We have just added some Hungary pictures to our Facebook profile, so we thought it would be nice to add some more Hungary pictures to our blog as well. The pictures beneath this text are taken in Vác and from the Bánki Lake, both found north of Budapest, and both great places to visit!
Some Hungary pictures
Yesterday the Triathlon World Championship Series 2010 started in Budapest, and it will last until this Sunday. More than 4000 people will participate in this competition, with most competetors coming from abroad from all around the globe. The triathlon will lead to major roads being closed in these coming days, especially Saturday and Sunday when the lower river roads will be closed down and also the Chain Bridge and other important roads.
Still, this competition is great commercial for Budapest, and we hope that both participants and visitors will be able to enjoy the beauties of Budapest for a day or two, even though they are here because of the competition.
For more information on the Dextro Energy Triathlon, we recommend the official homepage of the competition.
http://budapest.triathlon.org/
If you are in town this weekend, do not forget the International Wine Festival of Budapest.
Every year the Soul and Gospel Festival is arranged in Budapest, and normally at the roof of the WestEnd shoppingcenter. This year a new venue has been chosen, namely the Budapest Sportarena. The main attraction of this years festival is the concert with Hillsong London and the London Community Gospel Choir arranged at November 3rd. The time of the concert is 19.00 and concert tickets can be bought from Eventim.
Hillsong London + London Community Gospel Choir Budapest
November 3rd, 19.00
Budapest Sportarena
Ticket prices vary between 3000-6000 Forints per ticket.
Church in Budapest
Katy Perry Budapest
Budapest Sportarena
October 1, 19.30
Tickets: Kate Perry
Budapest International Wine Festival will start next Wednesday and last all the way until next Saturday (September 8 – 12). This is a great event bringing thousands of tourists to Budapest every year. If you like wine and would like to taste a whole lot, or only a little, Hungarian wine, this is the place to go.
We have made an event page for Budapest International Wine Festival, and there you can find more information about opening times, entrances fees and so on.
This years fireworks might not have been the best ever, but considering the fact that it for a long time looked as if there would be no fireworks at all, it was very nice. Below you can see a two minute video giving our visitors a taste of what the fireworks in Budapest August 20th 2010 were like.
For a video showing the fireworks in Budapest 2009, go here!
Below you can find some more Budapest pictures. They were all taken in August 2010, so they are quite fresh (as we write this post). We hope that you will like them. For more pictures, check out our multimedia section, or go visit our Facebook profile!
The famous and popular magazine Newsweek has just recently published their list describing 100 nations and their standard of life. Based on eduction, health, quality of life, economic dynamism and political environment they have made up their lists presenting the best and the worst places to live in of those 100 nations investigated.
The winner was Finland, followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Japan and as number 10, Denmark.
Hungary ended up in a 33rd place, after Slovakia and Estonia, but before Lithuania and Costa Rica. The worst five nations were Uganda, Zambia, Cameron, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
See complete results and statistics
August 20th is the national day of Hungary. That means that this Friday grocery stores and most shops will be closed, while restaurants and cinemas normally remain open. August 20th is celebrated in Hungary as it is the nameday of Hungary’s first king, King Stephen (István).
Most Hungarians stay at home and enjoy the date as a normal day off. The last years a big attraction has though been the Red Bull Air Race, which unfortunately was cancelled in Budapest this year. Earlier they also spoke of cancelling the annual fireworks (to use the money help people suffering from the floods in Hungary instead), but a company from Szombathely offered to stand the cost for an alternative and shorter firework show. Therefore at 21.00 there will be hopefully beautiful fireworks along the Danube in Budapest (see Fireworks 2009 video) !
There will be some special program by the Saint Stephens Basilica during daytime August 20th.
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An exhibition named “Duodji – Sámi Handicrafts” was just opened in the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest. The exhibition will be available between August 8 and November 28, and is connected with the exhibition “How we see the Finns“, also available until November 28, 2010.
Duodji – Sámi Handicrafts
Museum of Ethnography
August 9 – November 28 (2010)
More about the exhibition (press release):
Ilmari Tapiola (b. 1955; Sámi name Gáva-Jon Ilmar) comes from a village of Kaava (Gávva) on the Teno River (Deatnu) in the municipality of Utsjoki. Tapiola is both a reindeer herder, an entrepreneur in the field of fishing tourism and a maker of handicraft.
When he was young, the prospects of Sámi handicraft were poor, especially as concerns the handicraft made by men. Industrial products had replaced the tools, dishes, containers and other objects in which things were kept that had been traditionally made at home, and there were only few masters of Sámi handicraft left.
Ilmari Tapiola learnt the basic skills of Sámi handicraft on the courses held at Christian Folk High School of Inari, where his teachers included Ilmari Laiti and Juhan Rist. In 1974, Tapiola left – with two other Sámi from Finland – for the Sámi High School of Jokkmokk, Sweden, to continue his training there for two years.
The handicraft exhibition of Ilmari Tapiola displays chests, dishes, bowls, boxes, knives, reeds, shuttles, horn spoons, belt buttons and hooks. Tapiola’s handicraft is characterized by distinct designs and strongly dyed stylized ornamentation that has been carved on the pieces of handicraft.
His themes include braids, plaits, basket-work ornamentation, stars and suns, but sometimes he decorates, freehand, his work with natural motifs and figures from the Sámi drums. He makes his handicraft both for the use of his own family and for sale.
The handicrafts of the exhibition are made of “hard” materials, that is, from birch gnarls and the high quality antlers of a bull reindeer. The gnarl lids of chests and containers and the handles of gnarl cups have been decorated with antler inlays. Some knife sheaths, reeds and shuttles are made from only one material: horn.
The carvings on the horn are made visible with the help of a colour that has been ground from charcoal. Air compressor tools have made it easier to work the materials, but it is now more difficult to actually get a hold of the materials that one needs.
The exhibition was conducted with the help of Finnagora and the Museum of Ethnography
