Where to watch Euro 2012 in Budapest?

The European Championship is currently on and if you are coming to Budapest you might be worried about where you are going to see the matches with your favorite team. You have no need to worry, because almost wherever you go in Budapest you will find televisions showing all the matches, both in restaurants, pubs and similar places.

If you would like to see the matches though in a place where people gather together to see the matches, then we have some recommendations for you.

1) The Liberty Square
Just in the area between the Hungarian Parliament and the St Stephen’s Basilica the Liberty Square can be found. There you will find a big screen, places where you can sit, and also a big grass area where you can enjoy the large screen and also a cold beer if you would like to while watching the matches. One of the best places in Budapest to see the European Championship outdoor.

Euro 2012 at Liberty Square
Euro 2012 at Liberty Square

2) Champs Sports Pub
Next to the Great Synagogue the sports pub Champs can be found. Here you can watch your favorite team on one of the many screen located around in the pub. Probably the best indoor place in Budapest to see the European Championship

3) Akvárium
On the Deák Square, or the Erzsébet Tér, the club Akvárium is located (formerly know as Gödör Klub). Here you can also see matches outdoor at a large area with lots of people, and many staying out partying after the matches are finished

4) Next to Alle Shoppingcenter
If you are on the Buda side of Budapest and would like to see you favorite teams in Budapest, then a quite small area has been set aside next to the Alle Shoppingcenter where you can sit down, buy something to drink and watch the matches on a big screen.

We hope these advices can help you a bit, and we of course hope that you favorite team will win all their matches.

Ferihegy 1 has closed down

As of May 30th all flights arriving and departing from Budapest uses Ferihegy 2, or Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 2 (A and B). The plans are to keep terminal 1 closed for 4-5 years until traffic reaches normal amount again (after the bankruptcy of Malév), and when traffic is back as usual terminal 1 will be opened up again.

The advantage of using Terminal 2 is the fact that you can enjoy the services at the Sky Court with much larger areas for shopping and services after check-in. The disadvantage is the fact that the terminal is located a bit (appx. 4km) further away from the city center.

 

Cheap strawberries in Budapest

The summer is approaching and right now it is high season for cheap strawberries in Budapest. If you visit shops selling fruits and vegetables, or maybe pay a visit to the big market hall, you will find strawberries at very low prices. Yesterday as we visited the big market hall next to the Allee shoppingcenter we bought one kilo of strawberries for only 500 HUF (1,6 Euro), a quite amazing price. So if you love strawberries, do not miss out on the cheap offers in Budapest at the moment!

Cheap strawberries in Budapest
Cheap strawberries in Budapest

Report from Palinka and Sausage festival 2012

Yesterday the Palinka and Sausage festival of 2012 was officially opened and the enjoyable festival will last until Sunday evening. We visited the festival on its first day, and here are our thoughts.

The first impression is that the festival reminds us of the beer festival in many ways. By the entrance you buy the ticket and you also buy an electronic card to which you add money, and later on the inside you use this card for payment everywhere, meaning that it is a moneyless festival. This system works fine, and since the first day of the festival is somewhat quiet, there were not really any lines or waiting time, so perfect!

Inside the festival area I was a bit amazed of the fact that there were much fewer stands than at both the beer festival and the wine festival. The Castle of Buda serves as the arena for the festival, but only the Lion and the Hunyadi courtyard. In these courtyards you could taste a whole lot of palinka, eat a lot of sausage and also taste tequila, which is the guest of honor at this years Palinka and Sausage festival.

The Hungarian fruit spirit normally has an alcohol content between 40% and 60%, so it is quite strong stuff. There were at least 20 different stands from where you could buy different kind of Palinka, and one of my friends tried a quite exclusive and expensive one; raspberry palinka. It was too strong for me, but it is cool to have tried it. Arpad is a famous producer of Palinka from Bekescsaba, and later we also tried some of their production, which tasted better then the previous Palinka (at least I think so… but, that is very subjective).

In the area there are quite some stands where you can buy warm sausages and eat them (like in any traditional Hungarian festival), and then you can buy different salamis and sausages and either bring them home or eat them together with bread at the festival area. One of the special sausages of Hungary is the one made from mangalica (a special hairy pig), so if you visit the area, try some mangalica sausage or ham. You can even buy salami from the Hungarian grey cattle (szürkemarha), which is something you do not get everywhere.

This is what the Mangalica looks like!

If you are not that much into Palinka then you can buy soft drinks at different places inside the area, and there are also two wine shops where you can buy different kinds of wine. They do not have the biggest selection, but considering the fact that it is a Palinka and Sausage festival it is not bad at all.

We visited the festival on the quiet opening day, but if you plan on visiting the festival today, tomorrow or on Sunday you can for sure expect more people (especially in the evenings), lots of strong Palinka, tasty sausages and lots of fun. Worth a visit!

The entrance fee for one day is 2000 HUF.

Lots of Palinka to taste at the festival

Goose liver festival at the Buda Castle

Maybe the number one Hungarian speciality when it comes to gourmet food is the Goose liver. Not everyone like it, but those who like it normally love it. And because of that, the goose liver has gotten its own festival in Budapest. On this festival lasting for three days you can taste all kinds of goose liver, drink Hungarian wine, beer and palinka, listen to famous Hungarian artists, and then eat some more goose liver while enjoying the rest.

Goose liver festival Budapest
Goose liver festival Budapest

The goose liver festival is arranged on the terrace in front of the Buda Castle, so you can enjoy a beautiful Budapest panorama while at the festival.

The festival is arranged at the following times:
June 1: 12.00-23.00
June 2: 10.00-23.00
June 3: 10.00-23.00

The one day ticket to the festival costs 1900 HUF, while the three day ticket costs 3800 HUF.

Breakfast in Szamos

Szamos is a famous brand in Hungary. They are first of all known for their marzipan, and then comes the confectioneries. In Budapest you can find Szamos shops and confectioneries in lots of places, for example in Árkád, in Mammut, in Allee, in Savoya Park, in Polus, in Szentendre, at Budapest Airport and lots of other places. The biggest Szamos and the one with the best location is probably the one located at Vörösmarty square, but yesterday we visited the Szamos confectionery and store located by the Grand Boulevard, within the walls of Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal.

Working on our article about breakfast in Budapest we planned on visiting Bock Bistro, one of the best restaurants in Budapest with great wine and high class food. Some other sites also wrote about the culinary experience of enjoying a breakfast at Bock Bistro, and therefore we planned on enjoying a breakfast there ourselves. As we got there the doors where closed, and after asking some questions around in the building we found out that breakfast is no longer available in Bock Bistro. There we stood hungry in front of closed doors, so quickly we had to find somewhere else to eat some breakfast, and since Szamos is located only 150 meters from Bock Bistro, that became our final destination.

It seems to me as if Szamos have the same breakfast menu available in all their places, so whatever Szamos you visit you will have the chance to eat Continental Breakfast, French Breakfast, Ham and Eggs, Wiener Breakfast and Hungarian Breakfast. These are the standard offers, but on their menu you can also find toast which is available throughout the entire day, but if you want it for breakfast, that can of course be arranged.

We ordered a ham and eggs, one standard omelet and a toast. In addition we had a cup of tea, a glass of water and a cocoa. Even though it was almost empty in the place, it took a while for someone to take or order, but when they first came, service was perfect. The final price of this order was 4000 HUF, and in that price the service fee of 15% was included.

Ham and eggs and a toast in Szamos

The portions were quite normal, and though they were smaller than the portions you get at for example Fruccola, most people will feel full and satisfied after one portion of food. The omelet needed salting, the cocoa was without any sugar so that needed to be added manually, the toast was nice and my wife was satisfied with the ham and eggs. While most restaurants offering breakfasts add some special bread besides your breakfast, Szamos only gives you a small standard white bread baguette cut into small pieces besides the meal.

After the breakfast we did not sit with the feeling that we were too full, and thus the cakes offered looks very tempting. We skipped those this time, but it might be that the next time we drop by Szamos it will be to eat cakes, and not to eat breakfast. Everything was too standard, nothing made it an experience to remember, except from the fact that I ate together with my beautiful wife and son, so next time I will much rather look for a new place instead of returning to Szamos. If you are a tourist looking for an easy breakfast one day and you see a Szamos sign nearby, this can though be an option to consider.

Tempting sweet and salty cakes/pastry in Szamos

Die Hard 5 in Budapest: Where things are happening and when!

Yesterday we wrote about the fact that Bruce Willis (alias John McClane) is in town and that they were filming in the sixth district of Budapest yesterday, in the area around the Vörösmarty Utca. That was the first day of filming, and today it will continue. So, if you would like to see what’s going on, or at least meet up with some (un)polite police officers protecting the area, pay a visit to one of the following places:

Where things are happening, and when!
April 24: District VI, Vörösmarty utca.
April 29: District VI, Városligeti fasor.
May 3 (from 8:00 p.m.) and May 4 (from 6:00 a.m.) District V, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út, Arany János utca, Andrássy út.
May 5-6: District XIV, Fine Arts Museum (Szépművészeti Múzeum), Dózsa György út 41.
May 8 (from 6:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.) District XIV, 1956ers Square (56-osok tere), near the corner of Damjanich utca and Dembinszky utca.
May 14: Return to the beginning (Szabadság tér)

The rumors say that Budapest is not the real location of the story, but Moscow, but who knows? What is for sure is that traffic chaos will be caused by this filming, and for people living in the areas it means parking their cars somewhere else and walking home (showing ID to prove that they live in the mentioned areas). A bit inconvenient, but that is probably the price to pay to have a start like John McClane walking around in the streets of Budapest.

This morning we noticed on Facebook a picture that someone claims to have been made yesterday. It is just a fake, but a quite funny one, at least for Hungarians. Thanks to Andrassew David Igor for posting it!

Bruce Willis walking in Budapest?
Bruce Willis - manipulated picture... not really from the filming in Budapest!

Bruce Willis dying hard in Budapest

Bruce Willis in Budapest - Die Hard 5
Bruce Willis in Budapest - Die Hard 5

April 24 update: Die Hard 5 in Budapest: Where things are happening and when!

It has for a long time been known that quite a lot of “A Good Day to Die Hard” (Die Hard 5) will be filmed in Budapest. If you are interested, you might want to check out the sixth district of Budapest today where cars are removed and the streets are empty due to one reason: Bruce Willis is in town and filming today! To check it out, take the tram to either Király Utca or Wesselényi utca, and start walking towards the area near Dob utca, Vörösmarty utca, Csengery utca and so on, and you will for sure see either some police officers protecting the area, or if not, maybe you will meet John McClane himself?! (John McClane is the name of the character played by Bruce Willis).

Check it out! If you are not in town, then you can wait until 2013. That is when the film will be released and you can see all your favorite spots in Budapest (hopefully) on the movie screens all around the world!

Gospel in Budapest

As of April 28th there will be arranged gospel concerts in the heart of Budapest, in a beautiful church in Vaci Utca, every second weak. The choir is lead by one of the best singers in Hungary, and this will be a great gospel event, worth checking out. If you are interested and like gospel music, you can read more about the gospel event at our page about the gospel event.

At the page about the gospel concerts you will also find a video so that you can know more about what to expect, you will find the chance to reserve tickets and also information about dates and time for these gospel concerts. Read more…

Gospel concert in Budapest
Gospel concert in Budapest

Information on Budapest cruises

Information on Budapest cruises
Information about Budapest cruises

Many people coming to Budapest look for information on cruises on the Danube. The beautiful river flowing through numerous European capitals is probably more beautiful than anywhere else as it flows through the borders of Budapest. From the boat you can enjoy the panorama on the World Heritage List of UNESCO as you pass under the Margaret Bridge and enjoy the view towards the Hungarian Parliament, the Castle, the Gellert Hill, the Matthias Church and the Fishermen’s Bastion, and let us not forget the bridges; the Chain Bridge and the Elisabeth Bridge. An amazing and stunning view.

Some people who are not too much into geography might wonder if it is possible to travel on the Danube all the way until the Mediterranean sea, and then continue on one of the many Med Cruises there, but the answer to that question is no. For the patient traveller the Danube ends up in the Black Sea, but it is in no way connected to the Mediterranean Sea.

Most cruises available for tourists and suitable for tourists are those running on daily basis within the borders of Budapest. These tours normally last 90 minutes, and you get to see the most famous buildings and the panorama as mentioned above on these tours. We can warmly recommend such a tour in the evenings, because Budapest is at its most beautiful in the evening!

There are tours daily during the main tourist season to Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom as well, and for those who want to leave Hungary, there are opportunities to visit Bratislava and Vienna as well. The only problem with such tours are the fact that they last for such a long time, that you can not do a t/r trip in one day, which means you need to sleep one night at the destionation, or find another way of returning to Budapest again in the evening.

If you are looking for more information about a Danube Cruise, and would like to book a dinner cruise with live gipsy music or so on, take a look and read more about these options at our Danube Cruise page.