Budapest Guide, Author at Budapest Guide

A cold weekend coming up in Hungary

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Budapest Guide

When things go wrong, they do go wrong. And when the gas is not arriving to the nation as it should, it turns really cold. At least that is what the National Meteorological Service tells us. According to them the temperatures in Hungary (which are low already) should fall even more as the weekends closes up, and some places in the nation temperatures can reach as low as minus 20 degrees. Budapest will probably not experience such low temperatures (probably the eastern parts of Hungary will), but it might turn out to be very cold in Budapest as well!

The colder it gets, the more gas we use, and when we have limited gas supplies this might become a challenge, but let’s hope not!

At our climate page it does not seem so bad on the 10-day prognosis, but I guess our international weather tool does not give as accurate information about the upcoming weather in Hungary as the National Meteorological Service do.

Gas crisis in Eastern-Europe

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Since Tuesday gas is not arriving from Russia to Hungary and several other nations around Hungary. The Russians stopped sending gas, because they claim that Ukraine is “stealing” gas as it is flowing through their nation on the way to Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and several other nations.

Hungary is not the nation suffering the most, as they have gas supplies which can offer gas for quite a while to the nation. Big gas consumers in Hungary still needed to make changes, so the biggest companies and factories has had to put their work on halt, until the nation receives gas from Russia again.

Slovakia is suffering as well, and now they speak of opening up a nuclear plant at Jaslovske Bohunice. The nuclear plant had to be closed before entering into the European Union in 2004, but they speak of opening it again, if needed.

Let us hope that things will work out fast, because if things does not work out, this might become a cold winter for quite some people!

Euro in Hungary

Posted on January 7, 2009 by Budapest Guide

During our guided tours we receive a lot of questions. One of the most popular questions is the following question: Is Hungary a member of the European Union. Why do people ask? If Hungary are members, why are they not using the Euro? Several other nations which joined the European Union in 2004 has already introduced the Euro in their nations, but Hungary has remained without it. The reason is that the economy is not good enough for it to be used in the nation, yet.

In 2004 after Hungary entered the European Union they had a goal of introducing the Euro from 2008, but as we all now, they did not reach that goal. From 1. January 2009 Slovakia started using the Euro as well, since 2008 Malta and Cyprus use it, and in 2007 Slovenia started using it. Time will show when Hungary joins into the Euro-club!

Forint, the currency in Hungary

New strike at Ferihegy Airport?

Posted on January 7, 2009 by Budapest Guide

That is one of the questions many people have in Hungary and outside Hungary. Since the former strike was stopped on the 22 December, they gave the airport some weeks to make a new offer. The deadline for making a new offer was January 6, and the time of mercy has ended.

The airport and the employees are now discussing and trying to find a solution. If they do, nothing will happen, but if they can not make an agreement the airports of Budapest may suffer from a strike over again in a few days. Let us all hope they will come to an agreement!

We will update our pages with information, especially if a strike will occur, so come back later for more news and updates!

Happy birthday www.hungarybudapestguide.com

Posted on January 5, 2009February 11, 2015 by Budapest Guide

Wow, today we celebrate our birthday! We are one year old, and we celebrate it with a bang. Though there are several pages with more visitors than us, we are happy and satisfied with the fact that we have come this far in one year, and we are very curious what things will look like in one year!

Since we celebrate our one year anniversary we want to give away free guided tours in Budapest. You heard right… free guided tours! There are no set fees, no hidden fees! The only thing we do is that we recommend everyone who uses this great opportunity to give their private guide a great tip, if they are satisfied!

For more information about this offer, click the banner below!

Concerts near Budapest (Metallica, Simply Red, Tina Turner and more)

Posted on January 5, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Since 2009 started we have started to write some small articles about upcoming events and concerts in major cities not to far from Budapest. So far we are featuring cities such as Vienna, Bratislava, Prague and Munich. And since we started with this, we have realized that quite a lot of hot-shots skip Budapest on their tours. For example Tina Turner will have two concerts in Vienna and four in Munich in February, but she will not even cross the border to enter into Hungary. Metallica will also perform in Vienna and Munich, but not in Budapest. The same is the fact when it comes to Il Divo.

So far the thing these artists have in common is that they do not visit Bratislava or Prague either. But arists such as Simply Red and Eagles visit Prague as well, but not Budapest, neither Bratislava.

Well, maybe Budapest is not yet such a world city… some more years to wait before everyone comes to Hungary as well, but things are improving so we look with great expectations into the future!

Page Rank Update (December 31-2008)

Posted on January 5, 2009April 8, 2026 by Budapest Guide

I guess this has nothing to do with Budapest, but on the last day of 2008 it was a Page Rank update. That means that the values of the Google Toolbar has changed. For our page nothing changed, which means we are still standing at Page Rank 4, which we are quite satisfied with, though it would be cool to get a little big higher somehow. Considering the fact that we have our birthday tomorrow (hungarybudapestguide.com is then 1 year old) I am though quite happy about having page rank 4.

At this page rank update not to much happened within our pages, except from the fact that our restaurant page and the page with the history of Hungary suddenly jumped from 0 page rank to 3.

Tomorrow we will celebrate our birthday, so come back for some great offers!

Australia in Budapest cinemas

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Just after Christmas Australia was launched in the cinemas of Budapest, and it is not often, but for some days it was three films that I wanted to see in the cinema (which does not happen often). The first was Bedtime Stories, the second was the “The Tale of Despereaux” (Cincin lovag) and the third was Australia. So far I have seen two of them, Bedtime Stories and Australia.

We went to Palace Mom Park to see Australia, as this was the only cinema showing the film with English speaking and Hungarian subtitles. As I read about the film I noticed that it was a long film (160 minutes), so I bought a big popcorn and a big coke, just to be prepared.

The film was long, but it did not feel to long. It tells the story of Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman) leaving for Australia to visit her husband and to help him on his farm. Things does not turn out to be the way she thought they were, and eventually she meets with Drover (Hugh Jackman) and Nullah (Brandon Walters), a little boy who does not fit into society.

In the film these three together face several challenges, and as the Second World War breaks out in Australia with an attack on Darwim, the events heat up even more.

During the film I was never bored, but I rather enjoyed the film from start to end. It was not a superfilm, but quite okay, and a nice way to use 160 minutes inside, if you do not really want to go out into the cold Budapest winter.

Based on all of this I give the film 6 out of 10 smiles!

Hungarian title: Ausztrália

Cinemas in Budapest

Happy new year from a freezing Budapest

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Budapest Guide

We wish all our readers and visitors a happy new year from a freezing cold Budapest. Around midnight as 2008 turned into 2009 it was around -10 Celsius in Budapest, and as I checked out our weatherpage this morning it showed -8 Celsius. That is quite cold, so if you are in the city, or on the way to Budapest, make sure to dress up!

I am not sure if you have set any goals for 2009, but we have a goal to become an even better Guide to Budapest, so that we can serve our visitors with more and better information about what is going on in the city, and suggestions for programs, museums and attractions to visit in the city. Yesterday we also updated our page with information about concerts happening in big cities nearby Budapest (Prague, Munich, Vienna, Bratislava), and we hope to be able to keep this updated as well.

I agree; Munich is quite far from Budapest, but if you like driving (fast), it can still be done in a day to visit the city for a concert, and then drive back afterwards (you will arrive early in the morning the next day, but it can work at least).

Have you got any wish/desire for 2009?
Feel free to share it with us by posting a comment below telling us about it!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Budapest

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Budapest Guide

It might be a little late to write about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat right now, as the last performance in Budapest will be performed tonight at 19:00, but December 23 I had the joy of visiting Madach Theatre in Budapest to watch, you guessed right, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (József és a színes szélesvásznú álomkabát). It was a surprise for me, so therefore I had no time to get high expectations, and the truth is I knew very little about this piece before I arrived.

The story deals with the character Joseph from the Bible, the son of Jacob, and his dreams and how they become reality. The songs tells the story from the Bible with great punctuality, and with some highlights such as when Pharaoh sings as if he was Elvis. The songs of the musical are those that get stuck on your mind, so walking home after the performance the melodies were played over and over again in my head.

Of course the play was in Hungarian, and we congratulate Attila Galambos and Blum Tamas with a great tranlsation. The Hungarian texts were just as good as the English, and a joy for the ear to hear. English lyrics were shown above the scene during the play, but the bad thing was that the stage is so big, that if you watch the lyrics, you will not see what is happening on the stage. If you sit at ground level you might get some neck problems as well! The solution might be to buy a ticket on one of the galleries.

All tickets are sold out for tonights performance, but if it will ever come back to Madách Színház we warmly recommend Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to all people who love music and musicals.

In my oppinion this gets ten out of ten smileys.

Hungarian title: József és a színesvásznú álomkabát
Made by: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice