Last weekend we joined one of the free Art Nouveau walks organized by Budapest UnderGuide to celebrate the EU presidency of Hungary. We are big fans of the Budapest spas and thermal baths and were really looking forward to learn more about Gellért Baths. We have been at the Gellért several times and were always amazed by the art nouveau windows, mosaics and all those lovely details. The guide first took us in the baths and we saw the indoor bubble pool: the bubbles are turned on once every hour. We were told that it was built in the 30s and before that there was a conservatory and a mini golf course there. 
Then we looked at the outside wave pool, which was built in 1927, and a Hungarian architect designed the wave machine which is still used today! The waves are turned on once every hour and that is the nearest you can get to a sea splash in our small landlocked country. There are three other wave pools in Budapest I know of: at Dagály, Palatinus and Aquaworld, and they are fun. The most splendid part of the bath is no doubt the men’s thermal area which is only open to ladies on Sunday, with beautiful original Zsolnay mosaics, well worth a visit. 
Then we looked around in the hall and adored the Miksa Roth art nouveau stained glass windows and all the majolica details, then came the real deal which attracted me to the walk: we could go down to see the secret corridor under the Gellért Hill and also the cave where the water was first discovered. 
This corridor is bit over a kilometre long and connects the Gellért, the Rudas and the Rácz baths, all these baths are supplied by the same spring, and the 4 wells on the corridor. Normally only 2 wells are switched on but if there is a need they can switch on the others. This corridor was made after the second world war with normal mining methods hence the small railway track on the corridor. The water is quite close to the surface and it is around 40 degrees Celsius. 
Then we entered the cave in small groups since it was so tiny and extremely hot; the cave is called “Cauliflower” because of the rock formations, and it used to be connected to the massive cave system in the Gellért Hill. 
Unfortunately these walks are fully booked but if you don’t mind being a bit naughty, you can just turn up, the guides were super nice and never once asked our names. Also you can download a map and play art nouveau treasure hunt! All these pics were taken by my phone hence the trabant-quality but a simple googling will give you tons of quality images of all the lovely art nouveau details of the baths!
Last week we joined a community supported agricultural project, something I have been contemplating for a while. I do believe organic produce is the best for both the family and the environment and we have been aiming to buy as much organic as possible. A dear friend of ours used to get veg for us from the organic market at MOM Park, but they are now packing up to move to Hawaii to join a raw food community which left us with no organic veg!
I asked two of my friends who joined this CSA at the start and both were extremly pleased so we signed up too and last Friday picked up the first batch from Szentendre:
Pretty impressive, right? We got 6 kgs of tomatoes, a bag of green peppers, a big bag of cucumbers, a handful of basil and dill, 3 big squashes, 4 courgettes, a bunch of carrots, a bag of potatoes, a celery, cabbage, a bunch of beetroot, a roman lettuce and a big piece of horseradish! Seems really a lot, and now my meal planning has to upgrade to make sure we can use all these tomatoes and squashes this week- which means making vegetarian lecsó perhaps 3 times a week. The horseradish is way beyond my scope so I happily gave it away to a friend.
Budaveg guests can now look forward to organic tomatoes and cucumbers among their breakfast goodies!
This farm is on Szentendre Island and we’ll receive vegetables throughout the season and some berries, probably melons too, but they have no fruit trees yet. They are also producing wheat and sunflowers so I am looking forward to organic flour and sunflower oil! You have to pick up the produce at Szentendre every Friday afternoon. When you join you sign a contract to buy your share of the produce which is 28000 hufs/5 weeks.You also get on their mailing list and you recive an email with what to expect on Friday and great vegetarian recipe suggestions. At the moment 30 some families joined but they have enough produce for 60 families so drop us a line if you are interested!
The newest vegan cafe in Budapest is right in the city centre; a few minutes walk from Deák tér, on Paulay Ede street. The place looked inviting and the people lovely on their facebook page and we were eager to try out their vegan delights.
The place is tiny but they made the most of it I guess. As you enter you pass the counter and can see into the kitchen. You can place your order, then go upstairs where there is a small seated area which can seat 12 people.
They do vegan burgers (tofu and bean burgers), burgers with chips/ french fries, hot dogs, vegan spreads, salads, and soya shakes. Every day there are two special dishes which are posted early morning on facebook and their blog.
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I had bean burger menu with lemonade and my friend tried the tofu burger (in the background), and I have to say they don’t go stingy on the portions; those burgers were huge and really filling! The prices are very friendly, good value for money.
Address: 1061 Budapest Paulay Ede 8.
Open: Mo – Th : 11.30 – 20.00, Friday: 11.30 – 22.00, Saturday: 15.00 – 22.00
http://gorillavegabufe.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GORILLA-VEGA-B%C3%9CF%C3%89-vegan-vegetarian-restaurant/127044247370486?sk=wall_
This week we asked Richard Deboo, animal rights activist, public speaker and author of the newly released vegan ethics book Nine steps to Eden to answer a few questions about his new book for the Vegetarian Hungary blog. Richard is a committed vegan who stayed in budaveg when visiting Budapest in 2008. You can read a sample chapter of his book online here.When I (Zsofi) was growing up in the 80’s they were everywhere; Lenins, Marxs, “excellent workers” and red stars in all sizes (though the same shape). To me they were part of the landscape and some were frightening, some were friendly, and some served as an important landmark in my city navigation. Take the statue of Ostapenko for instance, when you saw it you knew you were back in Budapest: it was right there where the motorways M1 and M7 enter the city; to be frank I would still prefer that instead of the McDonalds and the petrol station which are there now.
But they were more than “art”, they were symbols of oppression, so when the system change came in ’89 they had to go. Luckily somebody had this brilliant idea of exhibiting 42 of them in a park right outside Budapest. It is called a “park” but it is more like a big open space next to a main road. So if you feel nostalgic or plain curious about what we had before the golden archers invaded the Eastern bloc take a ride back in time to Statue Park.
Two of my personal favourites are here: Marx and Engels: they used to stand next to the Margaret Bridge and we would practice our snowballing skills on them, ah childhood innocence! The other is the statue of communist leader Béla Kun, this was erected just a year or less before the system change so it only stood for a few months in the park behind Déli railway station, but kids soon found out that it makes an amazing sound if you beat it like a drum so it attracted a lot attention from teenagers.
There is a souvenir shop where you get the famous “Last breath of communism” tins, CDs of communist marches sang by male choirs, coffee mugs decorated with red stars and Trabants and a wide selection of Tee shirts. And all the commie paraphernalia, if you’re into retro then you’re in for a treat.
There is also a “Barrack” with special exhibitions; right now “The life of an Agent”, very interesting, but gosh it makes me paranoid- if they were this sophisticated back then, what are they doing now?
Stalin's boots
It is a bit out of town but you can get there by public transport or use their special shuttle bus, you can find all the important information on their website. Also for some aerial photographs you can click here or use good old Google Earth.
Address: 22nd district (Southern Buda), corner of Balatoni út and Szabadkai utca., Szoborpark
Tel: 06 1 424-7500
Website: http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Lang=en
Opening times: every day from 10 am to dusk
