I jumped onto a plane to Budapest. From Berlin the flight time is one hour plus a few minutes. Just in case you wonder, Budapest in Central Hungary is the capital city of the country. Why am I in Budapest? I'm in town to drink coffee and eat cake, to photograph house façades and doors, to search for street art and to look at the Parliament at night from over the river Danube on the Buda side of town. Mission accomplished, Budapest is a fantastic town to visit.
Budapest: A perfect mix of ruins and Unesco World Heritage sites
Walk through the Jewish Quarter to learn about Budapest’s
Jewish heritage, in this area of the city centre you’ll find the largest
European Synagogue as well as many cafes, restaurants, street art and bars that
found their home in ruins. Not far from there is the St
Stephen’s Basilica, the largest church in town, that is named after the first
king of Hungary. The impressive parliament building, designed in Neo-Gothic
style, sits right on the banks of the Danube and could easily play the main
part in any fairy tale, it looks so very magical. Imagine that it houses 691
rooms that are connected by 20 kilometres of stairs. 3,500 people were
shot by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944/1945 at the banks of the Danube
so that their bodies fell into it and were carried away. There is a Holocaust
memorial near the Parliament, 60 pairs of shoes. How can something this
atrocious happen in a magical place like this?
A short walk over the Chain Bridge, on the
Buda side, there is the over 700 year’s old Matthias church. Its colourful
ceramic tiled roof is an outstandingly beautiful feature. The seven towers of
the Fishermen's bastion (the bastion is named after the fishermen who were here
to protect it from a probable invasion by the Mongolian army) represent the
tents of the seven tribe leaders that lead the Hungarians at the end of the 9th
century. The grounds look medieval but were actually built in 1905. From here
you have the most magnificent view over the city.
All over town there are still so many
buildings that are in desperate need of repair, which allows one to imagine
brilliantly how the city must have looked during the time of the cold war,
before the Berlin wall fell and the iron curtain was lifted.
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| Parliament Budapest |
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| Fishermen's Bastion - Sunset over Budapest |
Budapest is easy to navigate and it is a great walking town. There is a lot of traffic, as is in every bigger town. The air isn't as pure as one would hope it is, but never mind, just walk, it is a failsafe way to get to know the city proper. In case you want to use the metro. The M1 of the Budapest metro system opened in 1896, it is the first underground line in Europe and is UNESCO heritage listed. Line 4 is a driverless one.
Here are a few places where you can recharge, in between
and after sightseeing in Budapest ... You know, I walked so much, I felt
'hungary' most of the time ... (Funny right? I reckon Hungarians are a bit tired of this one).
Gettó Gulyás – Dinner at a barn in the Jewish Quarter
As I stroll through the Jewish Quarter in search of
nothing in particular, just a wander you know, I walk passed this super cute
restaurant. They won me over the moment I saw the dried meadow flowers in huge
clay vases with which they decorate their window sills. I'm only human after
all. I book a table for the same night. The walls of this place are covered in
corrugated iron sheets, and also corrugated plastic ones, there is straw stashed
behind. These features create an atmosphere of having dinner in a barn in the countryside. Since they offer home cooked-style food, I admire that somebody,
who obviously must have very clever decoration skills.
At night the room is candlelit and cosy. I know it is a
public restaurant, there are prices on the menu, but I could just as well be at
someone’s home for dinner. The white bread to start with is freshly made and
served thickly sliced. There are two vegetarian stews on offer, one with beans
and one with mushrooms. I order the mushroom version with homemade sour cream
and egg noodles. The Gombapaprikás házi tejföllel, tojásos nokedlivel (I copied
that from the menu) comes with a lot of sauce, and that goes very well with the
bread.
For dessert, I order the cottage cheese dumplings. The
Házi túrógombóc fahéjas tejföllel (again copied) are covered in bread crumbs
and served with a generous sprinkling of icing sugar and a sour cream cinnamon
sauce. This isn’t too sweet and a perfect end to the meal.
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| Gettó Gulyás in the Jewish Quarter of Budapest |
Details: Gettó Gulyás. Wesselényi utca 18. Budapest, Hungary. Phone +36 20 376 4480 Hours: 12pm to 11pm.
Printa – Eco Concept Store plus coffee shop in the heart of Budapest
Have a browse at this light and airy store in the Jewish
quarter. Browse through clothing, unusual accessories or cute graphics and
prints. Wares are all produced environmentally friendly. This is the perfect
place to stock-up your T-Shirt- and reusable cloths carrier bags cupboard (who
actually uses plastic bags still). If you are after a Budapest-themed souvenir,
this is where you will find it. Don't leave without having a coffee at
Printa's two-table-big-café to enjoy the lively atmosphere.
Details: Printa. Rumbach Sebestyén u. 10,
1075 Budapest. Hours: 11am to 8pm. Sundays closed.
Solinfo Café – Where the light things are
The Café is run by a retailer for lighting
fixtures, and the first things you’ll notice are the 12 different styles of
lamps designed by Tom Dixon installed all over the place. There is easy
listening Jazz music. Guests are a mix of locals, business people, tourists and
guys with beards. The café is directly opposite the impressive Dohány Synagogue. There was a medal on the counter that said the manager
came second in the Best Hungarian Barista 2016 competition. The Cappuccino, made
from Vergnano espresso and prepared on an Elektra coffee machine had a
delicious smell, it was a tiny little bit too weak for my taste.
Details: Solinfo Budapest,
Wesselényi utca 6, 1077 Hungary. Hours: 8am to 8pm.
New York Kávéház (Café)
This is probably the most romantic café one
can visit. Not only that, the cake alone is worth the trip to Budapest. The New
York Café in Italian Renaissance-style opened its doors in 1894. Silk. Velvet.
Chandeliers. It is here where heaven and earth meet. After I reject my
allocated table in the basement (it is like wearing Crocs, there are certain
things I don’t like) the smiling receptionist finds a beautiful table on the
main level. I order the Opera Cake, and I can say it is among the best cakes I
ate in recent months, and being a cake lover, I visit again to eat the Sacher
Cake, and same same but different. Perfect texture, rich, melt in the mouth
chocolate, not too sweet. There is a live piano player and when he finishes a two-man group starts to play live gypsy music. The music has, just as the cake,
the right sweetness … a dream really.
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| New York Cafe in Budapest |
Details: New York Café. 073 Budapest, Erzsébet krt. 9-11. Phone +36 1-8866-167. Hours: 9am to 12am.
Mazel Tov – A drip from above in a stylish ruin restaurant
The wait of 40 minutes at the door felt like
it was over in a blink, it was well worth it. Imagine a huge hall with a glass
ceiling, decked out with ornate white garden chairs, wooden tables, and industrial-style lamps over a colourfully tiled counter. Hanging flowers and
garden lights create an alfresco feeling. You could, in theory, be somewhere
warm, enjoying an open-air dinner on a balmy summer's night. I feel like cocoa
powder poured into hot milk, it just feels right.
I get a table at the side of the restaurant,
directly under the hanging plants, and every now and then a drop of water would
fall onto my head. I find this too funny since Mazel literally translates into
“a drip from above.” What a coincidence. A DJ is playing mixed up cover versions
of classic jazz tunes. Loudly. He is having as much fun playing the air guitar
as the guests have with their food.
The restaurant is a heaven for Vegetarians. There
are, if I remember correctly, nine vegetarian options. Gasp. I mention this
since it is so rare for me to spend time with a menu at a restaurant. I have a
ball to decide what to order instead of the usual quick scan for the (very
often) only vegetarian dish on offer. The Tahini dip plate
came with pita bread and classic, a green (Pesto) and a pink tahini (beetroot).
My second starter is Grilled
Eggplant. As the main course, I have Mallawach. Yemen
style pancakes with a boiled egg, tahini and a spicy sauce (the latter should
undoubtedly be labelled as hazardous). The Vanilla pudding with rosewater and
coconut had a lovely texture, the rosewater aroma was subtle but strong enough,
I still wanted more after I finished, and not because I’m a gluttonous
wolverine ... it simply was so good.
We stay till well into the night and the
restaurant is still busy when I step out into the night and onto the dark
streets of Budapest.
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| Mazel Tov in the Jewish Quarter of Budapest |
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| Magical Mazel Tov in Budapest |
Details: Mazel Tov. Akácfa utca, 471073 Budapest. Phone: +36 70 626 4280. Hours: Monday to Friday 6pm to 2am. Saturday to Sunday 12pm to 2am.
My Little Melbourne Coffee – Bad Coffee is Over
If you live in Melbourne it is (I would go so far to say)
normal to think, drink and talk about coffee all the time. The coffee culture
in Melbourne is legendary, as soon as I became infected with that infamous
espresso-drink-lifestyle-bug, I knew there was no going back. In Melbourne it
is so very hard to get served bad coffee. You can imagine how my heart skipped
a few beats when I saw the sign of My Little Melbourne. I almost run towards
the store. There are posters of Brighton Beach in Melbourne, stickers from
popular Melbourne local Café St Ali, you find Melbourne designed Keep Cups and
even cookies made in Victoria (the Australian state of which Melbourne is the
capital). There are only a few seating options, and there might be a lack of
space for all the crowds queuing up for coffee, but there certainly is no lack
of smiles despite all the busyness. The Flat White prepared on a Synesso with
Workshop Coffee Espresso has a thin foam cover and tastes not too bad; it was sadly
slightly on the weak side. In the window there are letters that say “We love to
make coffee for coffee lovers,” and that reminded me of Market Lane, a roaster
and café in Melbourne. The Melburnian baristas take it one step further of
course with their slogan “We love to make coffee for the city that loves
coffee.” If you love Espresso based drinks, this is the place in Budapest.
Details: My Little Melbourne Coffee. Madach Imre ut 3., Budapest 1075. Phone: +36
70 394 7002. Hours: Monda to Friday 7am to 7pm. Saturday/Sunday 9am to 7pm.
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| Budapest Coffee Shops: My Little Melbourne Coffee - Printa - Solinfo |
Book Café Budapest – Lotz Hall
The Book Café is on one of Budapest’s grandest streets,
on Andrássy at house number 39. Standing on the boulevard you
see a seven-story high Art Noveau building. The heritage listed building
is more than 100 years old. It opened in 1911 as a department store, and
offered everything one could wish for. The former ball room hall was decorated
with murals in neo-Renaissance style by Karoly Lotz. In WWI everything changed
and the department store offered cheap goods. The owners had to flee the
country in WWII, and in the following years of nationalization the department
store became an ordinary warehouse before it became a store again. An investor
bought the property in 2005, and in 2009 the bookstore opened its doors to the
public. Walk through the bookstore and get up the escalator and you reach the
magnificent café house in the former ball room. The welcome is warm; the choice
of cakes huge and the coffee is not too bad. You can easily spend a few hours
here eating cake, reading the papers or just people watch. The hot chocolate is
delicious too, made from French Valrhona chocolate. I was so lucky to sit on
one of the dark velvet sofas along the walls, under the huge mirrors from where
I had the most spectacular view of the coffee house scenery.
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| Book Cafe - Lotz Hall in Budapest |
Details: Permanently closed. I just leave it here for its stunning interior. Book Café Budapest, Lutz Hall.
Paris Department Store. Andrássy út 39, 1061 Budapest, Hungary. Phone: +36 1 / 461-5835. Hours: 10am to 8pm.
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| Walking the streets of Budapest |
Budapest. I end with a quote. Happiness, not in another place, but this place, not for another hour, but for this hour. Walt Whitman.
From Berlin with love