Today I am very excited to bring you a new Habitué Host blog segment and for the premiere of our guest blog, I introduce Mr Tipsy Travels 
Mr Tipsy Travels will be an irregular regular feature, (depending on the road warrior’s schedule,) and vary in size according to mood, whim and time…mostly the latter Today, just in time for the Australia Day Long weekend with all those lazy hours for reading, I am thrilled to launch his Book Blog. We hope you enjoy
Hullo from Budapest! I am on a mid-winter’s trip to the Hungarian capital – a trip I wasn’t really looking forward to. My perception going in was that it would be a typical former Soviet bloc, western European country full of drab Soviet era apartment blocks. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Though there are some of the drab buildings coming in from the airport, Budapest itself is a beautiful city of wide boulevards, fantastic buildings and warm delightful people.
Budapest is actually two cities – Buda and Pest (pronounced pesht) divided by the Danube River. Though there were pre-historic Celtic and Roman sites, Budapest was founded in 896 with the arrival of the Magyars.
Buda is on the western side of the river and is home to the Castle District. The Castle District is high on a hill and was the historical home to the Hungarian kings with the first castle being completed in 1265. There is a mixture of Medieval, Baroque and Classicist buildings and one could easily spend an entire day in this area exploring the street, cafes and shops!
The Castle is now home to the Hungarian National Gallery and various other museums. Unfortunately, the Castle sustained massive damage in WWII, but has been rebuilt and looks magnificent.
The other main attraction is St. Matthias church. When strolling from the Castle to St. Matthias, one walks past some delightful buildings, some dating to medieval times.
The 700 year old St. Matthias church sits in Trinity Square and has the most amazing acoustics!
Just a stone’s throw behind the church is the neo-Romanesque Fisherman’s Bastion. This walkway affords wonderful views of the Danube and the Pest side of the city, including the magnificent Houses of Parliament.
The Pest side of the city has wide, tree-lined boulevards, stunning architecture and is home to the second largest Jewish Synagogue in the world. The grand dame of streets in Budapest is Andrássy Avenue. At just over two km’s in length this Avenue is a leafy home to stately mansions, varied styles of grand buildings and is a strollers’ paradise with great shopping and dining options.
At the end of Andrássy Avenue is the Heroes Square. This is where the Soviet tanks rolled in to during the 1956 uprising. The square itself is home to the Millennium Monument erected in 1896 to celebrate Budapest’s 1,000 year anniversary.
On opposite sides of the square are the beautiful Museum of Fine Arts built in 1896 in a Greek Classical style, and the Museum of Modern Art that is housed in a decidedly-non-modern style!
Just behind Heroes Square there is a large city park where we stumbled upon hundreds of children playing hockey outside. It was a gloriously happy sight and one of the favourite finds of us all.
Sitting just being the skating rinks is a re-creation of a Transylvanian castle, which now houses the agricultural museum. The castle is large and quite daunting!
Who knew drinking was so complicated in…, well, anywhere! Here I learned a couple of lessons; you don’t clink glasses of beer and always look the other person in the eyes when saying egészségedre (it sounds like “I shake a tree’) cheers in Hungary.
It seems that when the Hungarians lost a war to the Hapsburgs in 1848, the victors celebrated in Vienna by toasting and clinking large steins of beer. Hungarians vowed not to clink glasses of beer for another 150 years. Well it has been more than 150 years, but the tradition continues.
Hungary is home to Pálinka – a cross between Grappa and a fruit brandy. Served in small glasses, it can either be smooth or it can set your throat on fire. Before downing a glass, one always says egészségedre – a salutation I spoke several times – and paid for the next day as Pálinka is quite potent! Hungary also has a burgeoning wine industry with the outstanding Tokaji dessert wines. The local reds and whites are nothing to write home about, but the Tokaji is fabulous!
As for accommodation, there are many great hotels located along the Danube on the Pest side, close to stores and restaurants. But if you seek room service and a stunning view, the Hilton in the Castle District can’t be beaten. Be forewarned, if you travel to Budapest in winter, the air is cold and moist and it seeps into your bones. Bring a beanie and warm gloves as you will really need to ‘rug up.’
There were way too many sights to include in this blog, however, if in Budapest you should also visit St. Stephen’s Basilica (the patron saint of Hungary), Chain Bridge, the Great Market Hall and the House of Parliament building. And for dining…there is a wide variety of food, but local dishes are heavy on pork, potatoes and duck liver paté. The New York Café is one of the oldest restaurants in Budapest and is definitely a must do!
I want to end this blog reflecting on a more sombre note as some aspects of Budapest’s history can never be forgotten. During the bitterly cold winter of 1944/1945, Budapest was occupied by the Nazi forces. An offshoot, the Arrow Cross militiamen forced approximately 3,500 people (800 who were Hungarian Jews) to disrobe in the cold along the banks of the Danube where they were then executed with their bodies falling into the river to wash away. There is a very haunting memorial to these victims – the ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank‘ Memorial. There are 60 pairs of rusted shoes made from iron along the banks of the Danube just north of the Chain Bridge. These shoes represent the victims in a simple, but very powerful, way. To this day, many of the shoes have either pebbles or flowers placed in them by family to signify the birthday of the relative who fell victim to the Nazi reign. More than anything else I saw; this is the one vision that will stick with me.
Budapest is a truly wonderful city and well worth a visit. I know I will return sometime soon, this time with Tipsy in tow. If you are like me and enjoy history and architecture in the spectacular backdrop that is Europe, you will be in heaven!
Till next time.
Mr Tipsy Travels
PS. Wishing everyone a fabulous fun Australia Day long weekend. I’m sure Australia will be a feature soon!