Category: Budapest

Last week we could experience some smog restrictions in Budapest as only those with paried or impaired licenseplates were allowed to drived on selected days. Now much larger restrictions are on the way. From October 20 this year all cars that has a yellow hexagonal sign below the dash on the licenseplate will be restricted when it comes to driving within Budapest. Those with a green color on the hexagonal sign below the dash will be free to drive. The restrictions will last from October 20 to March 8.

Those cars without catalysts will be suffering because of this, also those with a non regulated catalyst, and also most old cars from before 1998.

Below you can see a map from Origo showing where only those with green hexagons can drive between October 20 and March 8. Read full article about this here (Origo – Hungarian)

Transportation in Budapest

Yesterday a new Second World War bomb was found and “disarmed” in Budapest. This time it was found in the first district of Budapest, in Czakó Utca. Earlier (July 29 – 2008) we wrote about a bomb they found in the ninth district of Budapest, and some weeks before that a bomb was discovered in the 13th district of Budapest.

Yesterday they did not really disarm the bomb, but instead they dug a ditch for the bomb, and exploded it safely inside the hole they made for it. The bomb was a cluster bomb that had a weight of almost 25 kg.

I always receive emails when people comment on some post in our blog, and some minutes ago I received a funny one, with a solution to the entire gas problem. Curious? Read the comment found at the bottom of our page about the “Gas crisis in Eastern-Europe“.

Comment problem
Our blog has no way of showing the last comments made on any of the posts in our blog. That means that it is impossible for the viewers to find out if someone has commented on a blog post, if they do not check back on every single blog post continously. So, I am looking for some script or help to get the possibility to show somewhere on the blog frontpage, or in a menu, or somewhere else, the last 5-10 comments made on any blog article throughout the entire blog.

I know that Budapestagent has something similar at his blog, but as far as I see he is using WordPress, while our blog uses the Blogger platform. I am not sure if influences the thing, but if anyone can help, I would be very grateful!

Yesterday some news channels reported that sleety rain is expceted to fall in Budapest. Sleety rain (ónós eső) is rain that turns into ice before it hits the ground, and makes the road very slippery and dangerous. Therefore they adviced car owners to stay at home, and rather use public transportation today, if possible.

It is quite interesting that now when they allow everyone to travel with their cars (a few days ago they limited it because of the pollution caused by several big companies using oil instead of gas) a new thing show up that makes the official warn people from using their cars. Maybe we should just sell our cars and start walking instead 🙂

The Forint is jumping up and down, and currently it is quite weak, at least compared to the Euro. Compared to ther currencies it is doing quite well, but the fact is that the Euro is strong at the moment. This morning as I checked out my desktop I saw that 1 Euro = 283,6 Forints, which is quite a lot. Half a year ago I always thought of 1 Euro as 250 forints, and it was a period when 1 Euro was worth 230 forints. These differences can mean quite a lot of money, even for small customers as you and I.

Euro – Forint
In McDonalds
If you want to buy a menu in McDonalds it will cost you appx. 1060 forints. On a day when the Forint was at its strongest that would cost you 4,6 Euro. Now, as the Euro is strong it would cost you 3,7!

In Sir Lancelot
Normally someone visiting Sir Lancelot uses around 6500 forints. On a strong Forint day that would mean around 28 Euro, but on a strong Euro day (as it is today) that would mean 23 Euro.

Tickets for Mamma Mia concert in Budapest
The most expensive tickets cost 16,900 Ft. On a strong Forint day that means around 73 Euro, but on a strong Euro-day it would be 60 Euro.

As you can see the differences are quite big, so for people visiting Hungary coming from Euro nations these are good news. For Hungarians going abroad these news are not so good, at least if they travel as the Euro is as strong as it is now!

Currency and changing money in Budapest

The smog alert we wrote about yesterday has been removed, so from today all cars can drive freely in Budapest again. According to statistics not to many followed the restrictions telling that only cars with paired licenseplates could drive yesterday. 1/3 of the cars in Budapest yesterday were cars using impaired licenseplates, and 2/3 of the cars were using paired licenseplates, meaning that they were allowed to drive.

As they measured at several points in the city yesterday they saw that the quality of the air was more than good enough, and therefore they decided to allow everyone to use their cars again, starting today!

Budapest Transportation Guide