The Börzsöny hills are north of Budapest in the area of the Danube bend. Lots of weekend houses out here. Endless supply of forest fun: lots of trees, small streams, mountain vistas, Büfé in the middle of nowhere… good times. Take the train to Szob from Nyugati train station and get off at Kismaros. You will be greeted by a fully stocked CBA store, bar, bufe and lots of icecream!
Ok, maybe not in size, but definitely in number of animal skulls nailed to the walls. First time to the Bakony was great! We stayed just outside Zirc in the lower Bakony, but very near the higher areas to the north-west. Lots of things going on here: alpine chairlift, historical library, nature/science museum, biking and hiking, lots of caves, a couple castles and… Crop Circles!
The extra-terrestrial markings were visible from the castle at Csesznek.
On our way home, we stopped in Veszprém and walked all along the castle hill. Oh, and on our way TO there, we had a chance to stop and see the factory town of Herend, where all the very expensive porcelain comes from — amazing!
It’s a rainy day, so I’m going back to see what days I missed. The Museum of Ethnography stands right across from the Parliament building. The big exhibition was the Golden Masks of Asia, or something like that… anyway, that’s what it was =)
The permanent exhibit was a huge research project done in the 60′s about the Hungarian peasant life. One small village was studied for an extensive period and everything the locals did was cataloged in extremis. Lots of artifacts from everyday life…
Always a great place to take the kids, the Palace of Miracles in Millenáris Park is the perfect spot to let kids run around and explore (and learn something about science along the way). There are so many exhibits packed into the 3-level converted warehouse, you can spend an entire hour or more just on the first one. They’ve got Velcro walls, electricity, magnetism, light, geometry, visual illusions, time, mechanics and a zillion more topics are covered.
This area of Buda near Moszkva tér was REALLY run down 10 years ago, most of the area being abandoned warehouses and factories. It’s beautiful now… a huge park with a lake in the middle with goldfish and waterfalls into submerged tree planters. It’s also sporting some very big corporate renters in the surrounding buildings.
Some tips: Call ahead to see if there are school groups coming. There usually are, so go in the late afternoon about 3:30 and stay until closing time. On rainy days, the school groups that have planned outings will come here so Watch Out! Don’t save this museum for a rainy day…
After a long hiatus, we’re back touring around Hungary. Next stop? Gyula! It’s in the south-west and very close to the Romanian border. We spent two days there touring the castle, swimming pool and spa and the old town pedestrian streets.
On the way there, we stopped at Kecskemét just to see the main square and the Ornamented Palace…
This is part 1 of 2, more photos from the second day to come…!
