Szentendre

City of my dreams :)
Little treasure box North from Budapest.

Read what the town's mayor says about it:

"In Szentendre you can find a mixture of traditions,  history,  culture,  gastronomy and arts, and we find it important that everyone – both inhabitants and guests – can find information about the news and events of our town. Szentendre is also known as the „Town of painters”, and is the home of many fine artists and applied artists. As a result of this we have many interesting and exciting programs all over the year.
In Summer a variety of colorful events take place, like the Theater of Szentendre performances, whose season is closed by the festival of „Szentendre Night and Day”, which was organized for the fifth time in 2010. In winter the cold days are warmed up with our standard exhibitions and occasional events.
Szentendre has been known not only as a significant cultural center, but also renowned for its location in a very special natural environment bordered by the Pilis and Visegrád – mountains and the Szentendre Island. Because of the outstanding natural beauty of this region we can offer a lot of useful information for those, who like hiking."

For more information visit the website. And here's a 3D visual tour above the city.

The easiest way to get there from Budapest is travelling by the suburban train (called HÉV) from "Batthyány tér" metro station. Here's the schedule.

For the Bikers

For those who want to rent a bike in Budapest:

http://www.budapestbike.hu/bicikli-berles

6 hours = 2000 HUF
1 day = 3000 HUF
1 day and 6 hours = 4000 HUF
2 days = 5000 HUF
2 days and 6 hours = 6000 HUF
3 or more days = 2500 HUF/day

Connection

Drinks you have to try 3 - ZWACK UNICUM

Bitter liqueur made of herbs. A liqeurfactory was opened by József Zwack in Budapest in 1840 where the drink was first made in 1883. There’s a Zwack Museum too which is worth to visit.

If you don’t like bitter drinks you should try the spicey – citrus flavoured speciality of Zwack called „Unicum Next”.

 

Zwack Museum
Address: 1095 Budapest, Soroksári Street 26. (Entrance from Dandár Street)
Open:  H-P 10-18,
             groups (10-40 people) with 48 hour previous registration the visiting hour can be picked personally.

Drinks you have to try 2 - PÁLINKA

Original Hungarian alcoholic drink which is made by distillation of fermented fruits. That way the fruit-sugar turns into alcohol. It is distillated twice before it gets its final flavor during the mellowing in a special kind of barrel made of mulberry.

As they put it into bottles they make different kinds of spirits. Some of them are flavoured with honey or spices and some of them don’t get flavours. There are spirits which get fruit slices into their bottles (it’s called „fruitbed”).

Be careful! These spirits are very strong (40-45% alcohol)!

Recommended trademarks:

·         „Panyolai” – fruitspirits from Szatmár

·         „Zsindelyes” – spirits from Hajdúság

·         „Hírös” – from Kecskemét

Hirös

Panyolai

Zsindelyes

There's a liqueurshop in Budapest called "A Magyar Pálinka Háza" (The House of Hungarian Pálinka) where you can buy all kinds of pálinka.
Address: 1088 Budapest, Rákóczi út 17.
Open: Monday - Saturday 9 - 19
Web (unfortunately there's no English translation)

Drinks you have to try 1 - WINE

For those who are into wine or just want to taste some Hungarian specialities.

Hungary is also known for its delicious wines. There are many regions where the wine is made. Here are some which are worth to taste:

Red wines:

·         Villány

 Trademarks: Gere, Günzer, Bock (Royal cuvée), Wunderlich, Polgár pincészet (Kékfrankos is recommended)

·         Szekszárd

Takler, Mészáros (pinot noir rosé), Vida pincészet

·         Budafok

György-villa wines

·         Eger

Egri Bikavér

Gere

Günzer

Bock



Mészáros



György-villa

Egri Bikavér

White wines:

·         Tokaj

Tokaji Aszú (sweet)

Tokaji Szamorodni

·         Balaton-felvidék

Feind (Irsai Olivér), Szeremley (Rizling), Fischer pincészet

Tokaji Aszú

Feind

Szeremley

Fischer

Here you can find the wine regions of Hungary



Ecseri piac

Second-hand market

Address: IXX. Budapest, Nagykőrösi út 156.

How to get there: by metro line 3 ---> "Határ út" stop ---> by bus no. 54 --- "Naszód utca (Használtcikk piac)" stop

Open: Monday - Friday: 08:00-16:00, Saturday: 08:00-15:00, Sunday: 08:00-13:00

This is the biggest second-hand market in Budapest with an interesting and busy life. You can buy almost everything here from garbage to valuable antique. Don't forget to bargain!

Dobostorta (Dobos cake)

Great Market Hall

Where: IX. Fővám tér 1-3.

That's my favorite building in the city. It's not far from my home so I often stop by to buy some fruit or vegetable.
Upstairs you find places to eat and you can also buy souvenirs. Don't miss it!



And don't forget to buy some of these:

- red pepper (from Kalocsa or Szeged) = "piros paprika"

- sausages (Gyulai, Bajai, Pick) = "kolbász", "szalámi"

- "Tokaji aszu" (Hungarian sweet wein)

- "Kecskeméti barackpálinka" (schnaps)

- "Unicum" (Hungarian bitter liqueur)

Budapest

My advice: get a guide book and decide what you want to see from it. Then you can choose from my recommendations.

These are more from our everyday life. It digs a little deeper in our culture and history so if you only spend a few days in the city maybe it's not for you. You must see some of the real sights too!



Here you can find useful informations:

http://bthflash.alfanet.hu/guide_2010/eng/index.html

http://www.budapestinfo.hu/

Hungary

Us Hungarians are very proud of our culture and ancestors. Many great inventions belong to us.

Uránia

Urania National Motion Picture Theatre

The building has been working as a cinema for over 100 years. Its enterieur design is amazing. Take a look at it!

Watch a film in the movie. If you have the courage you can watch it in Hungarian. :)

Margitsziget - Margit Island

They call it "The island of the rabbits" as well...

The biggest park of Budapest is an island of the river Danube.

I like it because it's a big and beautiful park in the heart of the town. In the summer we hang out there a lot and lay down to the grass. We even go there to study for exams :)

People like doing sports here especially running. There are some bars and places to go out but they open in the spring when the weather is starting to warm up a bit.

I recommend visiting the wild animal minifarm where you can see some cute animals behind bars. :)

Lovers like to take long walks on the island. It is a big dream of mine to discover (and take a photo of) all the trees with a carved heart on it. Budapest love garden :)

This lady is hiding there somewhere too. Find her and give her a name!

Millenáris

Millenaris

Calgary Antik Drink Bar

Address: Frankel Leo utca 24
Budapest, Hungary 1027
Open: 16:00 - 04:00

When you first stepn in you think it's like an antique shop. Except you don't buy the stuff: you sit on it and drink tea (or something else). :)
I don't know about you guys but when I was little I used to play at the attic of my Grandma's house a lot. There were loads of interesting old suff like dusty old armchairs with holes in it, ancient rag-dolls, school-books of the 50's, cracked pots, china dolls, and lots of other stuff like that. I really loved it's mysterious atmosphere and I still do.
That's what this place is like.
You can see a lot of interesting historical and cultural souvenirs which remind us of good (or not so good) old times. It's worth it to take a look at them. Classic!

Budapest Beyond Sightseeing

The first thing I would recommend is this site.

http://www.beyondbudapest.hu/english/tour_socioculture.html

They organise trips for tourists too (in English). If you are looking for a sightseeing tour that shows you the real thing and not the usual sights you can find in a guidebook you need this.

There's a famous (rather notorious) district in Budapest: the 8th district. This is the poorest part of the city which used to be rich. There are a lot of bourgeois mansions now in a very bad condition which used to be beautiful.
These trips show you how to see the finery that once was. They guide you into actual people's homes and let you listen to their stories which is by far the best idea I ever heared of. What do you think?
There are different kind of trips in different topics. Check it out and decide.
Unfortunately there are very few dates of the tour but if you can bring some more friends with you (and you are minimum 5 people) you can book a private tour date.

Hi there!

My name is Anna.

This is my blog that I write for foreign friends about Budapest. I am a really big fan for this city and always seeking for its special aspects and feelings. I love taking photos so there will be some of mine on the site. :)

When I was a kid I really loved looking for hidden treasures. My sister and me used to play such games all the time. I guess many people liked it as well. So I was thinking maybe I start a game just like that! :)

There will be a map with "hidden treasures" you have to find. These treasures are nice places or other things, maybe programs. I don't know every detail yet :) that's why it's fun! I like discovering new places and I don't know everything about this city either. So there will be more and more each week...

These places I recommend are really worth it to visit because they are special in some way. They have a special aura or they are somehow attached to the great Hungarian spirit or culture. So if you are a tourist you are maybe interested in these things.

These places you cannot find in a guidebook. Or maybe you can but I emphasize another aspect of it why I find it interesting.

So read and play the game :)

AHOI!

my treasure map will be something like this :)

and these are your shiny precious memories