BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, Tuesday 23rd August 2022
I know ‘these are a few of our favourite things’ is a line from the Sound of Music, set in Austria rather than Hungary, but today was a day that we each got to do our favourite thing. (Also I have been singing Sound of Music songs since we were in Austria, much to Dave’s annoyance).
Following a fairly average and deliberately small hotel breakfast, I headed south toward the river on foot and Dave headed north, in a Bolt taxi. It was our first ‘alone time’ on the trip which might seem like a good idea after 10 straight days together 24/7, but Dave driving off into the unknown did worry me a little!
As you can probably guess my activity involved food! Today’s adventure was a ‘Taste Tour of Budapest’ and started at 9.30am in the Central Market Hall where I met my guide Marika and the two other participants, a young man from Manila and a woman from Tel Aviv who was perhaps a little older then me.
The tour began with a good look around Budapest’s main market which is quite close the the centre of Pest (the city on the north side of the river – Buda is on the south). It is the most amazing neo-gothic building built in 1897, with three floors filled with a fabulous array of stall holders. The top floor holds market cafes, canteens and souvenir shops; the main floor meat, fruit and vegetables and delis; and downstairs was the fish and pickles – the smell hidden well below ground!
Our first taste of the tour was Langos, which is bread dough, fried in hot oil and sprinkled with garlic. Who wouldn’t love fried salty bread!
We also tasted a range of salamis and Hungarian sausages (kolbasz), all super flavoursome and most with a strong hint of paprika which, according to Marika, is in pretty much every Hungarian dish. I gave the horse salami a miss ? but particularly liked the ‘winter salami’ made from pork and heavily spiced then air dried and slowly smoked over a few weeks.
Before we left the market we also tasted some truffle honey and truffle oil, a variety of pickles and of course some paprika – sweet; spicy; and then a smoked version of each.
Thankfully the weather has cooled off a bit over the last couple of days and so waking through the streets with our guide and companions was very pleasant. She explained not only foodie things but also a little of the history, politics and architecture as we passed by churches, universities, shops and some very old and beautiful buildings.
Next stop was a butcher that had been turned into a restaurant. It sold lots of typical Hungarian lunch foods that were served on plates with cutlery, but eaten at high tables without seats. This was apparently quite common in eating places built during communist times (up until 1989), as the then government didn’t want people sitting down to eat and having time to discuss ways to overthrow them! Marika chose five dishes for us to share:
- Fried pork and potatoes with pickled cabbage
- Ratatouille with bacon
- Pork stew with potatoes
- Pickle assortment
- Hazi (sausage) with mustard and horseradish
I like them all but, unexpectedly, the Pork stew was probably my favourite.
Can you believe that our next tasting experience before midday was at a bar? For the first time (and possibly the last) I tasted Plum Brandy – served icy cold in a shot glass. Apparently it aids digestion…
Of course our last eating experience on the tour needed to be sweet and so we walked (remember my ‘walk lots, eat lots’ rule!) to a famous Budapest coffee house. I gave up coffee years ago, but decided to be social and joined the others in a cappuccino. We shared four types of cake, I can’t remember what they all were, but my favourite was the Kremes – which was basically custard slice ?
Dave’s morning was in stark contrast to mine, with a visit to the Railway Museum of Hungary. Apart from a difficult start trying to get a seniors entry rate, he loved checking out all sorts of rail stuff (technical word 😉 ) including cars on railway wheels, pre-WW1 locomotives, a ‘dissident wagon’, snow ploughs and soviet-era electric diesels.
Our afternoon was spent together walking, but given how much I had already consumed, not eating! We walked over four kms (thanks apple watch for keeping track) down to and along the Danube to a funicular next to the Buda Castle. We both love a funicular ride and think we are now going to start a list on the number of funiculars we have visited) 3000 Florins ($A10 each) for the short ride to the top, but well worth it for the fabulous views over the river and the city 🙂
We have a very early (4am) start tomorrow to get to the Airport, so dinner was extremely simple and all bought from Aldi, eaten picnic style in our room. A slice of surprisingly good pizza for me, a bread roll for Dave, and we both had a yoghurt as well.
Im hoping for a good nights sleep but am wondering if this is a city of drama, or if there is a crime spree? There are constantly sirens blaring. Not just run of the mill sirens, but unusual ones. Some eee-orr, some wah wah wah, some even build slowly to a crescendo. I’m not sure which siren is for which emergency service, but they certainly must all be kept pretty busy! I’m very glad the room windows are double glazed.
Next stop Skopje, North Macedonia 🙂
(With apologies to those who now have ‘Sound of Music’ songs on replay in their brain 😉 )