Beautiful Budapest
Cancelled! - I have started to really dread this word. Too many things in a short amount of time having been cancelled. I keep trying to remind myself that in the big picture of what’s going on in the world these are ridiculous problems, small and insignificant, but they do matter too.
So last week we were supposed to fly to Budapest, spend a couple of days there, then drive to Timisoara in Romania. Celebrate Dan’s Mum’s birthday, have some drinks with friends, spend Easter in my beloved village where I grew up, the girls spending time with their cousins, have a session with our photographer who’s been taking the most amazing photos of the girls for many years. And as much as I was really looking forward to all this, I was equally happy about the time we were planning to spend in Budapest.
Because after some very succesful holidays with the girls I felt that we can finally get back to travelling more and passing on to the girls our passion of exploring new places and revisiting some of them, and Budapest was a clear favourite on the ‘places we loved and want to take the girls’ list. Might be because half of the blood running through my veins is Hungarian, or because it brings back lovely memories, it might as well be the gorgeous sights, the incredible food, the nice people, the fact that I can actually (sort of) speak the language, fact is I simply love Budapest and I would be up for a weekend there anytime. Couple of years ago we missed some dear friends’ wedding, held there on a boat on the Danube, and that will always remain a huge regret on our side. Judit, if you’re reading this, please consider a wedding anniversary party?! ❤️
On the evening of 8th April we would have landed in Budapest, but instead I was at home reading ‘The definitive biography of Freddie Mercury’ - which I started a while ago but temporarily abandoned. And, ironically, the next chapter I read was called ‘Budapest’. Apparently Queen were touring in places that Freddie was keen on visiting, and Budapest was on his list. Moreover, they made history by playing a Hungarian balad on stage in 1986. And I should say, Hungarian is not an easy language, it has barely anything in common with English, Germanic or Latin based languages.
For fun, here is the YouTube link with Freddie singing in Hungarian:
https://youtu.be/RPZdgyuixPA What a character!! And what a book - but not now, maybe more in another post.
Anyway, would we have managed to get to Budapest, there are a lot of fun things to do with kids. Possibly wandered around just to explore, as that is something I am trying to teach Ariana - that sometimes it is wonderful just being a tourist without a map or a guide, just to explore and see what comes in your way. We found that sometimes the less documented trips were the most amazing. Most likely would have gone on a sightseeing cruise on the Danube, mostly because we’ve not managed doing that before and the girls would have loved it. Also going up to the Buda Castle, run around the Fisherman’s Bastion is something that - with or without children - is a must, because the view is simply amazing. Taking them to Aquaworld or one of child friendly baths would have been a lovely option - we've never done Szechenyi Baths, close to the centre and I heard it is amazing for kiddies.
The night shots photos are taken at the end of December 2008, when we were just bored and decided the night before to drive to Budapest (it's only a 2-3 hours drive from Timisoara) for a couple of days. It was freezing cold, but we looved it, in spite of not feeling our hands and feet at the end of the day. But, there is a perfect solution, as one of the best part about Hungary is the traditional drink that no one should miss - it is called 'palinka' and is basically a very high alcohol content fruit brewed drink, sort of a brandy. The most popular are the ones made with appricot, plum, pear, apple or sour cherry. Just a piece of warning - you do not want to do shots with this and drink wisely, it may require training, and is mostly drank as an aperitif. Palinka is also brewed in other countries, my family have a big orchard so we had lots of fruit that my Dad was brewing to make this drink. Obviously he had his little distilery and he could make it as strong as he wanted - and he did make it strong, around 50-60% ABV.
While I am able to drink a bit of palinka, when in Budapest, I would much rather enjoy some of the world reknown Tokajy wine - Hungary has massive wine regions, so there are a lot of oher options to try - I mentioned Tokaji because that is their most famous one and a must, the Tokaji wine region is classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site. And for something else very special and traditional (although not everyone fancies this) - there is a drink called Unicum, a bitter herbal liquer drank mostly as digestif.
All these alongside a beautiful hearty Hungarian meal would convince anyone that Hungarian spirit is something special (have I said I am half Hungarian? and proud of it). Speaking of food, it is absolutely amazing - a few things not to be missed: goulash (Gulyas - this is like the national dish), fishermen soup (Halaszle), sort of a deep fried bread (Langos) topped with cheese, sour cream or other stuff, a sweet bread in a cylindrical circular shape (Kurtoskalacs), and a special cake called Dobos (my Mum's sister used to make this, it is absolutely delicious) and many more, but I've got to stop writing about food as this has made me very hungry.😂
The other set of photos are August 2010, when we took my parents along - it was really hot but we didn't mind too much. This was weeks after I've finished my PhD, my Dad seemed to recover well after his major surgery the year before, all such relief, life was good, and I had THAT waistline 😍. So we had an amazing time.
Next time we went to Budapest was June 2013, with an 18 months old Ariana, so we did fun stuff for her - Zoo, Aquaworld. And, like each time, a stroll around Szentendre, which is a small town just North of Budapest, on the Danube, with narrow streets, colourful houses, small art galeries and shops.
So last week we were supposed to fly to Budapest, spend a couple of days there, then drive to Timisoara in Romania. Celebrate Dan’s Mum’s birthday, have some drinks with friends, spend Easter in my beloved village where I grew up, the girls spending time with their cousins, have a session with our photographer who’s been taking the most amazing photos of the girls for many years. And as much as I was really looking forward to all this, I was equally happy about the time we were planning to spend in Budapest.
Because after some very succesful holidays with the girls I felt that we can finally get back to travelling more and passing on to the girls our passion of exploring new places and revisiting some of them, and Budapest was a clear favourite on the ‘places we loved and want to take the girls’ list. Might be because half of the blood running through my veins is Hungarian, or because it brings back lovely memories, it might as well be the gorgeous sights, the incredible food, the nice people, the fact that I can actually (sort of) speak the language, fact is I simply love Budapest and I would be up for a weekend there anytime. Couple of years ago we missed some dear friends’ wedding, held there on a boat on the Danube, and that will always remain a huge regret on our side. Judit, if you’re reading this, please consider a wedding anniversary party?! ❤️
On the evening of 8th April we would have landed in Budapest, but instead I was at home reading ‘The definitive biography of Freddie Mercury’ - which I started a while ago but temporarily abandoned. And, ironically, the next chapter I read was called ‘Budapest’. Apparently Queen were touring in places that Freddie was keen on visiting, and Budapest was on his list. Moreover, they made history by playing a Hungarian balad on stage in 1986. And I should say, Hungarian is not an easy language, it has barely anything in common with English, Germanic or Latin based languages.
For fun, here is the YouTube link with Freddie singing in Hungarian:
https://youtu.be/RPZdgyuixPA What a character!! And what a book - but not now, maybe more in another post.
Anyway, would we have managed to get to Budapest, there are a lot of fun things to do with kids. Possibly wandered around just to explore, as that is something I am trying to teach Ariana - that sometimes it is wonderful just being a tourist without a map or a guide, just to explore and see what comes in your way. We found that sometimes the less documented trips were the most amazing. Most likely would have gone on a sightseeing cruise on the Danube, mostly because we’ve not managed doing that before and the girls would have loved it. Also going up to the Buda Castle, run around the Fisherman’s Bastion is something that - with or without children - is a must, because the view is simply amazing. Taking them to Aquaworld or one of child friendly baths would have been a lovely option - we've never done Szechenyi Baths, close to the centre and I heard it is amazing for kiddies.The night shots photos are taken at the end of December 2008, when we were just bored and decided the night before to drive to Budapest (it's only a 2-3 hours drive from Timisoara) for a couple of days. It was freezing cold, but we looved it, in spite of not feeling our hands and feet at the end of the day. But, there is a perfect solution, as one of the best part about Hungary is the traditional drink that no one should miss - it is called 'palinka' and is basically a very high alcohol content fruit brewed drink, sort of a brandy. The most popular are the ones made with appricot, plum, pear, apple or sour cherry. Just a piece of warning - you do not want to do shots with this and drink wisely, it may require training, and is mostly drank as an aperitif. Palinka is also brewed in other countries, my family have a big orchard so we had lots of fruit that my Dad was brewing to make this drink. Obviously he had his little distilery and he could make it as strong as he wanted - and he did make it strong, around 50-60% ABV.
While I am able to drink a bit of palinka, when in Budapest, I would much rather enjoy some of the world reknown Tokajy wine - Hungary has massive wine regions, so there are a lot of oher options to try - I mentioned Tokaji because that is their most famous one and a must, the Tokaji wine region is classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site. And for something else very special and traditional (although not everyone fancies this) - there is a drink called Unicum, a bitter herbal liquer drank mostly as digestif.
All these alongside a beautiful hearty Hungarian meal would convince anyone that Hungarian spirit is something special (have I said I am half Hungarian? and proud of it). Speaking of food, it is absolutely amazing - a few things not to be missed: goulash (Gulyas - this is like the national dish), fishermen soup (Halaszle), sort of a deep fried bread (Langos) topped with cheese, sour cream or other stuff, a sweet bread in a cylindrical circular shape (Kurtoskalacs), and a special cake called Dobos (my Mum's sister used to make this, it is absolutely delicious) and many more, but I've got to stop writing about food as this has made me very hungry.😂The other set of photos are August 2010, when we took my parents along - it was really hot but we didn't mind too much. This was weeks after I've finished my PhD, my Dad seemed to recover well after his major surgery the year before, all such relief, life was good, and I had THAT waistline 😍. So we had an amazing time.
Next time we went to Budapest was June 2013, with an 18 months old Ariana, so we did fun stuff for her - Zoo, Aquaworld. And, like each time, a stroll around Szentendre, which is a small town just North of Budapest, on the Danube, with narrow streets, colourful houses, small art galeries and shops.
I love planning our holidays, finding great deals, so clearly I am disappointed about this year's plans being messed up. We had quite a few things planned, because travelling with kids was getting easier and felt like we have a lot to catch up. Also, it sometimes hits me that we probably have less than 10 years before Ariana will go on holidays with her friends rather than with us. So all these cancellations are not going down well. But tomorrow is another day, and 2021 is another year. Many of us will start (or keep) living in the ‘now’ and ‘here’ - to be honest sometimes I feel there's been too much planning, some more spontaneity would be much more fun.
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