Explore Hungary!

Kismaros in the Börzsöny

Jason — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:30:56 +0000

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!

Posted from Kismaros, Pest, Hungary.

The Bakony – The Hungarian Wyoming

Jason — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:31:11 +0000

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!

Posted from Zirc, Veszprém, Hungary.

Néprajzi Múzeum (Museum of Ethnography)

Jason — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:59:14 +0000

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…

Posted from Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Csodák Palotája (The Palace of Miracles)

Jason — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:44:41 +0000

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…

Posted from Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Gyula Castle

Jason — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:17:23 +0000

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…!

Kecskemét

Posted from Gyula, Békés, Hungary.

Visegrád and the Danube Bend!

Jason — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:09:04 +0000

Today we drove to the Buda side and headed north to Visegrád. Szentendre was along the way — there’s a big art scene there, we might go by boat from Budapest and rent bikes for another day… It was clear the entire way there, but as soon as we parked in the castle lot, it started to pour down rain. When it cleared a little, we scuttled up the wooden slippery steps and into the first part of the castle which afforded some shelter.

Great views of the famous “Danube Bend”. The Duna is very high now and lots of tributaries along the way up the mountain to the castle have also flooded, bringing down the little foot bridges and walls of homes opposite the main road. We wanted to hike up the hill, but the weather (and our heavy lunch pack) just wouldn’t permit it…

On the way back we took a different route across the Danube over the brand new bridge: Megyeri Hid. Check out the history of the Megyeri Hid naming contest over on Wikipedia!

Posted from Visegrád, Pest, Hungary.

Budapest Boat Cruise and Gellért Hegy

Jason — Sun, 30 May 2010 08:01:18 +0000

We did a boat trip on the Danube today. From one of the docks in Budapest we floated up river and around Margit-Szeget (Margaret Island) and back to “port”. Then we hiked it across Szabadság híd (Freedom Bridge) and up Gellért-hegy. At the top there was a downhill mountain bike race going on — CRAZY!! — full-on body padding, bombing down the foot-paths to the bottom of the hill. Today we’ll be going to Visegrad Castle so stay tuned!!

Szabadság híd

Posted from Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Margit-sziget and the New Air-Conditioned Trams!

Jason — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:22:00 +0000

No, it’s not the name of my latest band, but it was what we did yesterday. Spent the day on the sziget — the big island between Buda and Pest. On the way, we were fortunate enough to take a ride on the newer air-conditioned trams on the 4/6 route… awesome! The old yellow ones are still running, and still run exclusively on the other routes around town. The 4/6 route I read was one of the busiest trams in the world. It runs on the longest ring-road in Pest, then into Buda stopping at Moskva square — huge route.

Posted from Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Libegő and the Children’s Railway

Jason — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:10:50 +0000

The Libegő is always fun. It’s a ski-lift that starts in Buda and goes up to Jánoshegy (János is a person’s name and hegy = mountain). When you get to the top, you can hike all over the place. We walked up to the tower and then down to the train stop. Taking the “nostalgic” train — a steam engine — we headed for Hüvösvögy (“chilly valley”) at the end of the line. Foosball and cappuccino was awesome!

Posted from Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Eger Castle!

Jason — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:32:49 +0000

The castle at Eger is definitely on the must-see list in this part of Hungary. Also check out the little-known underground wine complex beneath the temple on the way. Bring an extra sweater though, it’s colder then most caves for some reason… I read 10 degrees Celsius on the inner walls.

Posted from Eger, Heves, Hungary.