Humans are seldom happy with what they have. Say you’re offered a bank holiday right in the middle of the week, and in a more positively disposed moment you do admit that this arrangement could perhaps function in the long run, making people more focused on the tasks they have on the four working days…
Category: Budapest travel tips
A Story of Chalk and Crystal: Day Trip to Fox Mountain
Just when we thought we had finally run out of Budapest hills (or mountains, as per the local parlance) to summit, we were made aware of the existence of the poetically named Róka-hegy (Fox Mountain), situated very close to the city’s administrative border with Üröm. This seemingly extreme location is actually fairly easily reachable by…
Un(re)touched Christmas
Last time I felt truly ready for Christmas was probably when I was about six, mainly because at that time I did not prepare for it, it just came, and it was lovely. Santa always brought the presents I had asked for, as if he knew me exactly as well as, let’s say, my parents,…
Best of 2018- Budapest
End (and beginning) of year lists are a great way to measure just how much you failed at whatever you set out to do, so let’s commence by saying a silent prayer over the demise of my plan to check out more exhibitions this year. Their grand total being a fat, rotund zero. In all…
To Be Or Not To Be A (Wash)Bear: A Visit to the Budakeszi Wildlife Park
One of my favourite books as a child was a beautiful shiny orange hardcover by the Hungarian name of Mosó Masa Mosodája– its alliterative beauty will obviously be lost in a direct English translation, which would be Masha the Raccoon’s Laundrette, but one might alternatively undertake some linguistic acrobatics along the lines of Washy Wooshy’s…
An Hour at the Museum: Visiting the Restored Romanesque Hall of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts
In the past years I have occasionally complained to whoever was willing to listen (or not, it was not really their choice) that I miss visiting the El Grecos in the Museum of Fine Arts. The El Grecos, mind you, have not made any grand escape, it’s simply that the museum is closed for restoration,…
Best of 2017 Budapest
The third year must surely signal a tradition, so here are some new additions to the ever growing list of particularly nice Budapest things. (For the previous editions see here: Best of 2015 and Best of 2016.) -I am prone to moaning that it never snows in the city, although in all honesty I dislike both snow and…
Dada Would’t Buy Me a Bauhaus- In Search of Hidden Modernism in Újlipótváros
I’ve already mentioned my ancient collection of English puns, and how it provided unexpected guidance for my adolescent discoveries: another one I recall very vividly is the one giving this piece its title: ‘Dada wouldn’t buy me a Bauhaus’. Due to its Romanian connections, I was by then familiar with the concept of dada, but…
Switch House Blues: A Visit to the Kelenföld Power Plant
Visiting the disused switch house of the Kelenföld power station is a pet project for any self-respecting architecture and/or urbanism aficionado in Budapest- the building is normally off limits to the public and has recently been serving as the backdrop of several dystopian films instead. The Contemporary Architecture Centre (KÉK) has however taken the pain…
Your Ruins to the Right of Me- Discovering Népsziget
Since it transpired that we’ve summited almost all of Buda’s many hills we decided it was time to turn our attention to other places of interest such as, let’s say, islands. Though, as previously specified, of those there are only three in Budapest and we’ve been to all of them, although Csepel has sadly gone…
Pocket Diary Budapest 