Flashback Friday: Budapest Food and Churches

We're still in Budapest (2014) and of course my beloved would find a car to admire. This is a Trabant which is a car manufactured in East Germany and my own personal car expert has said it's got a two stroke engine and is made of a cotton and resin product called duroplast. There are a lot of them in Budapest so Ken was in seventh heaven checking out the classic cars.

Me with shorter hair and the city behind me.

This is what the street signs looked like  - it's not an easy language to pronounce or understand.

A couple of the more political and historical statues that dot the city.

There are lots of markets in Budapest. This was a small one that we found and it had lots of interesting stalls including lots of chillies which are very popular. It was also where I snatched a scarf out from under the nose of another Australian. I'd been admiring a scarf from afar and as I headed towards it a fellow Aussie picked it up to admire it - when she put it down to look at another I quickly grabbed it and bought it before she knew what was happening.

This little lady was selling dolls near one of the churches we visited - she's got a beautiful face and smile.

This man was displaying this bird of prey - I felt really sorry for the bird as it was a really warm day and there were lots of tourists milling around.

On a high point on the Buda side of the city is the beautiful Matthias Church which was built in the mid 13th century under the orders of King Bela IV. During the Turkish occupation of Buda the church was turned into a mosque until the city was regained over 100 years later by Christian troops. It's a bit like the city itself, it has had many different cultures rule it.

The inside of the church is stunningly beautiful with patterns and paintings everywhere - it's definitely not plain like the inside of lots of Scottish churches.

We did an open top bus tour of the city as I always find that they are a really useful way of learning a lot about a place in a short space of time, and you can get on and off whenever you like. This is Heroes Square which has the tomb of the unknown soldier in the centre of it - the grave that represents all Hungarian solders killed in war who are unidentified or missing.

I've included this photo as I think it's actually a couple of hungarian words that most of us can read and understand (or is that just me).

At the end of the Vaci Utca, the main tourist street, there was a really great food court full of stalls cooking and selling all sorts of things. One thing there wasn't a shortage of was meat, so thank goodness this was in our pre vegetarian days!!

What we ended up having - it was nicer than it looks.

This man walked past with his dog in his bag - the dog looks a bit like an ewok in Star Wars.

This stall was selling giant pretzels, all with different flavoured coatings. I'd never had a pretzel this big so of course we had to buy one to share.

We went for one with chocolate sprinkles all over it.

In the middle of all the food stalls there was a little stage and we were entertained whilst we sat and ate our dinner. These two guys were really good and actually sang some of their songs in English.

One of the unusual foods that we discovered were chimney cakes, or Kürtoskalács. They are cooked on a spit over coals and then covered with a sweet sugar mix or nuts and they are scrummy.

As you can tell we like trying new foods when we're on holiday as it gives you a taste of the country you're visiting, and why go on holiday if you're just going to stick to familiar food.

One of the nights we were in Budapest we went to a classical recital in St Stephen's Basilica which is the grandest church in the city.

It's another thing that we like to do if we can, having been to concerts in churches in Croatia, Barcelona, and of course the UK. The architects of sacred buildings know what they're doing when it comes to acoustics and the sound is amazing. The inside of the Basilica is incredibly ornate with decorations everywhere.

On our way back to the hotel after the concert we stopped in a bar for a drink and we really liked this wall of clocks that catered to many different nationalities.

That's it for today and there is one Budapest flashback to go. Look out for it as it will feature me driving a car, which for those that know me is a very rare event.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and this week try a food you've never tried before.

Pamela & Ken
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