middle Ages the island was known as Island of the Rabbits. The current name is attributed to Saint Margaret, who lived in the 13th century. She was raised as a nun and lived in a Dominican convent on the island. Remains of the convent and associated church can still be seen today. At one time the island was dominated by churches and cloisters but most were abandoned or destroyed during the Ottoman occupation when the island was turned into a harem. It was declared a public garden in 1908.
(Field of Pansies)
The island is accessible from the midpoint of the connecting bridges. There are walking/biking/jogging paths around the entire 3.3 mile perimeter. The interior contains manicured lawns, flower gardens, a Japanese garden, churches, ancient ruins, a small zoo, sports fields, tennis courts, a pool/water park complex and a hotel/spa complex.
(Japanese Garden)
One of the first things you see when you walk down the ramp from the bridge is a dancing fountain. It’s a large circular fountain whose many water spouts are choreographed to classical and popular music. We saw a schedule posted that lists all of the musical numbers and the time at which they will be played. Chairs have been placed all around the fountain for maximum enjoyment. It was a surprising and wonderful sight. There’s something so mesmerizing about fountains that makes you want to just sit and watch them all day.
(Dancing Fountain)
On the way back to our apartment we stopped at a nearby Turkish restaurant and shared a falafel sandwich. One of the choices for dessert was chocolate flavored baklava. We’d never seen that before. We’re planning to go back and try it another time.
Around 4:30 pm we met my friend Peter’s sister, Andrea, and her friend Balazs at the Radisson Blu Beke Hotel, which is just a few minutes walk from our apartment. The famous hotel had just undergone an extensive renovation and re-opened only three weeks ago. The cafe, which serves exclusively on Zsolnay brand Hungarian made china, had a newly restored glass dome on display. It, and many other of the hotel’s artifacts, had been saved during World War II by storing them in the basement. The hotel, which served as a hospital during that time, had been badly damaged.
Ironically Andrea and Balazs, both native Hungarians, met while living in New York City. We sat and talked for over 2.5 hours all while drinking coffee and eating cakes. They were funny and kind and we enjoyed our time together. They recommended a number of restaurants and many activities for us inside and outside of the city. We’re not sure that we’ll be able to do everything they suggested the three weeks we have remaining here, but we’re going to try.
(Coffee with Andrea and Balazs)
In case you were wondering about the cakes, we had two Hungarian classics: Esterházy cake and Dobostorta. Esterházy has flavored buttercream sandwiched between layers of crushed almonds while Dobostorta is a chocolate buttercream layered spongecake topped with crystallized caramel. They were some of the best we’ve had.
