Troubadours Tour: First Stop in Budapest
The first leg of the Eastern Europe adventures of the Toubadours Tour!
3 weeks ago we landed in the Hungarian capital, after a 2-day bus tour from London with Flixbus, foregoing our plans to visit the UK & Ireland and fast-tracking to feed our hunger for Hungary & the East!
❔DID YOU KNOW❔
Budapest encompasses the two ancient cities of Buda & Pest, each on either side of the larger river pictured, the Danube, which runs a large stretch of the East of the continent.
🎻 MUSIC 🎻
Hungary has some wonderful traditional music, particularly a characteristic violin-playing style, which we sampled when we visited a "tanchaz" or folk-ball (vlog upcoming!). The Jewish and Rom (Gypsy) communities have all thrived and shared their music as well here, as we heard lilting from authentic national restaurants in the city.
🍲 FOOD 🍲
Hungary is actually very famous for paprika 🌶! This tangent, peppery spice different from chili pepper is a staple in Hungarian cooking - characterising the famous "goulash" (gulacs), as well as "paprikash". I love it - how about you? It's a different variety to the one you'll find in a Spanish "paella".
👉 They also serve around a lot of "sourcream" (tejfol) as well my FAVOURITE THING: "nokedli", mini egg and dough dumplings, not too different from pasta!
🍦 For dessert, they have a wonderful thing known as "chimney cake" (kurtokaclasc), a hollow spiralled cake in the shape of a chimney, which can be civered in cinnamon, flaked with pistachio or filled with ice cream! 😋
Apart from enjoying walks by the Danube, the historical monuments were very impressive, as well as the uniquely-styled churches. We stayed in a very fun old apartment block with an open courtyard and an old-fashioned lift with closing shutters I've only seen in old movies! 🎬
💚
HIGH POINT
though was the infamous "thermal baths" of the city, springing from natural hot pools underneath. For €9 (£7) - OR 3600 in the local "forint"- enjoy an all-day natural spa of varying temperatures going up to 38°C 🔥 Soooooooo relaxing... best to cool of afterwards with a chimney cake ice cream 🍦
