Egyetem square in Budapest (University square)

Budapest has a lot of hidden treasures, and one of them is the amazing Egyetem square (University square). It can be found between the popular Ferenciek square and Kalvin square, and it is very close to another hidden treasure, the Karolyi garden.

Egyetem tér in Budapest
Egyetem tér in Budapest

The square has been named after the university at the square, the University of Law in Budapest. The University was moved to the location in 1784, and the University of Law has been present here since the start of the 19th century.

The building of the university is really beautiful, and at night it is illuminated, making it even nicer. At the right side of the university (see the picture above), you can see the so-called University Church, also known as the “University Church of St Mary the Virgin.” This is a very special church as it was raised by the only Hungarian Monastic order, the Pauline Fathers (Pálosok). The construction work started at the start of the 18th century, and the first stone of the church was set on the ruins of the destroyed Mosque from the Turkish reign.

By the end of the 18th century, the Pauline Fathers were dissolved by Emperor Joseph II, and the church was given to the university.

The University of Law at Egyetem tér
The University of Law at Egyetem tér

A perfect place for eating

The Egyetem square is a perfect place to grab something to eat. There are many restaurants in the area, and if you want to enjoy a nice wine dinner just next to the square, check this article.

Do not miss out on the square as you walk the streets of Budapest. It for sure deserves a few minutes of your time!

Taste the Chimney Cake in Budapest

Budapest is a city with a lot to see and discover. But, just as important – it is a city in which there is a lot to taste. And one of the best things to taste is the traditional Chimney Cake.

The Chimney Cake, also named Sekler cake by some, is a sweet pastry, originally coming from Transylvania. It has turned so popular, that not only can you find it on Christmas markets in Budapest (and on other festivals), but you can find special stores selling this. And, if you decide to visit Krakow, Bratislava, Vienna or Prague, you can find the Chimney Cake at larger festivities there as well.

The traditional Chimney Cake in Budapest
The traditional Chimney Cake in Budapest

The picture above is taken from Molnar Kurtoskalacs, a store in the main shopping street of Budapest (Vaci utca) in which you can buy these cakes all days of the week.

The chimney cake is a sweet dough cover with sugar. It is then grilled above charcoal (that is the real version), and in this process, the sugar is caramelized. As this process is finished, it is time to roll the chimney cake in either nut, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, or some other tasty ingredient.

It is extremely tasty, and a sure hit among kids.

Making the Chimney Cake even sweater

Whatever is popular, will be worked on and improved. In the latter years, the Chimney Cake has gotten some improvements to it, even though we are more fond of the original version.

The improvement is that they have started to add ice cream and/or Nutella to the chimney cake.

chimney cake with ice cream
Chimney cake with vanilla ice cream

On the picture above, you can see what it might be like as the chimney cake is stuffed with vanilla ice cream on the inside. Personally, I would rather just eat the normal version, but one of the great things about life is trying new things. And that is important when you come to Budapest… taste new things!

People are often afraid of buying something that they will not like, but if that should be a problem, just don’t eat it. But, you will only get richer tasting something, because you will have an experience of tasting something that you either liked a lot, or maybe didn’t like – but, you are still an experience richer!

Are you a real Chimney Cake enthusiast? Do not forget about the Chimney Cake festival in Budapest in October.

Would you rather eat some more serious food? You can read more about wine dinners and wine tasting programs in Budapest here.

Thank you for reading this article! We wish you a fantastic stay in Budapest, and should you need help with guided tours, river cruises on the Danube, or some other program, make sure to contact us. More information at https://www.hungarybudapestguide.com/.

The Károlyi garden in the heart of Budapest

Few tourists have ever seen or visited the Károlyi garden, but if you want a breath of fresh air and a green lounge in the midst of your shopping time in Budapest, this is a garden worth visiting.

The Károlyi garden is located close to Váci utca, the shopping street in Budapest, but still hidden away. It is found in somewhere in the middle between famous spots such as Ferenciek tére, Astoria, and Kalvin tér. The park is one of the oldest parks of its kind in Hungary, and it has a rich and a long history.

The beautiful Karolyi garden in the heart of Budapest.
The beautiful Karolyi garden in the heart of Budapest.

It had its “prime-time” in the 19th century when it had lots of exotic flowers, its own tennis court, and other nice elements. The Károlyi family (the owners of the park) planned on selling the park at the start of the 20th century. However, it ended up in the hands of the state. Unfortunately, the park was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but after the war, it was quite quickly restored. But, during the 1970’s the park was closed down for almost ten years due to the construction of metro line three (the blue line). As a result, most flowers and green areas in the park died, and this had to be fixed over again as the construction work was finished.

Today it is a beautiful park. It doesn’t have the exotic flowers anymore, but it is still a peaceful lung in the heart of Budapest. There are two playgrounds in the park, there is a fountain, and there are several places where you can sit down to relax and gain new strength before discovering more hidden parts of Budapest.

The park is located next to the Karolyi palace, a beautiful building finished in 1830. Inside the palace, you can find the Petöfi Literature Museum, and you can also find the Karolyi restaurant, the location for one of our popular wine dinners in Budapest.

Budapest by night from a drone

Would you like to see a beautiful Budapest by night picture? This has got to be one of the most stunning of them all!

A few days ago, we shared an article from Steemit on our Facebook page. It contained a beautiful Budapest by night picture, taken from a drone. The post turned so popular, and since the picture actually is a freebie, we decide to share it here in our own blog as well.

Budapest by night from a drone
Photo by Andras Kovacs on Unsplash

Isn’t this simply a stunning picture? We have seen lots of pictures from Budapest throughout the years, but this has got to be one of the nicest of them all. Kudos to Andras Kovacs for making this fantastic picture.

On the picture, you can see the Chain Bridge, the Elisabeth Bridge, the Liberty Bridge, the Petofi Bridge, the Rakoczi Bridge, and quite a lot of beautiful buildings, including the National Theater and the Palace of Arts in by the “last” bridge.

If you like the picture, share it with friends and family. It will for sure inspire people to pay Budapest a visit in the near future.

 

Chinese lights in Budapest Zoo

It has been on for quite a while, but everything good has to end. The Chinese lights in the Budapest Zoo will be available until May 22nd. Here you can see some pictures.

If you visit Budapest Zoo in the evenings then you can now enjoy beautiful lights inside animals and sculptures. It is a really creative kind of exhibition available every evening between 19.00 and 22.00. Since there are only three evenings left it is worth noticing that if you arrive at 19.00 there is still not dark in Budapest, so you will not really be able to enjoy the Chinese lights, but around 20.30 its starting to get dark and the experience is fantastic. Be aware of the fact that this is a super popular program, so there are long lines that you need to stand in before you can get hold of your ticket.

The entrance fee for this program is 1900 HUF for adults and 1500 HUF for children under 14 years. Here you can see some pictures to give you a little taste of what you can expect if you visit the Zoo in Budapest in one of the coming three days in the evening.

Sculptures in Budapest Zoo
It looks cool, doesn’t it?
Beautiful lights in Budapest Zoo in the evening
Beautiful lights in Budapest Zoo in the evening
Colorful and impressive in Budapest Zoo
Colorful and impressive in Budapest Zoo

If you want to do something completely different tonight in Budapest instead, or maybe before you visit the zoo, then you can of course consider going to Groupama Arena instead where Hungary will play an international friendly match against Ivory Coast. This is the first of several friendly matches Hungary will play to prepare for Euro 2016 where they will have their opening match against Austria on June 14th. For more information on where you can watch Euro 2016 in Budapest, read this article.

Budapest video from 1973 – Must see for Budapest fans

Are you a Budapest fan? If the answer is yes then you will love this Budapest video from 1973. It is a 30 minute film simply showing what Budapest was like, presented by the Hungarian singer Kati Kovacs.

We by coincidence bumped into this film in the library of the Norwegian TV channel NRK, so you can watch the film there if you want to.

Press the link above to visit the video on the NRK website and start watching the website. It is amazing to see the changes that has happened in the city since then. Just take a look at the following picture from the film which was made back then of what is today one of the nicest hotels in town, the Gresham Palace (Four Seasons).

Four seasons in 1973
Four seasons (Hotel Gresham) in 1973

There are lots of clips like the one above that is interesting, but you should be warned that the first 10 minutes are most interesting, because after that they start to sing a lot and you do not get to see as much of Budapest anymore.

And one more thing… it is often just as interesting to notice what you can not see as what you can see. Lots of buildings present today can not be seen in the video, you can see cars driving on the area which is the Danube Promenade today, and so much more. Enjoy the film and watch it.

Welcome to Budapest
This statue welcomed you to Budapest in 1973

It is supposed to be available all across the world, but if you should have problems watching NRK from abroad, just press the link to get help.

Appearance and Reality – Short film from Budapest

Are you showing your real feeling? Take a look at this amazing four minute short film made by Elena Rogova és Zsenya Pavlenko, the Amix Film Studio. The title is Appearance and Reality.

The scene for the film is Budapest and in the film you can see the Margaret Bridge, the Chain Bridge and the Hungarian Parliament clearly.

Appearance and Reality – Screenshot

Appearance and Reality
Appearance and Reality – Screenshot from the film

Here you can see a screenshot from the film in which you can see how the child truly shows his feelings, while the adults make an appearance, while the reality of their feelings shows something completely different. Enjoy the film, and if you like it, share this article and let more people see the film!

Some pictures from the Christmas market in 2014

One evening not so long ago we visited the Christmas market in Budapest at the Vorosmarty square. Of course we made some photos, though not the best ones, but why not share them with all of you out there, who unfortunately could not come to Budapest to visit the Christmas market this year.

Take a look at the pictures, and maybe you can come to Budapest next year instead to enjoy the Christmas fairs then? As soon as we get the dates for the Christmas market in 2015, we will post them here to our Budapest blog.

Christmas fair in Budapest
Christmas fair in Budapest
The most popular market at Vörösmarty square
The most popular market at Vörösmarty square
Beautiful decorations and lights
Beautiful decorations and lights
Budapest Christmas Market 2014 2
Lots of nice stuff to be bought at the market
Budapest Christmas Market
Christmas market at Vörösmarty square

Budapest panorama pictures

Budapest is as we know one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Here you can see some Budapest panorama pictures taken recently.

At the pictures you can see Budapest panorama pictures made by the Danube, near the Grand Market Hall, towards the Elisabeth Bridge from the Pest side and one panorama picture taken in direction of the Chain Bridge.

Just enjoy the pictures, and if you feel like, share and like this article on social media sites.

Not night yet, but getting dark in Budapest
Not night yet, but getting dark in Budapest
Budapest panorama
Panorama picture taken from the Gellert Hill
The Elisabeth Bridge
The Elisabeth Bridge
The Market Hall and the inner ring
The Market Hall and the inner ring
Hungarian Parliament
Not panorama, but too beautiful to skip… the Hungarian parliament.

Three beautiful Budapest wallpapers

Would you like to get a feeling of joy every time you look at your Windows wallpaper? Maybe get a feeling of love, longing or beauty? Then check out these three beautiful Budapest wallpapers which we offer you totally for free, all you need to do is to share this page on Facebook, Google+ or on Twitter.

If you share this page you will get to see small versions of the beautiful wallpapers together with their download links. So you can then simply download all three wallpapers, or if you have one favorite, download that one and add it as your Windows wallpaper. We can guarantee you that it will spice up your Windows background, especially if you are still going with the boring Windows default wallpapers. To change your background in Windows 7, follow these instructions.

Three beautiful Budapest wallpapers

[sociallocker id=”7474″]Budapest wallpaper 1

Daily life in Budapest wallpaper
Budapest Windows background 4
A nice tunnel in Budapest
Budapest windows background
Budapest panorama

By clicking the pictures you will be sent to the full size version which you can save to your computer. The easiest way of setting a pictures as your Windows desktop background is to right click the full resolution size version of the picture and press “Set As Desktop Background.” [/sociallocker]

These background, Windows wallpapers, are of high quality, but not fantastic quality, meaning that if you have a desktop resolution higher than 1280*768, they might look a bit blurry. But, hopefully you will be able to enjoy them anyway!