A few days ago the news was given that a new Starbucks will open before Christmas in Mammut 2 as well. This will then become the first Starbucks on the Buda side of the Danube.
Great news for Starbucks lovers in Budapest, of whom there seems to be many as the Starbucks in Westend is packed from morning till evening.
Yesterday Corvin Shopping Center (Corvin bevásárlóközpont) opened in Budapest. Most shops had great discounts and in the evening the participants in X-Faktor entered the stage in the new shopping mall.
From morning till evening the center was packed with curious people, both young and old, curious at what this new shopping center in the eight district of Budapest had to offer. To be honest it does not have so much new stuff, but one shop that is brand new is Butlers. Until now Hungarians had to travel to Vienna to find this shop, but now it can be found in Budapest as well 🙂
(After writing this article DrDonzo corrected us, and commented that Butlers already exists in MOM Park)
Besides this many other shops could be found in the center (check out our Corvin shopping center page for more information), and many more will be opened within the coming months. The center was not completely finished, and many places work was still done to get this center up and ready.
More pictures from the centre can be seen at Corvin shopping center page.
At 20:30 in the evening the participants from X-Faktor in Hungary entered the stage and they all sang two songs each. Beneath you can see a video showing clips from all artists, and a video showing both songs performed by Norbert L. Király.
X-Faktor Club Concert (all artists)
Presenting: Takács Nikolas, Király L. Norbi, Vastag Csaba, Vastag Tamás, Szabó Mariann, Shodeinde Dorka, Summer Sisters, Non Stop, Wolf Kati, Domokos Fanni, Janicsák Veca
X-Faktor Club Concert – Király L. Norbi (Norbert L. Király)
Since the middle of October and lasting until April sometime the Fishermens bastion is free to visit again. The guards are on winter holiday which means free entrance for the rest of us.
After a lot of work the part of the Fishermens bastion opposite the Hilton hotel is open as well, so this should give the inhabitants of Budapest as well an excuse to visit this touristy place as well!
Budapest newest shopping center is opening today. The name of the center in Hungarian is Corvin Bevásárlóközpont, and it is a part of the project named Corvin Sétány (Corvin Avenue). This is a project in the eight district of Budapest, known as one of the worst districts in the capital, demolishing old and ugly houses, building new flats, opening new restaurants, a shopping center, a fitness center and creating new office buildings.
Today is the day of the official opening of the shopping center, while most restaurants in the area are expeceted only to open in March/April 2011. In Corvin Shopping center you can find for example: C&A, Hervis, Alexandro (book store), T-Mobile, CBA (grocery store) and quite some more shops. Maybe this new centre also will bring life to the kind of abandoned Corvin cinema?
The annual Christmas market in Budapest is a great hit, and in 2010 the traditional market at Vörösmarty Tér will open on November 19th. The last day of the Christmas market is December 29th.
At the Christmas Market at Vörösmarty Square you can buy all kinds of (un)necessary thing, hot wine, sausages and enjoy a great atmosphere, so it will for sure bring some kind of Christmas atmosphere to your soul and body!
For more information abut the Christmas Markets in Budapest, check out our Christmas Markets-page.
The sun is still shining in Budapest and October has so far been a great month to visit Budapest.
A general advice is though to bring warm clothes as the wind can feel extremely cold, even when the sun is shining. And as the sun goes down it can get and feel really cold.
One of the coldest places on a windy day is the Gellert Hill and beneath this text you can see a picture from the liberty monument there.
A common question nowadays from tourists is whether or not it is safe to come to Hungary as a tourist, as they have heard a lot of bad news because of the toxic sludge spill. We known of people who have skipped their travel to Hungary due to this already, but in our opinion there are no reasons why you should delay or cancel your Hungary and Budapest holiday due to this.
If you are staying in Budapest, unless you are reading newspapers and watching the news, you will not even notice that anything has happened. Life goes on, and everything works as normal. If you travel towards the Lake Balaton you will not suffer either, and if you travel towards the east you will not feel it either. Hungary, and of course Budapest, is a safe place to visit, even after the toxic sludge spill!
The tap water around in Hungary is safe to drink (as always – reported by the Hungarian National Public Health and National Medical Officer Service yesterday) and the food is safe to eat, but some people are worried for the 2010 wine vintage from some of the areas near the catastrophe. Except from that, no worries!
Background information about the crisis:
Hungary’s largest ecological disaster took place on October 4, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. when the western dam of cassette X of the sludge reservoir, belonging to a privately owned company, Magyar Alumínium ZRt (Hungarian Aluminum Co), had ruptured. Due to the ruptured dam, a mixture of 600-700 thousand m3 of red sludge and water inundated the lower sections of the settlements of Kolontar, Devecser and Somlovasarhely via the Torna creek.
The spilling red sludge flooded 800 hectares of surrounding areas. The most extreme devastation was caused in the villages of Devecser and Kolontar, which are located near the reservoir.
A message from the US Embassy on October 8 sais the following:
Warden Message for U.S. Citizens in Hungary
October 8, 2010
Toxic Sludge Spill
The U.S. Embassy is closely monitoring the situation of the toxic spill in Hungary through the media and contacts within the Hungarian Government.
According to the information available at this time, most of the damage is concentrated in the villages of Devecser, Kolontár, Somlóvásárhely, Tüskevár, Apácatorna, and Kisberzseny. These towns are all located in Veszprém country, about two hours southwest of Budapest. The Government of Hungary is restricting access to that area.
There is no evidence at this time that other areas of Hungary are affected by the spill. All major highways, airports, and train stations are open and operating normally.
Although there are press reports of the sludge reaching the Danube upriver from Budapest, according to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences there is no indication at this time that the water in the river has an abnormal level of toxicity. Tests of wells and underground reservoirs show no contamination of drinking water supplies. The Government of Hungary is monitoring both the river and drinking water supplies on a constant basis. The situation can be monitored in English on a special website created by the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior: http://redsludge.bm.hu/.
As of April 2011 American Airlines will start with daily flights between New York (JFK) and Budapest. The first flight is supposed to land on April 4th on Budapest Airport.
Delta Airlines has for quite a while had a direct flight between Budapest and New York, but with American Airlines joining in the competition turns harder!
The official press release:
The news that American Airlines is to launch a daily flight from New York JFK airport to Budapest was announced in Budapest and London at the same time.
The first American Boeing 767-300 intercontinental aircraft is planned to land at Budapest Airport on 4 April 2011. This is part of the global flight development plan, the details of which and of the trans-Atlantic cooperation of American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia Airlines were announced in London this afternoon.
A piece of news closely linked to the announcement in London is that American airlines shall connect their hub in New York John F Kennedy airport to the capital of Hungary by a daily flight commencing in April 2011. As member of the One World airline association, American Airlines considers Budapest an important destination in East Europe, as passengers may continue their journeys using the network of Malév, another member of One World, from here to further destinations. Reservations for the Budapest-New York flight may be made from next week on, while Malév is preparing the so-called code-share agreement also for this flight, thus its passengers can use the network of American Airlines directly and at favorable prices.
The new trans-Atlantic flights were announced in London following the decisions of both the American and the European Union competition authorities approving the trans-Atlantic business cooperation of American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. This means a total of 91 flights a day under the flag of One World. This also means that a strong competitor will face the two other major airline associations, Sky Team (Air France/KLM, Delta, Aeroflot, CSA etc.) and Star Alliance (Lufthansa, SAS, Continental, United, Air Canada, Austrian, Swiss etc.) on their trans-Atlantic routes.
The Budapest Airport airline development team has been working hard to add new overseas flights to the routes of the Hungarian capital for more than two years. Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport welcomed the achievement after personally being involved in the negotiations and noted the contributions made to this success by the Hungarian National Tourism Organization and Malev. “The vision of just a few people in the alliance and network planning team at American Airlines lifted the profile of Budapest within their Fort Worth headquarters as being a One World hub with significant growth potential and we are delighted with their confirmation of this big step.”
Director Aviation Kam Jandu who has been working with his colleagues to realize this project since 2009 said, “Adding another long haul carrier is an achievement in itself under the present circumstances of aviation, but more than that, the appearance of a major One World carrier in Budapest further broadens the offer, and sends a strong indication to other airlines on the market that it is worth putting the Hungarian capital on their list of destinations.”
Based on their business data in the first six months of 2010, American Airlines is the fourth largest airline in the world, which, together with its American subsidiary, American Eagle, serves 250 destinations with a huge fleet of 851 aircraft. The base of the company is at Forth Worth, Texas, which is the eighth busiest airport globally (with 56 million passengers in 2009), but it also has important centers at JFK New York, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles and Miami. Besides their inland flights in the US, American Airlines is traditionally very strong in the Caribbean and the Latin-American regions.
This coming Saturday, October 9th, is the Hungarian Thermal Bath culture day. This is great for everyone, as almost all baths in Hungary give discount on their entrance fees. For the Budapest baths this means that all visitors only needs to pay 50% of the actual entrance fee. So, if you would like to visit the Szechenyi Fürdő or the Gellert Bath for example, this Saturday you can do it for half price.
In addition three Budapest baths have special opening times this Saturday; the Gellert Bath, Lukács and the Rudas Bath have special program between 21.00 and 03.00 with food, tea, live music and other specialities! The entrance fee for this program is 2500 Forint per person.
Do you like Palinka and Hungarian sausages? If so, you better visit the castle area between October 7 and 10, because that is when the annual Palinka and sausage festival is arrange in Budapest. Even though the weather is currently bad in Budapest, it will hopefully turn better before this festival start, and not turn out like a rainfestival, like the winefestival did a month ago.
The Hungarian Palinka is a fruit spirit containing in most cases between 40-60% alcohol, made of 100% fruit (its almost healthy), and if you travel to Egypt it is recommended to drink it a couple of times a day to keep the bacterias away.
The Hungarian sausage tastes great, and even if you do not like Palinka, the festival can be worth visiting because of the sausages. More information about the festival can be found here.
Palinka and Sausage Festival 2010
If you would like to taste only one glass of Palinka, why not join us on a half-day excursion to Szentendre. We often let our visitors taste a Palinka as the last drink during the winetasting there.
