Hungary 2020

Hungary - A Winter Adventure in the Danube Paradise

  

  For New Year's celebration, I decided to travel to Budapest with my girlfriend. The first time, I stayed in Budapest was in 2015 and I only had two days to explore the city. This time, we stayed for a week, but we didn't just stay in the capital, we also rented a car to visit other beautiful sightseeing places and landscapes in the nature.

  The city Budapest was created in 1873 after the unification of the independent cities of Buda, Óbuda, both west of the Danube and Pest on the eastside of the Danube river. On the first day, we wanted to walk around in the district of Pest, starting with a promenade along the bank of the river. We could see the Hungarian Parliament Building, which is currently the largest building in Hungary and was opened in 1902, and the Shoes on the Danube Bank, a Memorial to honour the Jews who were killed during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes and were shot at the edge of the water. By continuing, we reached the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Budapest, built by the Scottish engineer Adam Clark and opened in 1849.         

  Then, we followed the Váci utca, one of the most famous streets in Budapest, known as one of the main shopping streets and tourist magnet, until we arrived at the Great Market Hall. The central market is the largest and oldest market in the city of Budapest and is full of local treasures such as pepper, different kinds of salami and meat, sweets and candies, wine or cakes like the Dobos torte, a really delicous Hungarian sponge cake layered witch chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. It's also the place, where the most locals buy their fresh food, because of the cheaper prices than in supermarkets.

  After a short break, eating a piece of Dobos torte and drinking a coffee, we decided to visit the Heroe's Square and Millenium Monument, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and marks the end of Andrássy út. Moreover it is described as the gateway to the City Park, a calm public park, where it was possible to relax, but also for ice skating at the skating rink next to the Vajdahunyad Castle, built in 1896 in different architectural styles (Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque) to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary.     

  On our second day in Budapest, we explored the westside of the Danube. We woke up quite early to arrive at the heart of Buda's Castle District before all the tourists, but when we walked around the Fisherman's Bastion, the area was already overcrowded with people. It's one of the most famous tourist attractions in Budapest and was built between 1895 and 1902 in a Neo-Romanesque style. Its terrace provides a beautiful panorama view of the district and the Danube with the Parliament Building. In the Holy Trinity Square, it was also possible to see the Matthias Church, a really impressive Roman Catholic church, constructed in the second half of the 14th century in a Gothic style and restored in the late 19th century.     

  Another place for having a wonderful view of the city is the Citadel on top of the Gellért Hill. It's just a short hiking trip to reach the top, but there are many different ways and many monuments or statues to explore. The most famous one is the Liberty Statue on top of the mountain and it commemorates those who fought for the independence, freedom and prosperity of the country. 

  On New Year's Eve, we also stayed on top of the Gellért Hill, because we wanted to see the nice fireworks. We stayed there already three hours before midnight, just to be sure to have the best places. From the view of the New Years firework, it was quite fantastic, but unfortunately, it was terrible cold and windy during the night. 

  In the evening of the 30th December, we went to a wine tasting at Taste Hungary. For me, it was one of the best experiences of the holidays, since we had a wonderful evening in a great atmosphere with many kind people from different countries. The tasting took two hours and we could learn a lot about the different wines, wine regions (Tokaj, Kunság, Mór, Somló, Eger, Villány and Szekszárd) and other specialties of Hungary. 

  The tasting started with a sparkling wine, followed by three white wines. Since I prefer white wines, it was the best part for me and I really liked the Erzsébet Zafír dülö, a wine from the Tokaj region. Then, I also tried the three red wines and the white dessert wine, called Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos Aszú, a sweet and really delicious white wine, also from the Tokaj region. It was a really amazing evening, completed with going to Szimpla Kert, a ruin pub in the Jewish Quarter.

  The first day of the year 2020 started and we wanted to have a calm and relaxing day. So we went to the Margaret Island, an island in the middle of the Danube. The island is mostly covered by parks and for that reason, it is a popular recreational area, also for sport activities like jogging. The island also provides sights like a small Japanese Garden with a fish pond, a tiny zoo, a medieval monastery ruin and the Music Fountain, which is a protected UNESCO site together with the Water Tower, the landmark of the island. On our way back to the city center, we took a short break on the bank of the eastside and then enjoyed the stunning sunset from the Margaret Bridge.    

  As I mentioned at the beginning, we didn't only stay in Budapest, we also rented a car for going around to visit castles and "secret places" in the nature. By following the course of the Danube, we arrived in Visegrád, a small castle town, to visit the Upper Castle and for having a panoramic view of the Danube curve from the Visegrád uplands. Before the castle opened, we also had enough time to go hiking in the surrounding forest area. Then, we went to the castle, walked around and climbed up to the castle tower to enjoy the view before continuing the route along the Danube.      

  The next destination was the Esztergom Basilica - also known as "Primatial Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed Into Heaven and St. Adalbert". At the beginning, it wasn't planned to have a stop there, but the basilica looked so impressive, so that we took a break for a walk along the stone wall around the church. On the westside of Hungarians largest cathedral, we could see the Danube and the bridge for driving to the twin town Štúrovo on the Slovak side of the river. 

  One of the "secret places", I wanted to see during the trip to Hungary, was the Bokodi Floating Village, a couple of houses swimming among a lake, approximately 85 km away from Budapest. We walked along the wooden boardwalks and enjoyed the silence, because there were no other tourists.

  On the Slovak-Hungarian border, in the northeast of Budapest, we visited the hilltop Šomoška Castle ruin. The castle bears the name of the Hungarian town Somoskő, located at the foot of the castle hill, but is a few meters beyond the border on the Slovak side. From the castle tower, we watched out of the window and could see the wide forest and mountain area of the Cerová Vrchovina highlands. But not only the castle ruin was interesting, also the so called "stone waterfall", which consists of hexagonal basalt columns, made of lava, was a scenic spectacle.
 

  On our way to Miskolc, we also took a break at the Eger Castle, the third castle, we visited during our trip outside of Budapest. The castle had an interesting museum, where it was possible to learn something about the history of the castle and the city of Eger, for example, that the castle is historically known for repelling the Turkish attack in 1532 during the Siege of Eger. But since the weather changed from sunny to foggy and it was getting really cold, we decided to stay not too long to reach Miskolc safely.

  After spending a night in Miskolc, we wanted to hike around in the nature of the eastern parts of Hungary. We walked through winterly wine fields in the Tokaj region and had to follow a forest path to reach the breathtaking frozen Tarn of Megyer-hegy, where we could continue the path to see the tarn from different perspectives. Since the place was hidden in the nature, it was a great place to calm down from the tourist areas and a perfect ending for the New Year's holidays, before we had to drive back to Budapest for flying back to Germany.