Blogs from Central Hungary, Hungary, Europe - page 121

Had a great afternoon at Nagymama’s place yesterday. At 92 she’s still going strong, albeit a little immobile. The ancient Hungarian tradition of showing the baby from NZ to all the neighbours was dutifully performed, prior to some fab Hungarian cuisine including wild boar and mushroom stew, which had been recently caught by Marti’s boyfriend…of course they did a tofu version for Sarah, which I have to say tasted nearly as good. Nagy and Eva couldn’t get enough of Kaspar, and he was on form for nearly 4 hours before a minor melt down and falling asleep on dad. Spent the next morning at (or in transit to) www.szoborpark.hu, an outdoor area that houses some of the finest, and seemingly most bizarre tributes to communism from the streets of post-1956 Budapest. It feels unimagineable today, but ... read more

Cousin Marti picked us up from the airport in Budapest yesterday and incredibly we managed to fit all of Kaspar’s stuff in the car. It took mere seconds before we were reminded of the manical driving that Hungarians are famous for. Lovin' it! The family here sorted us an apartment in the middle of town which is just perfect. Its just around the corner from Raday Utca (Raday Street) which is a pedestrian only area full of bars and restaurants. Its walking distance from the river and the centre of town - a great place to be based and easy to get around from. Kaspar was keen to check out the local sights and sounds as soon as possible so we went for a walk along the river this morning. I've been to Budapest 5 or ... read more

so, after two nights in prague its off the european capital of all things grey, Bratislava. but first a story. i am very tired today, mainly for one reason. its not beer either you clever so and so. we had an ungodly early bus to bratislava, meaning we had to leave the hostel at 6.45 am. for those who know me they wqill know how much i love to get up in a morning. for those that dont trust me on this, solving third world debt is easier than waking me up. so i take pity on poor old travalpal joel and stay up wandering around prague all night despite being tired as it was. this worked fine until about 6.30 am when, having lost all track of time i realise i have 15 mins to ... read more

I think it's important to at least pay lip service to the past when visiting countries that had to endure totalitarian rule and Budapest suffered under the cruel might of communism along with the rest of Russia's soviet satellites. If you don't fancy taking in a museum then you can always marvel at the many bullets holes that ghoulishly pock mark the facia's of the city's older buildings, it will suffice. If you do feel obliged to dig a little however (and I do) then 'The Museum of Terror' could be the place for you. This prewar tenement was first the residence of Budapest's Nazi party and then, once the Russians had pushed the Germans back far enough, it subsequently became the Communist Party's headquarters. All sinister stuff then and the curators have done their utmost ... read more

well, it is taking some adjusting for me to get used to walking on hungarian streets. a man in a car stoped for me and waved me to walk- i was shocked but then remembered i wasnt in russia anymore. for anyone thinking of traveling to hungary, you should know- everyone cooks lunch from very early in the morning but there are few places to get breakfast. the turkish deli marts were open earlier than the cafes! we ended up having breakfast at mcdonalds- who, by the way, had an amazing cafe section with a decadent cappuccino!! i met a man from ethiopia who i will hopefully meet up with when i come back to budapest before i leave for home. all the snow has melted, which has caused a lot of floods in eastern europe. ... read more