Slept like babies and woke up to light drizzle that was spelling doom for the lovely covering of snow. After breakfast we set off in the car with Geri (thankfully) at the wheel and drove into the Castle district of Buda and parked as far up the hill of the old town as we could get. From there we took an escalator to the top and there…. was Christmas!!! Not only still snow on the ground but a Christmas market redolent with barrels of mulled wine and apple toddies surrounding the Matthias Church and Buda Castle.
Well… we had to warm ourselves with some fortified beverage and then began our walk around the Fisherman’s Bastion and the Castle. Amazing views of the Danube and the Parliament Building (modelled on Westminster Palace) from up there. The Danube is just huge and very fast flowing at the moment anyway. Geri gave us a good walking tour of the main buildings up there. So much to see.
We came down again just before lunch and drove across to the Pest side to visit some of the Christmas markets. Expensive of course but very atmospheric. Lots of amazing and delicious food offerings all around. Looked fabulous. Lucy and Geri wanted us to try the famous Hungarian Langos for lunch and after much stall visiting to find a good one, in the end we went to a restaurant that Geri knew and had it there. It’s a big circle of dough which is fried,not baked, and then covered with cheese and onion and other things. I am still trying to be good so i had the goulash soup which was delicious but having tried a mouthful of the langos, I can tell you it was absolutely amazing. So light – which was unexpected- light and fluffy, in the same way a fresh doughnut can be light and fluffy, yet savoury and of course covered in grated cheese, thinly sliced onion and bacon cubes. Just delicious. There was a band playing music in the restaurant, very atmospheric.
Got back to the apartment by about 1pm for a light rest. It really is a very comfy place.
before heading to Geri’s family home for Christmas Eve dinner with Geri’s mum.
The house Geri grew up in is in a lovely old fashioned leafy suburg of Budapest. His father was a very keen gardener and the garden is enormous and has many fruit trees and specimen shrubs. We were very much welcomed by Geri’s mum, Viktoria, and although we speak no Hungarian, and her English is very little, with Geri’s help and Google Translate, we managed very well.
We took part in the family tradition of dressing the Xmas tree on Xmas eve with a large collection of baubles and ornaments that have clearly been gathered over the years with a lot of enjoyment. By the end, it was very resplendent. Then we ate a home cooked traditional Hungarian meal, which began with a meat soup. This was very good. A large pot of rich chicken and vegetable consomme is the centrepiece. Then there are bowls of cooked vegetables – cabbage, onion, carrots, potatoes – and the shredded chicken flesh. There is also a large bowl of vermicelli pasta. You spoon the vegetables, meat and pasta onto your plate, then ladle the consomme over the top. It was super tasty.
The main course was a huge potato topped pie consisting of pork slices, onion in a gravy with the scalloped potato on top. It was absolutely delicious and we all dived right in. Finally there were three different types of strudel – chestnut, nut and black poppy seed. All new flavours for me and very different from say the German apple strudel. By the end we were stuffed!!!!!
We gave each other small gifts to mark Christmas and then Viktoria, Geri, Lucy and Daisy banished the winter darkness with sparklers. They were meant to sing a particular song which is the tradition but it is difficult so they sang Jingle Bells instead!!!! It was a lovely evening and so nice to be part of a real family occasion.
We drove back through the quiet streets and Geri took us on a drive through the centre of Budapest on the Pest side to see the lights and the main shopping districts and streets. It felt like London in the 1970s/80s in terms of quiet traffic and the general vibe.
A very enjoyable day in this beautiful city.