Budapest And Beyond Savouring Foods And Wines

I always enjoy going to Budapest, a two hour plus flight from Paris, for the foods and wines and other reasons. Last week, I wanted to go beyond to the pretty Lake Balaton area for an unusual thermal lake.

Whereas my last two winter visits were so cold that the Danube had frozen into huge chunks of ice, this time it was sizzling hot!

In some ways, Budapest reflects the same extremes in its architecture.  Beautiful rich rococo Baroque facades from her Austro Hungarian Empire days sandwiched amongst stark looking old Soviet occupation buildings.

Since the fall of Berlin wall in 1989, Budapest has since bloomed largely into a vibrant city celebrating its colourful Magyar culture.

Many older Hungarians still have a guarded reticence in opening up to foreigners, leftover survival instincts during Soviet occupation times.

The younger ones are friendly and relish practicing English with you. The older ones may speak some German and Russian, but rarely English or French.

Trying to figure out Hungarian words, much less pronounce them is fruitless, bearing absolutely zero similarity to any latin languages.

Wanting to take advantage of the good weather, albeit very hot, we walked 8 to 10 plus kilometers each day exploring parts of the city not seen before.

I think hitting the pavement is the best way to get a feel of the energy and see the integrity of a  city, rather than riding on tour buses, which is not my thing.

Our cute renovated Airbnb apartment was in an old classified building with a lovely black lace wrought iron wide staircase, very tall ceilings, and a balcony facing a huge main thoroughfare.

The beautiful elegant building with carvings and frescos across the avenue from our baroque balcony now housed a bank, but I was intrigued to consider its past history.

I enjoyed taking my morning coffee outside soaking up some sun and in the evenings sipping some of the wonderful Hungarian sparkling wines.

Just down the street was the famous Auguszt Cukrászda  pastry shop, that is one of the best in Budapest, besides Gerbeaud, where we enjoyed some delightful Esterhazy cake, before setting out one morning.

Having arrived on an early evening flight, by the time we had gotten past all those locked gates, it was already after nine. I opted to try out a place bordering Karolyi park,  where I had stayed the last time.

Fortunately, I have a very good memory of the area and it turned out to have a lovely tree-shaded terrace overlooking the park, with a classical ensemble playing in the background.

Saddle of lamb with black and red currents and potato dumplings for me and Aimée had the beef filet with a ratatouille of vegetables, both wonderful!

I chose a little known indigenous grape variety called the Kardaka as wine.  Deeply rich and spicy is was perfect for our main courses.

Next day I wanted to show Aimée central old Pest including  Saint Stephen’s Basilica.

A ride on the huge white Ferris wheel offered some panoramic views of the city, but no sweeping ones of Buda across the Danube.

The Basilica is as ornate as it gets, with marble floors, walls and frescoed ceilings gilded in rococo gold scrolls.  The beautiful dome is resplendent of Byzantine type architecture seen in many churches in Hungary and Austria.

The reliquary holding the right hand of Saint Estván(Stephen) can be “illuminated” by light for a small token.

Swinging back towards our apartment, we passed by the imposingly beautiful Grand Synagogue that I was looking forward to visiting another day.

One of the major reasons I love going to Budapest is the variety of superb thermal baths, that the city has all over at very reasonable prices.

In freezing winter months, I found myself wanting to go all the time, but soaring temperatures this time changed all of that.

I tossed my plans of taking in a thermal bath a day, as the very hot weather, dulled any desires of being immersed in warm water, however bubbly.

If anything, the Ice Bar was drawing more of my attention than any hot water. Budapest is generally much hotter than Paris during the summer months.

I also negated taking in any museums, or the immense Parliament building this trip, preferring to just take advantage of being able to walk around with ease, except for thirst.

Margaret Island, in the middle of the fast flowing Danube, is 2.5 kilometers long and is the largest park in Budapest.

It made for an excellent cooling getaway, away from the bustling noise of the city, filled with chirping birds, a Japanese garden, a few church ruins, and shady tree line lanes throughout for contemplation.

There are two thermal baths, one huge with multiple outdoor pools, and the other between two very posh and elegant hotels.

Going to the grand central market is a must each trip, a visual feast for the eyes and showcase of the very best of Hungarian foods.

Being a land locked country,  the glories of Hungarian cuisine are tilted more towards meats, soups, and goulash stews, pancakes, dumplings and variations of Hungarian pinched noodles, which are excellent.

Ducks and geese are plentiful, along with foie gras, some of which is also exported to France to meet the immense demands of French gourmets.

The Hungarians love crunchy fried goose and duck skins, as well as pork, called “tepertö”, and they are all addictive!

They were selling duck and goose skins for home cooks to make your own.  I have tried it and those cracklings can easily become blistering hot projectiles, flying out of the pan of melted goose fat all over the kitchen!

Fortunately, I found a Serbian store that makes fresh ones in Paris.  Serbia shares part of a southern border with Hungary.

The Hungarians excel in pastries too, from cakes to flaky strudels, filled with poppy seeds, walnuts, apricots, cherries, plums, or savory ones filled with cabbage.

Cherries are the favoured summer fruits and in my humble opinion, the Hungarian varieties are the very best that I have found.

Forget those plump burgundy coloured one, and give me any day the sour “meggy” ones, that look like brilliant round rubies.

They may be considered to be a sour cherry, but to my palate not at all! Instead, they are bursting with the most fantastic cherry  flavour imaginable.

Hungarians use them to make dumplings, strudel and a cold summer soup.  They also make a great accompanying sauce for duck and goose.

For fish better to stick with either the famous fish soup from Lake Balaton or carp, a central European favourite.

I enjoy making a lot of Hungarian foods and pastries chez moi, so I am very exigent when it comes to what I find in restaurants.

For example, the annual birthday cake for my son was the renown Dobos Torta and annual Easter breads are makos and dios kalacs shaped like doves. (poppy seeds, and walnuts).

The very impressive and beautiful Grand Synagogue was the largest one in the world, till outsized by one in New York City, but it remains the largest one in Europe.

I felt drawn to seeing it, knowing the horrendous loss of Hungarians Jews who were deported by the Nazis in World War II.

Close to 600, 000 innocent Hungarians Jews died in the concentration camps or were led to the Danube where they were shot and dumped in the river.

The inside of the synagogue is somewhat unusual because the hired Viennese architects were asked to include some elements one sees in European cathedrals.

There are stain glass rose windows, gothic looking arches, and an immense organ found behind the Ark.

Constructed in 1859, the twin towers topped with onion domes give it a Byzantine Oriental look.  The interior is said to represent Neolog Judaism a Hungarian mild reform movement, that the rest of Europe did not share.

The visit was emotionally touching,  sobering and heart wrenching in the realization of the evil man is capable of inflicting on innocent fellow human beings because of race, religion, or nationality.

This steel sculpture of a weeping willow has engraved names of all Hungarian Jews who died.

The memorial cemetery has the remains of over 2000 Jewish people in 24 common graves.  Family members who were able to identify some of the dead are few, but named in engraved plagues.

There is a central memorial to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who is credited with saving thousands of Jewish lives.

 

Nowadays, only about 50 active members gather for Sabbath services and in the winter the synagogue is closed as it is too big to heat for such a small amount of the faithful.

Although there is a resurgence seen in celebrating  Hungarian Jewish music tradition,   the vast cruel extinction that wiped out over 6 million central European Jews remains a tragic reality that permeates any real hope of substantially reestablishing European Jews as before.

Talented Lucy Braun, seen here with my daughter, still has a warm smile and twinkle in her eyes, despite her frail age.

She survived the Holocaust by escaping from the march to the Danube to be killed with her mother and sister and then hiding out in benevolent Christian families till the end of the war.

This miraculous artist still designs for the plates, textiles, and kippas offered in her tiny shop just outside the entrance to the synagogue.

The surrounding neighborhood is the now very trendy old Jewish quarter full of wine bars and popular restaurants.

An outdoor food court offers high quality street food, from the famous Lagos to chimney cakes, and even vegan food.

The delicious langos is a large puff of dough fried golden brown and smothered with sour cream and cheese with various other toppings.

The chimmey cakes are hollow roulades cooked over coals, then covered with nuts, sugar, spices, chocolate, coconut and what not.

A return dinner to Karolyi vetted our palates with foie gras encrusted with bread crumbs and fried to a crunchy perfection, a creation one would never see in France.

Mine was sliced sanglier(wild boar) with wild blueberries and apple beignets.

Wine was a perfumed and full bodies kekfrancos.

Last stop was pretty Lake Balaton region, specifically to Lake Heviz.  It is the largest thermal lake in the world suitable for bathing.

Legend has that Roman emperor Flavius Theodosius was healed as a child with infantile paralysis when his nurse prayed to the Blessed Virgin, who brought forth this thermal spring lake.

Ever since I read about this extraordinary thermal lake I have wanted to come swim amongst the lily pads.

The lake, which has depth up to 38 meters is not without its dangers, making it highly recommended that you float in an intertube,  rather than swim and tread water, as the water flow is in constant motion.

One and half hours is recommended to obtain optimal benefits of the thermal waters. The mineral rich waters help relieve rheumatic conditions and improve blood circulation.

Even in the winter, the water never goes below 22 degrees centigrade, making it swimmable even if surrounded by snow.

The water temp was a perfect one for me, not hot, but not at all cold.

Since this was my first time on the lake I did swim about to explore other areas of this unique thermal lake, but found myself buffeted by the constant current.

As it was in the late afternoon, most of the beautiful lily pad flowers were trying to close after a day in the bright sun.

Can’t say I relished the black mud bath, as much as I did the silicone mud at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, but it is supposed to have therapeutic qualities.

Next time, I will go to Lake Heviz to just float and meditate.  The whole experience was very meditative and conducive to feeling bathed in the healing properties of nature.

I found the waters giving me a gentle soothing embrace and yet at the same time I emerged feeling energized and renewed.

I would definitely go back for some more healing time and explore more of the Lake Balaton which is also a famous wine region.

Our last dinner in Hungary was a fabulous restaurant hidden in the midst of fruit and nut orchards on the outskirts of Lake Heviz, called Oreg Harang.

We were greeted and seated on the wonderful outdoor terrace by the friendly chef,  who enjoyed explaining with some pantomime and a few words in English and French what he had prepared.

That night’s menu was drawn on a blackboard for his international clients. He had sketched heads of beef, duck, and goat, with his own doodling to explain the accompaniments.

I opted for the filet of chevre(goat) served with apricots and potato pancake.  Aimee had braised buffalo with wild black currants.

The rich violet coloured wine came from his fathers own vines, made by him, with the chef explaining that his father was a much better vintner than himself.

I loved the wine, made from the Kekfrancos grape, which exuded a wonderful nose and complexity I look for in red wines.

We shared a starter of melon wrapped the chef’s own smoked prosciutto of deer. I had read that this chef favours composing his menu with game.

All of the food was excellent in quality served without chichi plating nor fanfare but presented like you were eating at a friends table.

His four doggies liked to come up to sniff the delicious aromas and yes occasionally beg briefly while a lone kitty seems more intent on just observing from afar.

All of his patrons that night except us were Hungarians, and as the sun set, the air was refreshingly cooler, with the sounds of laughter and with a few children scurrying around giggling.

Flying back to Paris, we carried some more Hungarian pastries, paprikas, tepertö, and Mangelica sausages. I wished that I could have taken home a huge crate of those meggy cherries!