Ádám Fellegi piano artist's House concert

Ádám Fellegi is one of the most well-known Hungarian piano artists and he has been providing many of us with a unique program. His speciality is giving special house concerts - ring the bell, go upstairs, chat with him and enjoy his performance seated in his living room. 

We said performance, and we mean it. It is not purely like listening to a composer's masterpiece (the plays change every few months) - it is getting involved in the world of that music.

Luca Day - 13 december - Witchspotting and asking for love hints from pigs

Luca did not bring presents, but punished

Eastern Central Europe is a place where Drakula and other scary faces feel at easy - woods, gloomy weather, medieval castles... So considering this, you won't be surprised to read that we have a very famous witch in Hungary, namely Luca. Her figure got mixed up with that of Saint Lucia, the bride of Jesus who lived in Syracusa - and from this not very usual fusion many entertaining and creepy folk traditions and superstitions were born...

First Christmas mood in Budapest- by expat Amrit Chima

 Vörösmarty Tér:
the crowd drinking mulled wine

It’s getting cold here now and the days are becoming shorter and shorter. With only a wink of daylight before the sun dips back below the horizon around 4 in the afternoon, I’m left shivering in the dark beneath my down jacket. But although many grumble about it, I love these wintry days; I head to my favorite café on Andrássy út, to my cozy corner table where I write and meet friends.

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #10 - Museum of Applied Arts

We are at number 10 with the Art Nouveau treasures around in town - this time we visit the Museum of Applied Art, a beauty on the ugly square of Corvin Negyed. Our favourite master, Ödön Lechner and Franz Joseph the "gipsy emperor" are important figures. And breaking news: the cupola of the cupola has been removed recently due to endangering passersby by falling into pieces...

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #9 - Postal Savings Bank

Postal Savings Bank- currently the Hungarian Treasury

Simply the building with the most beautiful roof in Budapest...

Let's see the history of the building and the mastermind of architect behind it!

Hungarian wedding and logic - by expat Amrit Chima

Homemade apricot pálinka with homemade tomato juice.
Beyond the table,

There’s been so much movement and sway this past year (as always). I didn’t even see it coming: Daniel and my one-year wedding anniversary.

Just like that it was upon us, a shocking reminder of how rapidly we’re propelled forward through time. Wasn’t I just moving from New York

to prepare for the wedding? Wasn’t I just enduring an onslaught of photographers surrounding me in the reception hall while I danced to Punjabi bhangra music holding a Hungarian paprika keychain in myhand?....

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #8 - Hungarian National Bank

Some will argue - is the National Bank really Art nouveau style? Hmm, yes and no. There are some parts which definitely bear the mark and anyway, it was high time we talked about this important building! 

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #7 - Erzsébet Town Community House

Ever raised your head in Wesselényi street while strolling from one ruin bar to the other? It is really worth it, shoemaker's ghosts inhabit the area around this yellow red Art Nouveau wonder...

For the inexperienced visitor, the sign saying "Capital City Shoemakers’s Guild" may be misleading. Yet, in these parts one had better get used to signs hiding not quite what they read.


 

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #6 - Róth Miksa Memorial House

 The Róth Miksa Memorial Building was closed for August but now it is open again. Oddly, more foreigners are visiting it than Hungarian - Róth Miksa's glassworks and mosaics are world-famous and the memorial house reveals a lot about this artist and his life.

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #5 - Lokál Ruin bar, ex-Mumus

This week's Art Nouveau Wonder leads us into the Jewish district, the disctrict with th ruin bars...Lokál does not seem amazing at first view, but it has a story full with legends and apart from having a nice beer there, you will feel the need to discover more and more...

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #4 - Hotel Gellért

We love Art Nouveau - this is why we reveal you regularly a story behind a famous building. 

photo: Prof. Ryan james

Hotel Gellért has always been  a pioneer... Long time a back, a monk living in the cave advised virgins on sexual and moral questions... Later it became a benchmark for Hungarian hotel business with its services,,, And would you have thought it had pioneering antiracist ideas? A 'black' noble man entered the spa and the 'white' guests were shocked and wanted him to leave. The spa's response was this: 'everyone can enjoy Gellért Spa's curing effects, regardless to skin colour!'

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #3- Art Nouveau House

In this house, from the decoration of the facade, the arrangement of the interior, through the forms of the furniture, the colours of the stained glass to the graceful female figures on the lamps, Art Nouveau fills everything.

Emil Vidor, a student of Ybl, inspired by Belgian Art Nouveau and German Jugendstil, designed mansions villas and houses for the elite. He combined the craft of European masters with Hungarian, historicist elements. As many other architects of the time, he liked to apply Zsonay majolicas for decoration.

Hungarians do not smile but have nice Basilicas - by expat Amrit Chima

The Primatial Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Assumed Into Heaven and St Adalbert

Daniel took me away from the city to Esztergom.

The city is 28 miles northwest of Budapest where the Danube snakes west toward Austria, forming a natural border between Hungary and Slovakia. From the tenth to mid-thirteenth centuries, Esztergom was the country’s capital and is now the center for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Not much of a shock, then, that the highlight of our trip was a visit to the city’s church, which is also the tallest building in Hungary—The Primatial Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed Into Heaven and St. Adalbert.

I prefer to simply call it The Basilica.

Valley of Arts - a different festival on the Hungarian Mediterrenean

Summer is festival time here in Hungary. There is barely a free weekend to take a beer and chill out in Budapest, since there is always a friend calling you with the tent on her/his back already, ready to convince you to accompany him/her on the train trip to the chosen festival, to reduce your alimentation to beer and hotdog for a few days, to make short dreams in a sleeping bag, to dance in one second to techno and in the next one to heavy rock and to return back with a few things lost, hair in rasta and unknown numbers in your phone...

....................do you feel like escaping?

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #2 - Paris Department Store

You might have come across already one of budapestUNDERGUIDE's Art Nouveau programs (http://szecesszio.eu/en), taken part on a free walk on Saturdays or you might have found one of the treasures on the Urban Geocache game. To get you in the turn of century mood, we will publish from now on regularly something about Art Nouveau, Liberty, Modernismo, Secession, or whatever you might call it in your language.

This week, we will tell you about the Paris Department Store - it is a must-see with its Lotz-room!

Let's swim in the Danube in front of the Parliament!

Let’s reclaim the banks of the Danube in Budapest! - our special proposal, a wonderful initiative:

Would you believe that there used to be a swimming pool in front of the Parliament in
Budapest and everybody was allowed to jump into the Danube? Which animal living in the
river do you think was believed to give magical male power that helps the husband perform
his marital duties? Who were the Danube water sellers? What does a street artist can create
out of two white boxes? Where can you lie down on a giant deckchair in the city center on the
riverbank? If you are curious to find out the answers and want to be amazed by the treasures
the city holds during a lovely walk in downtown, Duna Tanösvény (Danube River Trail) is
waiting for you until the 3rd of October.

Art Nouveau Wonders in Budapest #1- Philantia Flower Shop

Philantia Shop window

You might have come across already one of budapestUNDERGUIDE's Art Nouveau programs (http://szecesszio.eu/en), taken part on a free walk on Saturdays or you might have found one of the treasures on the Urban Geocache game. To get you in the turn of century mood, we will publish from now on regularly something about Art Nouveau, Liberty, Modernismo, Secession, or whatever you might call it in your language.

This week, we have Philantia, a little jewelry box on the menu.

Budapest's Eclectic Mix by Amrit Chima

My life in June was relatively uneventful, as is appropriate for this time of year here in Hungary. Not only did Daniel and I spend another two exhausting weeks scrambling to get into our apartment, but we’ve just entered the inertia of “cucumber season”. It’s precisely as many people here have warned: the most exciting event worth reporting is that the cucumbers have begun to ripen…and by how much. Throngs have fled the city after enduring the monotony of their jobs for yet another year (as we in the U.S. are all too familiar with). And although there is an influx of tourists, thickening around festival hotspots, the streets still seem quieter than usual. Though I sometimes feel that I should attend some of these festivals—by missing them surely I’m cheating myself out of an opportunity to fully experience this place—the truth is that we collapsed into our new home with fervor. We didn’t go out except for necessities, instead enjoying books, documentaries, and wine. Friends came to us.

Urban Geocache – Art Nouveau Treasure Hunt

urban geocache - art nouveau treasure hunt

Treasure hunting is cooler than ever - pirates, adventurers and small children have been venturing day by day on new quests in search of that pot of gold, that secret ingredient or the favorite chocolate of theirs. The 21^st century hype, the Geogaching games have revived the excitement of the true outdoor treasure hunts' excitement.

Wine, Lakes, Normafa - Expat enjoys Hungary :)

Hey magyar readers! ever wondering how expats see us? So read Amrit's articles, where she tells about her life in Budapest -this time she takes us on on excursion outside of town.

So. I wasn’t exactly ready for what May brought.

Sadly, I spent May consumed by what was happening in our apartment. Obsessed with each stage—scraping away the old walls, plastering, plastering again, sanding, door detailing, primering, painting, and finally delivery of new appliances—Daniel and I had little time or energy remaining for socializing or exploring. We managed a

Budapest Underground Partyguide - May, the big turning point

There are some regular turning points in everyone's life. Such things are for example birthdays when people become one year older and at least a hundred percent wiser. Another turning point in many people's life is the beginning of a new year which is quite often the beginning of a 'new life'. Or just think about final exams at school which are just the perfect symbols of freedom.
One regular turning point for Budapest Nightlife is surely May. This is the time, when step by step open-air bars just 'conquer' the city. 'Regular parties' are organised more randomly, and there is an always growing possibility that you'll find the greatest night somewhere out.
Still, for this weekend we collected for you some of those 'regular parties' - enjoy them until you can :)