Let the Festivals Begin...!

Many festivals grace the sands of our beautiful country, and with summer fast approaching it is time to start preparing! Here a few of Underguide's favorite festivals...!

Budapest Pálinka Festival 10th-13th May, 2012

The Hunyadi Court in Buda Castle plays host to the spring Pálinka Festival the aim of which is to introduce high-quality Hungarian fruit brandies, pálinka in Hungarian, to both locals and tourists.

Musical programs, concerts enhance the atmosphere during the 4-day event.

This year the focus will be on pálinkas made from apricot.

Daily tickets: 2 000 HUF includes a tasting glass, 4-day pass (includes a tasting glass): 5 500 HUF.

Opening hours: Thurs-Fri: 14.00-02.00, Sat-Sun: 14.00-24.00

More information: Budapest Pálinka Fesztivál

Hungarian House of Photography - The embassy of our nation's photographers

Hungarians are everywhere, and amongst the best... We do like to believe this here in the Carpatian basin and in the case of photography this sentence gets quite close to the truth: World wide famous camera holders were born here...

Did you know that Robert Capa's surname means shark in Hungarian (Cápa)? Or did you know that it was the Hungarian photographer Martin Munkácsi to inspire Bresson to start shooting pictures?

Get to know closer everything about Hungarain photography now and then on the English speaking lecture series at the Hungarian House of Photography (Mai Manó Ház).

Ladies with pearls - Ferenciek tere (square)

Ferenciek tere, a beautiful square right in the heart of Budapest.

If this place had to be person, it would certainly be a noble lady. The elegant shapes, frolic curves and  ornaments of the lofty buildings hide even more surprise inside than the fancy decoration on the facades. Modern integrates perfectly into the old style as the light, steel arcs of the snow-white suspension bridge extend over the Danube.      

Let me introduce you to the twin ladies posing on the two sides of the road, Klotild and Matild. Klotild to the south and Matild to the north are perfectly symmetric images of each other. Their names are half real and half part of urban imagination. The land where the two buildings stand now was bought by Archduchess and Princess Clotilde (precisely Marie Adelheid Amalie Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). She imagined a magnificent gateway to the Elisabeth Bridge; the two buildings, as graceful ladies, welcome people crossing by. The glass paintings are the masterpieces of the Róth Miksa atelier, the one that prepared the glass windows of the House of Parliament, of the Gresham Palace or the National Bank. The towers are topped by the Archduke's crown. 

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!

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 #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 #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.

Changing the world in a coffehouse - about our springtime national holiday

15th March, our national holiday in spring has presented us this year with a 4 day long weekend. Very thoughtful and kind of a holiday. Thanks.

Also very thoughtful of google to adorn its logo for this occasion - even if it is rather ugly...

Dive into Darkness at the invisible exhibition

The lights go out, total darkness falls on you. You hold the hand of your partner, and continuously bump into things and people. You hear voices but do not know from where they come from, and even finding the door of the room looks impossible...

No, it is not the end of the world, it is just the experience of the first 5 minutes in the Invisible Exhibition where we become blind for an hour, and realize the interesting things it does to our senses. And yep, it is fun!

First of all I have to assure you it is not so bad as it sounds. I almoast gave up before enetering, but the blind guiders assured me they can get me out in 10 seconds from the

The photo which inspired Bresson to photograph - Martin Munkácsi

http://fotobibliografica.ca/media/Munkacsi_Tanganyika.jpg

In 1932, the young Henri Cartier-Bresson, at the time an undirected photographer who catalogued his travels and his friends, saw the Munkácsi photograph Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika, taken on a beach in Liberia. Cartier-Bresson later said, "For me this photograph was the spark that ignited my enthusiasm. I suddenly realized that, by capturing the moment, photography was able to achieve eternity. It is the only photograph to have influenced me. This picture has such intensity, such joie de vivre, such a sense of wonder that it continues to fascinate me to this day." He paraphrased this many times during his life, including the quotation, "I suddenly understood that photography can fix eternity in a moment. It is the only photo that influenced me. There is such intensity in this image, such spontaneity, such joie de vivre, such miraculousness, that even today it still bowls me over." (wikipedia)

Memento Park - walking among Communist statues and symbols

The Memento Statue Park cannot be really considered a hidden sight, as all the guide books mention it. However, I have encountered many travellers clueless as to whether it is worth paying it a visit finding their location. I used to live close to the Memento Park, so I chatted with these folks on the long bus ride and we shared thoughts about whether communist statues are interesting to look at or not.