The History of Hungary in the New Age

The history of Hungary contains lots of excitements from the starts until the Regime. For the visitors, they could be a tourist, or somebody who moved out, but born in Hungary, or somebody who has Hungarian family but born in foreign lands, it is always an exciting program to know more about this little country’s history.

In Budapest, at one of the most beautiful and most famous museums, the National Museum, there are great permanent exhibitions which show the Hungarian history to the visitors in an interesting way. From the ninth room to the twentieth room in the museum, people can see fantastic relics, treasures and other interesting things to know more about the Hungarian history from the Rakoczi-revolution’s age until the Regime in 1990. The history class in school maybe wasn’t interesting to everyone, but it is sure, at an exciting exhibition studying is easy and unobserved, because it is not just dates, places or names, but interesting things which make learning funny.

It could be a great weekend program also to a foreigner and a local resident too, to visit the National Museum, which is in a beautiful place in Budapest. This institute located in a wonderful place in the downtown, in the Museum Garden, so after the exhibition you can walk around the park, have a lovely picnic, or just sit on the museum’s stairs and enjoy the afternoon sunshine.

The History of Hungary in the New Age
Permanent exhibition
Hungarian National museum

Hungary from prehistory to AD 804

We especially recommend the exhibition, which shows the history of Hungary between the Prehistory and the Conquest for those, who are really like history. This permanent exhibition gives a detailed description of the Hungarian history in the Paleolithic, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Roman age, moreover it gives more knowledge about the life, habits and history of the Avars, the Huns and the Germans.

The exhibition which is in from the first to the eights room of the museum, people could see interesting archeological objects. For example an instrument from the Paleolithic, whose voice can be heard. If you are really interested in archeological objects, or the history of Hungary, or you just like to visit museums, this is your place in the National Museum.

Just imagine, you and your family, your friends or your partner spend a few lovely days in Budapest, visit the most famous attractions, like Statue of Liberty, Citadel, Chain Bridge or Parliament, and after that you visit one of the most famous museums in Budapest, where you can see interesting things. Moreover, the museum located in a lovely place, in the Museum Garden, so after or before the exhibition you have the choice to walk around the park and have a picnic, or just sit on the stairs in front of the museum and enjoy the afternoon sunshine. Have a great time!

Hungary from prehistory to AD 804
Hungarian National Museum
Permanent exhibition

More about the history of Hungary and Budapest museums

Great spring hotels in Budapest

Budapest is one of the most amazing cities in the world to visit during spring. The sun is shining, the view is stunning and the people smile and enjoy that the winter has finally left them. One important thing when preparing for such a travel is to find a good hotel and here we have some recommendations for you.

When you look for a hotel in Budapest you should absolutely go for a hotel with a central location. A good location makes everything easier and you do not have to spend lots of time getting to the shopping street and central areas. A good price is important as well, so here we will recommend you three hotels in Budapest with great prices and fantastic location at the moment.

Recommended spring hotels in Budapest
Sofitel ChainBridge (*****)
Estilo Fashion Hotel (****)
Hotel Central Basilica (***)

Budapest hotel

History of Hungary from the statehood to the Middle Ages

Certainly you are interested in this small, but very strong and beautiful country’s history. Well, Hungary’s history contains lot of turns, vicissitudes, fights and happiness, and because of that we are sure, everybody finds an interesting program visit to National Museum in the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

The history of Hungary includes the seven leaders, the Conquest, Prince Arpad and King Steven. The National Museum’s amazing exhibitions shows the whole history of this country from the Arpad-age to nowadays to visitors. From the first to the eighth room of the museum visitors can see the starts, relics of kings from the Arpad-age, treasures of Anjou royals and expensive clothes from Turkish occupation, but moreover there are several tools, clothes, visitors can read more about history and legends, and of course there are several rarities too from different ages.

Let’s know more about the history of Hungary in one of the most beautiful museums of the capital. Imagine that after the wonderful exhibition, you walk around the Museum Garden, drink a coffee with a delicious cake in the Museum Café and go inside a lovely old book store, where you can find interesting books in foreign languages too. You have all the chance for it, if you visit National Museum while you are in Budapest.

Do not miss to know more about the exciting history of Hungary with plenty of adventures! It would be a fantastic program to small and big too! Have a great time!

History of Hungary from the statehood in the Middle Ages
Permanent exhibition
Hungarian National museum

Read more about other Budapest museums

Monopoli Bar Pizzeria

Two weeks ago I visited Pizza Hut in Arena Plaza and wrote an article about it. In my eyes they serve some of the best pizzas in Budapest restaurants, but not everyone agrees with me on that. A person commenting the article told me that Monopoli between Oktogon and Nyugati has much better pizza.

I love pizza so I took the challenge and a few days later I visited Monopoli Bar Pizzera together with a buddy of mine and my little son. We ordered two pizzas; one traditional with corn and ham and another with mozzarella cheese and parma ham. The service was great and while waiting I noticed how someone came complaining because of a pizza they had bought. The man in charge did his uttermost to satisfy his customers and even offered them a new pizza if they wanted… after all he did not want anyone to live Monopoli unsatisfied. That is great service!

How did we enjoy Monopoli?

It is important to understand that Monopoli is not a restaurant like Pizza Hut or other Italian restaurants in Budapest. This is a mix between a kebab place and a restaurant, so it doesn’t give you the ultimate restaurant feeling. But, to sit down a place with friends to grab a pizza this is great and ideal. It is especially nice to sit by the windows and enjoy the view of the trams, traffic and trespassers.

Pizza toast in Monopoli

The pizzas were typical Italian, a bit too Italian for me. That is probably my problem, but I like the thicker bottom better, but I can absolutely bear over with a thin bottom, if it doesn’t taste to much tomatoes. Unfortunately the pizza in Monopoli was a bit to tomato like to me, so the ingredients didn’t help what I call the „foundational” problem.

In addition to the pizzas we ordered a pizza sandwich and a kind of calzone. They were both okay, but not a place I would return to for further eating and to taste the same pizzas again.

Final Monopoli conclusion

Pizza is a difficult subject, because there are so many ways to make them and we all like them prepared in different ways. If you like those typical Italian pizzas, go check out on Monopoli. We paid for the two pizzas, the pizza toast and the calzone kind of thing and two drinks about 6000 HUF. The service is great so you will be taken good care of and this is ideal if you want to eat Italian without visiting one of those expensive Italian restaurants in Budapest.

If you disagree with me, please write a comment and let me know. If you know about a place in Budapest where they serve fantastic pizzas, please write and I will visit those places and review them (as soon as possible).

Budapest in April

Coming to Budapest in March can be risky, because the weather can be great, but it can also be terrible. Coming to Budapest in April is much safer, because by then spring has arrived and you should be able to count on nicer temperatures and sunshine.

In April the life comes back to the streets of Budapest and one can easily see and feel that the tourists start to invade the city. More people walk along Vaci utca and restaurants get fully booked during weekends. The question is still what to do in Budapest in April?

Cool festivals

There are different events and festivals taking place in Budapest every year. One of the big festivities that often happens to be in April is Easter. In the weeks before Easter and until some days after Easter visitors can enjoy the Budapest Spring Festival. This is a festival packed with professional dancers, musicians and performances in some of the nicest venues in Budapest. During the entire Spring Festival a Spring Fair is set up on the Vorosmarty square (that is where the annual Christmas market can be found as well). The Spring Fair is very similar to the Christmas fair, except from the fact that the weather is better. The Spring Fair normally last for some more days after the Spring festival is finished, so make sure to check it out if you are in town in this period.
Spring Festival dates in 2013: March 22nd – April 7th

International Book Festival

If you like a good book, then you better check out the International Book Festival in Budapest. This is normally arranged in Budapest in April and the venue is the Millenaris Park on the Buda side. At the festival you can meet up with famous and not so famous authors, buy lots of books, During the festival you can in addition to reading and buying books also enjoy programs at stages, eat some good food and visit one of the nicest park areas in Budapest together with more than 50,000 other people.
Book festival dates in 2013: April 18th – 21st

Buda Soup Festival

The soup festival in Budapest will be arranged for the first time in 2013. The venue is the open air parking lot next to the Mammut Shopping Center and during the festival visitors will be able to taste soups, learn how to prepare soups and watch soup making competitions and other cool stuff!
Soup festival dates in 2013: April 26th-28th

Visit Margaret Island and Szentendre

If you are lucky and visit Budapest on a period with nice weather and sunshine in April, you should absolutely go visit the Margaret Island. Travel with tram number two along the Danube all the way to the Margaret Bridge (Jaszai Mari ter) and walk from there unto the bridge and down to the Margaret Island. On the island the most important thing is to relax, walk, borrow a bike and eat an ice cream. If the wind is blowing or if it is bad weather, skip this activity!

Another great activity in April if the weather is nice is to visit Szentendre, the idyllic city 30km north of Budapest. This little town is completely different from Budapest and you should consider spending some hours there. Ladies can easily spend even more, while men get bored after an hour. That is why many people combine a trip to Szentendre with a wine tasting which immediately makes the trip more interesting for the male members of the travel company as well.

Cultural programs

With more tourists arriving the traditional tourist programs are arranged on a more regular basis. This again means that you can watch traditional Hungarian folklore programs on quite a lot of evenings in April, listen to organ concerts in the St. Stephens Basilica and symphonic concerts in the Danube Palace.

If you want some more action you could also consider enjoying a traditional puszta program with horse show and authentic Hungarian cuisine. The latter horse and puszta program normally last for 5 hours in total, so a perfect half day program if you want to see something else than shopping windows in central Budapest.

Budapest basics in all months

There are some activities you should not miss out on when you come to Budapest, no matter what month you arrive. Such activities are:

  • Danube River cruise with stunning view (especially in the evening)
  • Take a swim in the hot springs of the Szechenyi furdo
  • Drink and taste lots of Hungarian wine
  • Eat the legendary Hungarian Goulash soup
  • Visit Szimpla kert or some other ruin pub in Budapest

These were some simple advises for everyone who come to Budapest in April. If Easter happens to be in April in the year you visit Budapest you can read more about Easter in Budapest in the linked article.

Weather in Budapest in April

Just in the end it is worth mentioning that the average temperature in Budapest in April is somewhere between 7 and 17 Celsius. This again means that during daytime we often enjoy temperatures far above 17 Celsius, so you should be prepared with a nice t-shirt when packing your suitcase. However, do not forget your jacket, because if you get the 7 Celsius weather with some wind, it isn’t to cozy to walk along the Danube.

If you have further thoughts about Budapest in April, make sure to write a comment with your experiences, comments or advises.

 

Dinner in Il Treno

Not long ago I had the chance to dine in Il Treno in Budapest. Until now I have only eaten pizza slices from Il Treno on the run, but this was the first time I actually sat down in an Il Treno restaurant to really eat. And I am glad I did!

There are quite some Il Treno’s located in Budapest, but I visited the Il Treno restaurant located in Bartok Bela ut. This is a bit outside the city centre of Budapest, but if you live in hotels such as Hotel Griff, Hotel Mediterrean, Danubius Hotel Flamenco or maybe even Hotel Gellert, it isn’t that far away.

What we ate in Il Treno?

I am a pizza fan so I ordered a pizza, but I made sure that everyone else ordered something else, making me able to taste lots of other main courses in Il Treno as well. My father in law ate a spaghetti carbonara, my mother in law a fajitas with chicken and my beautiful wife a pasta with tasty sauce made up of smoked cheese, broccoli and other snacks.

After a while the food was served. I tasted all four main courses and to my surprise they tasted great, all four of them, especially the two spaghetti/pasta courses. I can warmly recommend those to everyone. After the main courses success we ordered four desserts hope for same great success over again. We had different sorts of pancakes with sauce and cottage cheese and the traditional Hungarian sponge cake (somloi galuska). Unfortunately the main course success did not remain for the desserts. It was not big mistakes with them, but at the same time they were nothing special, so if I would return another time I would probably skip the dessert.

Even though we did not enjoy our dessert as much as the main course, we were still very satisfied with our dinner and also with the price level of the restaurant. We all ordered drinks and the total price of five main courses, four desserts and drinks for everyone was just beneath 12,000 HUF.

If you have been to Il Treno yourself we would love to have you share your thoughts and your experience as you write a comment!

Il Treno information

1116 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 105-113
Tlf: +36 20 953 7261

Will it cause any problems if I only bring big notes to Hungary?

I will be travelling to Budapest this week and I exchanged some HUF in my country. The only banknotes the bank provided me were are of 10.000 HUF and 2.000 HUF. Will I be facing problems when paying with this money?

100HUF coin in BudapestThank you for your excellent question. It is well known that smaller shops and at stands in the Great Market Hall the sellers do not enjoy big notes. The biggest note in Hungary is the 20,000 HUF, then comes the 10,000 HUF note, followed by the 5,000 HUF, the 2000HUF, the 1000HUF and the 500HUF. If you got a mixture of 10,000HUF and 2000HUF notes you have been very lucky because both work very well at most places. Lots of other people only get 20,000HUF notes and those are too big for many smaller stores, taxi drivers and similar. But, in your case you should not need to worry at all!

More about the currency in Hungary.

Ask your Budapest question!

Roman lapidary – Hungarian National Museum

When somebody wants to spend some days in Hungary, usually the firs destination is the capital, the wonderful Budapest. There are lauds of museums, galleries and other interesting attractions here. It is a must see program visit to the Buda Castle, the Parliament, the Heroes Square and some museums, like the Hungarian National Museum.

The National Museum is always waiting for the visitors with interesting exhibitions. Those, who visit here, could learn a lot about the Hungarian history, because there are several permanent exhibitions which show the whole story of this country from the prehistory Hungary trough the Conquest until the Regime with lots of interesting relics, treasures and other wonderful things.

One worldwide famous exhibition in the National Museum is the Lapidarium or Roman Lapidary. The exhibition shows the most typical stone monuments, for example urn keeper stoneware, tombstones, sarcophaguses, little, church shaped tomb’s (aediculas) elements, votive altars offered to gods and epigraphs which tell constructions. Because there are just few useful relics from the age of the Roman Empire, historians could know more about this era, when Hungary was a part of the Roman Empire and it called Pannonia, after these stone monuments.

If you are interested in the history, do not miss the National Museum’s amazing exhibition of the Roman relics while you are in Budapest, because it would be an unforgettable experience! Have a great time!

Lapidarium – Roman lapidary
Permanent exhibition
Hungarian National Museum

“The Way we are” – Cartoons and Prints of József Faragó in the National Gallery

Farago JozsefMaybe not everybody interests about the typical exhibitions, where the exhibited painting, sculptures and other objects could be incomprehensible, or the exhibited objects from the different historical ages are boring. Well, we have a good news for those, who come to the capital of Hungary, Budapest, because in the most famous gallery of the city, in the National Gallery, a wonderful and funny exhibition waits for the visitors from the work of the Hungarian caricaturist, József Faragó.

József Farago lived between 1866 and 1906. József Faragó was an influential, known and respected caricaturist of his age, who renovated the art of the Hungarian political cartoon. As an employee of the Borsszem Jankó, and after the Kakas Márton, he became famous in the whole country. His biting, but always direct hit parodies showed the daily political life in a funny but hard way through his cartoons, which were cannot waited to subscribers in every week.

The exhibition in the National Gallery waits for the visitors from 12 October 2012 until 2 June 2013. Mainly we offer this funny exhibition for those, who like this type of humor, the caricatures and jokes. It isn’t a problem, if you don’t know much about the Hungarian political life of this age, because the drawings are understandable and funny for everyone.

Do not miss this side-splitting exhibition. Make the museum trips more enjoyable and with it, know more about the Hungarian history through a curved mirror! Have a great time!

“The Way we are” – Cartoons and Prints of József Faragó
Hungarian National Gallery
October 12th, 2012 – June 2nd, 2013

Budapest museums