New Year's Budapest
Going to celebrate the New Year in Budapest, we thought not only about visiting one of the most beautiful European
cities, which combines different styles of architecture, where the largest Parliament in Europe is located, the most
a large synagogue, the first underground metro on the continent, but also because it is in Budapest that there are a huge number of thermal springs.
One of the largest thermal centers in Europe is located on Margaret Island in Budapest. There are three thermal springs with mineral water on the island. The island itself is a national park, where only two hotels are located - Danubius Health Spa Resort Margitsziget and Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget. We chose the Grand Hotel, which was built in 1873, completely renovated in 2000. The thermal complex itself is located in the Health Spa Resort, but you can get there without any problems through a heated underground passage (without leaving the hotel) - directly to the thermal pools.
The Grand Hotel is a very nice hotel, with good rooms (we got one with a balcony), safe, tea/coffee making facilities, bathrobes. The wait staff is polite and speaks English. Assortment for breakfast, perhaps, as everywhere. The coffee is very decent and lots of fruit. The contingent in the hotel - mostly elderly Germans, Dutch, British. There are few Russians.
Now about the thermal center - everyone uses the pools for free. The pools are just amazing. One pool with thermal water, jacuzzi, just a swimming pool. The water in the thermal pool is just hot (more than 15 minutes is not recommended). In addition, sauna, aroma and Turkish baths, solarium, gym.
You can get from the island to the "mainland" either by using a taxi (I personally do not recommend it, and it's not just about money), by bus number 26, which runs through the entire island (the nearest stop not far from is the Arpad bridge), by tram number 2 from the Parliament building or by tram number 1, again from the Á rpá d bridge. But it is better, of course, on foot. Especially if the weather is good. It takes 25-30 minutes to go to the Margate bridge. Having reached the Margate bridge, another 15 minutes - and you are at the Parliament, and this is already the center. Or - 5 minutes to the Arpad bridge and two stops by tram number 1 to the metro station
Each city has its own "set of attractions", which are recommended to visit all travel guides.
In Budapest, number 1 is, of course, the Parliament, which was created according to the type of the famous Westminster Abbey. You need to look at it from the side of the Buddha. Excursions are held in the Parliament itself (including in Russian, though 2 times a week),
entrance ticket - 2640 forints (1000 forints approximately 38 UAH)
No. 2 - St. Stephen's Basilica, the dome of which is visible from almost anywhere in the city. The basilica houses the hand of St. Stephen, the main shrine for all believing Hungarians. If you want to climb to the very top of the basilica to look at the most beautiful panoramas of the city, you will have to pay about 600 forints.
No. 3 - Chain Bridge or Lion, because the entrance to it is guarded by lions, it was the first permanent bridge that connected Buda and Pest. It is best to look at it in the evening in the backlight. In general, Budapest is the city that really opens up in the evening, against the backdrop of the descending night.
No. 4 - Heroes' Square, a must-see for all tourists. The statue of the archangel Gabriel rises above
square on a high column (in 1900 in Paris, this figure received the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition). hungarian kings,
statesmen and princes lined up in semicircles of the colonnade.
No. 5 - Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church. The Fisherman's Bastion is a monument to the guild of fishermen who
were trading. Currently, this is an excellent observation deck, it is from here that a great view of the Budapest Parliament opens. Matthias Church has always held services in honor of the ascension to the throne of kings. Here
Franz Joseph and his wife Elizabeth were crowned.
No. 6 - Szé chenyi Baths, the most famous and affordable baths. You can spend the whole day here Entrance tickets - about 3000
HUF for the whole day (the price differs depending on how long you plan to stay in the baths).
These sights, which are called "must have", without which no sightseeing tour of Budapest can do, something that always remains on the films of all cameras of all tourists from all countries and cities of the world.
But of course there are those streets and those places in Budapest that everyone discovers for themselves. And that's why
you need to walk around Budapest on your own, without tour groups, without fear of getting lost.
New Year's Budapest is all in lights, on the shopping and tourist street Vaci and Veresmarty Square are Christmas and
new year's fairs. Lots of knick-knacks, souvenirs and FOOD!! ! Right on the street on an open fire, meat is roasted, famous
Hungarian sausages, goulash, pizzas, sweets, mulled wine, grog. The smells are such that it is simply impossible to pass by.
You succumb to the general excitement and right on the street, on rough benches at the same simple tables, you gobble up all this variety as the most exquisite dish.
In general, the national Hungarian cuisine, in fact, is one of the most famous and is considered one of the best - it takes
third place after France and Italy. The most famous dish of Hungarian cuisine is goulash, a thick meat soup with paprika. Perkelt - the same as goulash, only pieces of meat are pre-fried. Paprikash - the same as perkelt only with sour cream. In general, for meat lovers here is just a paradise. It is no coincidence that even in Duty Free at Ferihegi Airport, in addition to everything that is sold in all duty free - alcohol, sweets, wines, they also sell the famous Hungarian salami. And here it does not lie too long, almost all the departing people pull two or three sticks of salami in carts.
Anyone who is at least a little interested in cooking, probably knows the name Karoly Gundel - a Hungarian restaurateur. And before
all thanks to the famous Gundel pancakes with nut filling and chocolate-rum sauce, which, when served, are doused with rum and set on fire. These pancakes, by the way, are served not only in the restaurant "Gundel", which is one of the hundred best restaurants in the world (the prices there are appropriate - a modest dinner for one with wine is about 100 euros), but also in many "more modest" restaurants.
As for desserts and other sweets, in Budapest their choice is huge. Delicious pastries - the famous Sacher cake, Esterhazy, apple strudel in the Gerbeau confectionery (located on Vereshmarty Square). This is one of the largest and most famous cafes in Europe. In the evenings, to get to the cafe, you even need to stand in line for a bit, those who want the sea, there is not a single empty seat. They also go to "Gerbaud" to look at the luxurious interior - chandeliers, wall cladding made of precious wood, furniture.
Another cafe that is simply impossible not to visit is the New York Cafe. This is just a luxurious cafe, in the style of French art nouveau, frescoed ceiling, mirrors, columns, marble and bronze lining. Located on Erzsé bet Street (nearest metro station Blaha Lujza).
Another thing worth mentioning when talking about the cuisine of Hungary is the famous Tokaj wines. Tokay Native is especially appreciated - dry, semi-dry and sweet; Tokai Asu and Asu Essence. Among red wines, the most popular wine is "Bull's Blood". On the Buddha Hill, not far from the Matthias Church, there is the House of Hungarian Wines, where you can buy wine.
Personally, Budapest leaves the most pleasant memories for me; prices here are much lower than in other European cities; cuisine, one of the best; there are plenty of places to go and things to see; the same thermal baths - Szé chenyi, Gellert, Rudas, what other city can boast of this.
