budaveg – vegetarian Hungary your vegetarian home in Hungary

1, Go underwater!

Budapest has fantastic spas and swimming baths, most of them are very easy to reach by public transport. This website gives you detailed information about opening times and prices. The most fun is the Palatinus on Margaret Island which has many pools, a wave machine and kamikaze slide. Dagály also has many pools, and a massive green area right along the river. Csillaghegyi is probably the least crowded because its water is actually cold, and it’s a bit shabby. For the most slides go to Aquaworld, it’s out of town but there is a free bus from Heroes’ Square.

2, Go underground!

There are plenty of caves in Budapest and a few of them are actually open for visitors. The most popular one is Pálvölgyi stalagmite cave, or the Szemlőhegyi Cave. It’s easy to reach by public transport, take bus no. 65 from Kolossy tér. The cave is 10° C all year round, so dress accordingly! Open Tuesday- Sunday 10-4 pm, tours are every hour at a quarter past. There are also two caves to visit in the Castle district, the Labyrinth (which is closed temporarily) and the “Hospital in the Rock”. Both are part of the massive cave system in the castle hill itself.  The Hospital in the Rock is open Tuesday- Sunday 10-7 pm.

3, Enjoy the breeze!

Take a ride on the river! You can travel in style aboard a sightseeing boat like Legenda, or take the scheduled boat to Szentendre and top it off with a mega ice cream at the Szamos Marzipan Museum. Marzipan is in fact vegan, and many fruit ice creams too. You can also take the inexpensive city boat that goes from Boráros Tér to Békásmegyer, stopping at Margaret Island as well.

4, Go to the Buda Hills:

Take the Children’s Railway! Up in the Buda Hills there is a small gauge railway operated by kids, very cute. Take tram 56 from Moszkva Tér to the terminus, then it’s a short hike up to the station. Get off at János Hegy station and after a 15 minute walk you are at the highest point of the city at Erzsébet Kilátó, and in the shade. You can also combine the trip with a ride on the chairlift.

5, Go somewhere which is air conditioned:

There are plenty of air-conditioned cinemas, though most films are dubbed. You can see the English language screenings here: http://www.palacecinemas.hu/ Most museums are air conditioned too!

Summer is almost over, school is about to start and this is the best time for a city break! The weather is pleasant; not too hot, yet sunny, prices are lower and there is so much more to do than sightseeing!

7-11 September Wine festival in the Royal castle in Budapest, 15 counties are presenting 220 vineyards and 5000 types of wine, this year the special guest is France. Folk music, craft market and children’s activities make it into a great family event. Hungary has 22 different wine regions,  and lots of excellent vineyards- but most are relatively small so even their award winning wine hardly makes it abroad, but here is the perfect opportunity to taste a bit more than Bull’s blood and Tokaji.

image from: www.winefestival.hu

If wine is not your cup of tea how about a Chocolate and Sweets Festival? It is held 16-18 September also in the castle district, and looks yummy! Lots of handmade chocolate, ice cream and tastings of course.

We celebrate the composer Franz Liszt this year which culminates at the LISZT AND EUROPE INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 29 September – 2 October 2011 held at these venues: MTA Roosevelt téri Díszterme, Művészetek Palotája, Millenáris

8-17 October Budapest Autumn Festival: is a prestigious art festival with art exhibitions, concerts, film, theatre and dance.

If you are into pop and rock, you can look forward to the following concerts:

George Michael 19 September,
Bryan Ferry 21 September,
Britney Spears. 30 September
Rammstein 10 November
Sade 23 November
Rihanna, 8 December

The budaveg apartment is available in September and October, you can book the best veggie B&B in town here or simply get in touch!
See you soon in vegetarian Hungary…

If you have kids under 12 or you still haven’t lost your fascination with vehicles you are in for a treat in Budapest, there are a couple of places to mesmerise you, in fact there 6 transport museums.

Airplane park is right next to terminal 2, There are 8 planes and one helicopter and you can actually enter some of the planes: IL-18, TU-134 and TU-154. There is also a picnic area and you can take pictures and video. You can also combine the visit with a 2 hour tour of the airport by bus: you can see take offs and landings, refuelling, baggage handling, and peek into the maintenance area as well.
Open 15 March- 15 October every day 9 am till 6 pm (last entry 5 pm)
website

The Museum of Transport (Közlekedési múzeum) in the city park is very easy to reach by public transport. There are trains, buses, cars and models, and outside is a 424 steam engine.  They often have special shows at weekends.

Kossuth Múzeumhajó is an old steamboat made in 1913 in the Ganz Danubius Works and served as a  ”farmer’s boat”- picking up farmers and their produce in south Hungary and bringing them to the Central market hall in Budapest. Today the boat is also a restaurant, but everybody is welcome to enter and look around. The boat is right next the Széchenyi Chain Bridge on the Pest side.

Földalatti Vasút Múzeum is the underground museum at Deák Ferenc Metro stop, it commemorates the first Metro on the continent which opened here in 1896, 1000 years after the arrival by the first Hungarians in 896). There is a reconstruction of an original underground stop with beautiful Zsolnay tiles, and of course the underground carriages, all made of wood!

Open every day (except Monday) 10 am – 5 pm

The Train History Park is just outside the centre, but you can get there in style on the steam train from Nyugati railway station. It is an old station, with plenty of old trains, two turn tables, model trains, rail bikes etc. They organize trips on the old trains, special visits and exhibits.

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10 am-5pm
Address: 1142 Budapest Tatai u. 95.
Tel: 06 1 450 1497.

Városi Tömegközlekedési Múzeum- Szentendre This massive public transport museum is right behind the train station in Szentendre (which is a lovely place to visit anyway) you can easily get there by the suburban train from Budapest in 40 minutes. There are many old trains, buses, trams and you can enter most of them, a real treat for kids. All the pictures of this blogpost were taken at a recent visit here.
Open 1 April- 31 October   Tuesday to Sunday 10 am-5pm
Address: 2000 Szentendre, Dózsa György út 3.

Also we have the  Children’s Railway (timetable and info) which is a small gauge forest railway run by children: they sell the tickets, inspect them, signal at the stations, only the driver is an adult. You can take the tram 56 from Moszkva/ Szell Kalman Square to the Hűvösvölgy end or the Fogaskerkű (Cogwheel railway) to the Széchényi-hegy destination.

Just a 5 minute walk from the budaveg vegetarian apartment you can find the nearest vegetarian cafe: Keleti Életmód Centrum.

It is in fact a lot more than a cafe: it is an alternative health centre, a health food shop and an organic vegetarian cafe. They serve organic fruit and vegetable juices, coffee, teas, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, warm meals, healthy cakes, sugarfree deserts, organic ice cream, etc: there is food for vegans, diabetics, gluten intolerants, and people on a candida diet.  Most of the dishes are vegan, some lacto vegetarian, and they are always clearly marked. They aim to serve exclusively organic food, at the moment roughly 90% of what they serve is organic.
They open at 8 in the morning and offer a good breakfast selection: pastries, porridge, soya sausages, sandwiches and of course coffee and tea.

At lunchtime they have a set meal of two dishes, the menu changes from week to week, you can check the menu on their website or pick up the small flyers in the shop. You can call and order lunch in advance or just pop in but they are normally sold out of the set menu by 3 pm. I had a seitan sandwich, a langallo Hungarian style, a bit like a pizza with grain sausages, and a tofu-plum cake- all really delicious.

The cafe has a lovely atmosphere, small tables and nice decor, and lots of books to entertain you! In the summer you can sit outside and enjoy the breeze from the Danube and the nearby park, you can also ask for a takeaway.

The natural practitioners are upstairs offering everything from massage to kaballah and NLP.
The health food store is well stocked with vegan delights; soy and seitan sausages and slices, organic bread and pastries, juices, jams, glutenfree and diabetic products, organic fruit and vegetables.

They have a very generous loyalty card: for every 1000 hufs you spend, you’ll get a stamp- when you have 10 stamps you get a breakfast for two!

Open: weekdays 8 am-8 pm
1137 Budapest, Pozsonyi út 16.
Tel.: (1) 339-0209
info@eletmodcentrum.hu
http://www.eletmodcentrum.hu/