Luxury2017

LUXURY BUDAPEST 2017

S H O P P I N G

D I N I N G

S I G H T S E E I N G

A R T S

LUXURY

C U L T U R E

BUDAPEST 2017

WHERE LUXURY M EETS LIFESTYLE

BUDAPEST 2017

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elcome to Budapest, the largest and most exciting city in eastern Central Europe, the political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation centre of Hungary, as well as its capital city.

Budapest is a city of unparalleled beauty and unmatched geographical location, with breathtaking panoramic views, buildings that are architecturally outstanding even in European and global terms, and World Heritage sites such as the scenic view of the Danube riverbank, the Castle District of Buda, Andrássy Avenue, and Heroes’ Square. The city’s bridges spanning the Danube and its many bathhouses are of touristic significance, since Budapest has more medicinal spas than any other city in the world.

The Hungarian capital is highly ranked in international tourism surveys; based on feedback from tourists it has been placed ahead of metropolises such as Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong, and within Europe ahead of Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Paris, Prague and Rome.

Budapest has a unique identity that is reconsolidating, while its cultural life is characterised by diversity, and relies on numerous traditions. The Hungarian capital is a self-conscious and at the same time inclusive city.

Its natural beauty, architectural heritage and cultural offerings have always been precious treasures, and will remain so in the future. The city’s leadership is committed to creating a city that is proud of its values and history, and yet is also liveable and comfortable in present-day terms.

Budapest is famous for its bustling cultural life. It offers a wide selection of concerts, exhibitions and dance performances. Scientific libraries renowned across Europe can be found here. Of the more than 200 museums, many boast visitor numbers in the hundreds of thousands; on top of all this there are 40 theatres, seven grand concert halls and a fascinating Opera House.

The city’s visitors can taste excellent foods and beverages from both Hungarian and international cuisine, and there are ample choices for all among the multitude of restaurants, cosy coffeehouses and ruin pubs.

Budapest welcomes you in 2017!

István Tarlós Mayor of Budapest

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PAST GLORIES

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Big Bang Unico.

UNICO column-wheel chronograph. In-house Hublot movement. 72-hour power reserve. King Gold case, an exclusive red gold alloy developed by Hublot. Ceramic bezel. Interchangeable strap by a unique attachment.

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hublot.com

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AN ICON JUST GOT LARGER

THE NAVITIMER 46 mm

Breguet, the innovator.

The Marine 5827 chronograph Having become a member of the Board of Longitude in Paris in 1814, Abraham-Louis Breguet was appointed Horologer to the French Royal Navy by Louis XVIII the following year. This prestigious title, embodying exceptional scientific competence, is now perpetuated through the Marine collection and the Marine 5827 chronograph, which features a central chronograph minutes and seconds. History is still being written...

1052 Budapest, Pรกrizsi u. 3.TEL.: +36 1 318 2156 www.facebook.com/barakaekszerhaz www.barakadiamond.hu

hublot.com

Spirit of Big Bang Moonphase.

Titanium case. Self-winding movement.

Big date and moonphase.

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CONTENTS

LUXURY BUDAPEST 2017 SHOPPING DINING SIGHTSEEING ARTS CULTURE

Contents Hungary by numbers

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Budapest by numbers

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New in Budapest

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Calendar

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Past glories

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Must See Classic buildings Must See Modern buildings Must See Churches Must See Museums Must See Romantic places Must See Unique to Budapest

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SHOPPING Hungary by hand Markets

46 50 51

GASTRONOMY Specialities Hungary – land of wine Pálinka Stylish wine bars The Gourmet Metropolis Best new restaurants

52 54 56 58 60 62 66

RICH CULTURE Palaces of culture Art – modern and contemporary

68 70 72

SPAS & SPORT Baths Formula 1 Polo – Golf

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DISCOVER BUDAPEST Castle District Gellért Hill Rózsadomb & Buda Hills Margaret Island Pest embankment Belváros Lipótváros Andrássy út Városliget District VII Nagykörút

82 84 90 96 100 104 108 116 124 140 146 152

Restaurant guide

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DISCOVER HUNGARY Balaton Hévíz Szentendre Visegrád Esztergom Pannonhalma Pécs

164 166 168 169 170 171 172 174

Essential numbers

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Chrisand fur Bunda • Fur • Pelz

Bunda • Fur • Pelz Four Season Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest • 1051 Budapest, Széchenyi tér 5–6. • Tel.: +36 (70) 318 4324 Open everyday: 10.00–19.00

www.chrisand.hu

ďŹ ne mechanical watchmaking, from japan.

Trimatic symbolizes three Seiko inventions that ensure the highest levels of reliability and durability in its mechanical watches.

6(,.2 %287,48( 1065 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street 15/d. Phone: +36 1 354 1204 e-mail: info@seikoboutique.hu www.seikoboutique.hu

HUNGARY BY NUMBERS

Hungary by numbers MAIN TOWNS BY POPULATION (2016) Area: 93,035 sq km Dimensions: 525 km (east-west), 250 km (north-south) Population: (2016) 9,830,485 Language: Hungarian Currency: Hungarian forint (HUF or Ft) Time zone: CET International dialling code: +36 Internet code: .hu Major rivers: Tisza (585 km), Danube (417 km) Major lakes: Balaton (590 sqkm), Fertő (82 s km)

Budapest (capital): 1,759,407 Debrecen: 203,059 Miskolc: 158,101 Szeged: 162,621 Pécs: 145,347 Gyo˝r: 129,568 Nyíregyháza: 118,058 Kecskemét: 111,724 Székesfehérvár: 98,207

Population 9,830,485 Budapest 1,759,407

TRANSPORT Airports Budapest www.bud.hu/english, Debrecen www.debrecenairport.com/en

Motorways As of 2016, Hungary had 1,400 km of motorway (www.motorway. hu). M0 runs around Budapest, M1 goes to Austria, M3 to Miskolc and Debrecen, and M7 to Lake Balaton, M5 to Kecskemét and Szeged, M6 to Dunaújváros.

Motorways operate by a toll sticker (matrica) system.

Trains As of 2016, Hungary had 7,395 km of standard-gauge railway (www.mav.hu/ english). Inter-city services run from the main Budapest stations of Keleti (Miskolc, 2hrs), Nyugati (Debrecen, 2hrs 45min) and Déli (Lake Balaton, 1hr 30min-3hrs).

Buses Certain parts of Hungary are easier accessed by bus. Volán www.volan.hu is the main company.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS Jan 1 Mar 15 Apr 16 Apr 17 May 1 Aug 20

New Year's Day 1848 Revolution Memorial Day Easter Day Easter Monday Labor Day / May Day Hungary National Day

Oct 23 Nov 1 Dec 24 Dec 25 Dec 26 Dec 31

1956 Revolution Memorial Day All Saints' Day Christmas Eve Christmas Day Boxing Day New Year's Eve

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IMPERI ALE

Erzsébet Tér 7-8, Kempinski Hotel, 1051 Budapest Tel: +36 1 266 1298

1052 B U D A P E S T | P Ă R I Z S I U . 3 Te l . : +36 1 318 2156 | www.barakadiamond.hu

BUDAPEST BY NUMBERS

Budapest Bu B u by numbers BUDAPEST BY AREA

101,738 XVIII

2,016,681

1,759,407

101,558 IV

1,757,618

120,256 XIII

1,744,665

124,841 XIV

1,721,556

130,415 III

1,777,921

XI

2,059,226

1,945,083

1,804,606

1,590,316

1,712,791

District

1,442,869

1,232,026

1,110,453

861,434

560,079

402,706

57,100

302,086

POPULATION OF BUDAPEST

151,812

Overall population 1,759,407

Area 93,035 sq km Area 525 sq km Population (2016) 1,759,407 Districts 23 International dialling code +36 1

1784 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2014 2015 2016

TRANSPORT Airport Liszt Ferenc (www.bud.hu/english) is 16km south-east of the city centre. There is a taxi kiosk immediately outside Arrivals or a point-to-point communal minibus service (www.airportshuttle.hu/en). Public transport is poor, involving a 20-minute journey on the No.200E between the airport and Kőbánya-Kispest station on blue metro M3, a line which currently doesn’t run at weekends.

From there, central Deák tér is 20min away.

Transport Budapest city transport (www.bkk.hu/en) consists of a four-line, colour-coded metro system and a network of trams, buses and trolleybuses. Each of its four main train stations has a metro station named after it – Keleti, Nyugati, Déli and Kelenföld. Tickets (HUF 350 for one, or HUF 3,000/10) are dispensed from machines at stops and stations, and must be validated (stamped) at the entrance to the metro or in the machines on the busses and trams.

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NEW IN BUDAPEST

New in Budapest

SZÉLL KÁLMÁN TÉR Széll Kálmán tér (called Moszkva tér, or Moscow Square between 1951-2011) is one of the busiest traffic hubs in Buda or, indeed, the whole of Budapest. The square went through a major upgrade between 12 January 2015 and 10 May 2016, as a result of which the traffic system and architectural look have become simpler and clearer. After the reconstruction the previously separate tram lines connecting the north and south of Buda could be connected, and the square was also made suitable to become the cogwheel railway’s fi nal station.

KÁROLY GUCKLER LOOKOUT TOWER The Károly Guckler lookout tower is in Buda hills on the border of Districts II and III, on the 495 metre peak of Hármashatárhegy. The tower was built when recent landscaping of damage dating back to the Second World War meant a former air defence site could be given a new, more peaceful function. Its floor plan is a regular octagon and the lookout platform, made of reinforced concrete is four metres above the ground. The complicated wooden structure was built using 40 m3 of layer-glued pine beams and 4.5 tons of steel joints on the fixing points. This tourism facility was built in 2015-2016 and was officially opened to the public on 14 July 2016. It is named for Károly Guckler (1958-1923); the director of the forestry office in Budapest at the end of the 19th century, he led the reforestation works of the Hármashatárhegy area.

HIDEGKUTI NÁNDOR STADIUM Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium has always been the home of the MTK football team, and in 2002 was named after club midfielder Nándor Hidegkuti, a member of the famous Hungarian national team of the 1950s. The first stadium on the site was opened on 31 March 1912, when it was known as the Hungária körút stadium, but it was badly damaged in the Second World War and was not able to host any matches between 1945 and 1947, when a new stadium rose from the rubble.

From 1995, the building underwent extensive modernisation, but it was closed on 31 May 2014, after which it was demolished and a replacement stadium built. Currently the stadium can seat 5,000 fans.

LEGENDS ARE FOREVER www.zenith-watches.com

EL PRIMERO I Chronomaster

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CALENDAR 2017

Calendar

NEW YEAR’S EVE Christmas can be quiet in Hungary – it’s on New Year’s Eve that the locals go out and party.

Before the night’s festivities begin, some head out to the Kincsem Park racecourse for the traditional New Year’s Eve afternoon’s horse racing. Budapest’s bars and restaurants start fi lling up from the early evening on, with fi reworks over the Danube at midnight. After that, anything goes – dinner dances on cruise boats, sumptuous meals in five-star restaurants, or all-night DJ sessions in District VII. The next day, it’s traditional – perhaps even necessary – to eat kocsonya, pork in aspic. Many also soak away the night’s excesses at the Széchenyi Baths.

MANGALICA FESTIVAL February’s weekend-long Mangalica Festival is a celebration of Hungary’s own hairy hog. The event, initiated in 2008 to promote sales of this then near-forgotten shaggy breed, has grown with the pig’s revival. This annual showcase has since been scaled up and moved to the main downtown square of Szabadság tér, where live music, folk dancing and familyfriendly entertainment accompany the cheerful chomping of prime pork.

10–12 Feb – www.mangalicafesztival.hu

CALENDAR 2017

BUSÓJÁRÁS Set in Mohács, 210 km south of Budapest, Busójárás is a six-day carnival whose roots lie in ancient end-of-winter rituals. Men in frightening masks and woolly cloaks parade around town, some arriving in rowboats along the Danube. A giant bonfi re is set up in the main square, and everywhere you can fi nd live music and stalls offering grilled food and local crafts.

23–28 Feb – www.mohacsibusojaras.hu

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL The biggest event in the city’s cultural calendar, the Spring Festival is a showcase for mainly classical music. Higlights for 2017 are Bertrand de Billy and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Bugge Wesseltoft’s New Concepcion of Jazzand and Goran Bregovic. It all takes place at eight venues across town, including the Palace of Arts, the Comedy Theatre and the Franc Liszt Music Academy.

31 Marc – 23 Apr – www.budapestspringfestival.com

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CALENDAR 2017

BUDAPEST PÁLINKA FESTIVAL Set over a long weekend in Városháza Park, the Budapest Pálinka Festival showcases 300 varieties of Hungary’s favourite, and currently fashionable, spirit. Here you can sample pálinka made from every kind of fruit imaginable by major producers and small family-run distilleries. Food and live music are also laid on. Admission includes a tasting glass and events go on well into the night.

28–30 Apr – www.palinkaeskolbasz.hu

GOURMET FESTIVAL The Gourmet Festival, renewed four years ago, will be organised once again in 2016.

The event, which began nearly a decade ago and is now flourishing, is considered the very essence of Hungarian gastronomy. It will be held at the Millenáris, where the organisers will gather the best restaurants, wineries, and artisan food products from Hungary in the same place and at the same time. You can taste tiny bites while strolling around the event site, or have a complete dinner, with a musical background, of course.

18–21 May - www.gourmetfesztival.hu

NIGHT OF THE MUSEUMS Running from midnight on June 24 to midnight on June 25, museums across Budapest and Hungary throw open their doors to the public. Altogether, more than 100 establishments are involved. Special workshops and demonstrations are laid on, and buses run between the more far-flung venues. One admission fee covers the whole event, the wristband allowing you access from one venue to the next.

24 June – www.muzeumokejszakaja.hu

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FURLA COM FURLA.COM

FURLA FASHION STREET - 1052 BUDAPEST, Deรกk Ferenc utca 23.

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CALENDAR 2017

ATP AND WTA TENNIS TOURNAMENTS Budapest will host ATP and WTA tennis tournaments in 2017. The men’s championship, which replaces the competition in Bucharest, Romania, will take place at the National Training Centre from 24-30 April, while the women’s championship, replacing the Rio de Janeiro tournament on the circuit, will be held at Syma Csarnok on 26 February.

Hungary has never before welcomed an ATP tournament, and the women’s elite game has not visited Budapest since 2013.

WTA – 26 Feb ATP – 24-30 Apr www.huntennis.hu

THE VESZPRÉM STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL The 18th Veszprém street music festival welcomes visitors with competing street musicians, exciting international productions and excellent Hungarian ensembles in the renovated city centre. Veszprém is transformed into a true festival city for a few days every July. Street ensembles of various styles (ethno, jazz, blues, and rock) play music from morning till late at night. Besides the 20 street musicians who appear and compete in the afternoons, international artists who started out as street musicians but, by now, have become famous performers all across Europe take centre stage in the evenings. Of course, beside the musical programmes, Hungarian flavours also enrich the offering.

19-22 July – www.utcazene.hu

VALLEY OF ARTS The Valley of Arts has become something of a cult event, and will be organised for the 26th time in the ancient settlement of Kapolcs in 2017. Visitors can dive into the diverse world of Hungarian culture and arts: courtyards, valley nooks, streets and countryside houses provide an inimitable milieu. You can stumble upon an impromptu stage play, a course teaching artisan crafts, a meat roasting, spinning folk dancers or a concert around almost any corner. The number of visitors reaches 100,000 each year, so it is well worth reserving accommodation ahead of time.

21-30 July – www.muveszetekvolgye.hu

CALENDAR 2017

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX The biggest event on the sporting calendar, the Hungarian Grand Prix is held in the sweltering heat of summer. The Hungaroring course is at Mogyoród, 20 km northeast of Budapest. The track has been modified to make the race more exciting, and improvements made to the press, VIP and pit areas. Those paying top dollar sit in the Super Silver Grandstand, over the start-fi nish line.

28–30 July – www.hungaroring.hu

FINA The world championship of water sports has been organised since 1973 by FINA (the Fédération Internationale de Natation). Budapest will host this event for the fi rst time in 2017 with events including diving, open water swimming, high diving, synchronised swimming, swimming and water polo. The major venue of the world championship will be Dagály Swimming Arena, but matches will be played in several other swimming pools, too. The open water competition will be staged at Balatonfüred on Lake Balaton.

14-30 July – www.fina-budapest2017.com

SZIGET FESTIVAL The biggest music festival in the region takes over an entire island – ‘Sziget’ – north of Budapest. Boats take festival-goers from the foot of Margaret Bridge and Batthyány tér to Hajógyári-sziget, where a entire complex of stages and attractions await.

Visitors roam from stage to stage, taking in rock, folk, World Music and alternative acts, as well as theatre shows, fi lms and all kinds of performances.

9–16 Aug – www.szigetfestival.com

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AUGUST 20 Hungary’s national day celebrates St Stephen, the country’s founding king. The day begins with the raising of the national fl ag on Kossuth tér in the morning and fi nishes with fi reworks over Chain Bridge in the evening – everyone reserves places well in advance at riverside restaurants, panoramic hotels and cruise boats.

During the day there are military parades and fl ight and skydiving demonstrations.

BUDA CASTLE WINE FESTIVAL For five days in the warm sunshine of early September, Hungary’s fi nest wine producers showcase their latest products. In the historic setting of Buda Castle, live music, folk dance performances and food tasting provide a wealth of entertainment. A crystal tasting glass comes with every ticket (five-day or one-day), which allows access to all areas of the festival.

7–10 Sept – www.aborfesztival.hu

CALENDAR 2017

NATIONAL GALLOP Hungary’s historic tradition in horsemanship is celebrated at the Nemzeti Vágta, loosely translated as the National Gallop.

Races, shows and reconstructions of battle scenes entertain the public. Usually taking over Heroes’ Square for a three-day weekend, the event also features dance performances, live music and stalls offering traditional Hungarian cuisine. Prizes are given for winning riders in different categories.

September – www.vagta.hu

CHRISTMAS In the run-up to Christmas, traditional markets are set up across town, the biggest being in Vörösmarty tér.

Against the backdrop of the façade of the Gerbeaud coffeehouse – transformed into a giant advent calendar – hand-made goods, mulled wine and local specialities are purveyed from stalls spread across the square. Christmas itself is a quiet, family affair – few bars and restaurants open, except for those in high-end hotels.

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WELCOME TO BUDAPEST!

CULTURAL CAPITAL FOR 4 SEASONS Budapest is the city of four seasons in terms of festivals, too. Whenever your travel takes you to Budapest, you will always find high quality, fascinating, valuable programmes designed for all ages at the city’s arts festivals: Budapest Spring Festival, CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival held in the autumn, Budapest Summer Festival, while the synthesis of the arts that is the Winter Festival staged around Advent is renowned throughout Europe.

It is no exaggeration to state that 21 century Budapest is one of the hubs of cultural life in Europe. Each evening the curtain rises on productions by Hungarian and international companies in its several dozen musical and prose theatres. The range of programmes offered at the capital’s museums, concert halls and sports venues rivals any metropolis in the world; festival productions further enhance this already huge diversity.

The 37ʰ Budapest Spring Festival awaits visitors with a programme that involves many of the arts, with events in classical and contemporary music, opera, jazz and pop, world music, dance, theatre and the visual arts. With the best Hungarian performers and real world stars, the Budapest Spring Festival is a truly special occasion, presenting Hungarian and world premieres of musical and theatrical productions and co-productions throughout its seventeen days.

WWW.BUDAPESTINFO.HU

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Budapest Card – Key to the city The Budapest Card provides access to a set of services designed for tourists visiting Budapest. An official product of the city, it enables the holder to use reliable, selected tourism services free of charge or at a reduced price, including the free and unlimited use of the public transport system, free entry to museums and baths, and reduced-price catering and cultural services. The services and reduced prices can only be enjoyed by the holder. Each card offers the same services, they only differ in their terms of validity. You can choose from three types of cards according to their validity: 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours.

Free Services included: • unlimited use of the capital's public transport system during the term of validity (buses, undergrounds, trams, trolleybuses, cogwheel trains, BKK boats, and HÉV trains within the administrative boundaries of the city) • one free entry to the permanent exhibitions of twelve museums, for example: Budapest History Museum; Aquincum Museum; Kiscelli Museum; Vasarely Museum; Hungarian National Gallery; Hungarian National Museum • one free entry to St. Lukács Baths and Swimming Pool • two free walking tours of the city with guiding in English (one in Pest, and one in Buda) • free access to a 24 hour safe In addition to the above free services, more than 80 further services can be used with a discount of 10–50% off the bills or entrance tickets (baths, sights, museums, restaurants, sightseeing tours, boat trips, etc.)

WWW.BUDAPEST-CARD.COM

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Past glories CHAIN BRIDGE Hung like a pearl necklace over this most picturesque stretch of the Danube, the Chain Bridge was the first permanent crossing between Buda and Pest. Conceived by Count István Széchenyi, who never saw his creation completed, it was designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark. It was his Scottish assistant, Adam Clark, who saw the project through, even to the extent of hiding the plans from the Austrians who threatened to destroy the bridge shortly before it was due to open. Unveiled in 1849, reopened exactly a century later, the Chain Bridge is most iconic symbol of the Hungarian capital.

FERENC PUSKÁS Travel anywhere in the world, mention you come from Hungary and the next word in the conversation will be ‘Puskás’. The name of the finest footballer Hungary ever produced, Puskás refers to the left-footed genius who starred for two of the greatest teams in the game’s history. First came the Hungarian ‘Golden Team’ who famously beat England 6-3 at Wembley in 1953, then the all-conquering Real Madrid side later that same decade. Brought up in Kispest, along with boyhood teammate József Bozsik, Ferenc Puskás played for the local side under his father, a football coach. Later renamed Honvéd, this team provided the bulk of the players for Hungary’s great national side of the early 1950s. Known in Hungary as ‘Öcsi’, Puskás then carved out a successful career in Spain, earning the nickname ‘Pancho’. After his death in 2006, Hungary gave Puskás a state funeral at St Stephen’s Basilica. Today the national stadium is named after him, as well as a sports bar on Bécsi út in Óbuda.

PAST GLORIES

ERNŐ RU R RUBIK BIK Ernő Rubik was a professor of architecture at Budapest’s College of Applied Arts in the early 1970s when he unwittingly invented what would become the best-selling toy of all time. Devised by his own hand as a task for his students, his multicoloured twistable puzzle – originally named the Magic Cube – became so popular that Professor Rubik could see commercial potential in this tuition aid. In 1979, he took the idea to America, and almost overnight the rebranded Rubik’s Cube became a worldwide hit.

MATTHIAS CHURCH Coronations, weddings and ceremonies, some of the most momentous events in Hungarian history have taken place at Matthias Church in the Castle District. Known in Hungarian as Mátyás templom, this soaring Gothic landmark is named after the illustrious medieval king who was twice married here in the 1400s, King Mátyás. Also known as Matthias Corvinus, Mátyás ‘The Good’ presided over an illustrious court at Buda Castle and Visegrád.

He also collated one of the most impressive libraries in Renaissance Europe, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, some of which is stored today in the nearby National Széchényi Library. His reign, from 1458 to 1490, is considered to be the Golden Age of Buda and a highpoint in Hungarian history.

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Classic buildings MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS Dominating the junction of the Nagykörút and Üllői út, the Museum of Applied Arts is one of the finest examples of Secessionist architecture in Budapest. It was created by the man considered to be the father of this local architectural genre, Ödön Lechner. Similar to its Viennese counterpart and art nouveau in Brussels, Szecesszió brought in exotic, eastern elements, crucially incorporating the signature bright glaze tiling produced by the Zsolnay factory in Pécs. After starting out in architectural partnership with Gyula Pártos from 1869 onwards, Lechner struck out on his own. The Museum of Applied Arts was his first major project and remains his masterpiece.

KELETI STATION One of the world’s greatest railway station buildings, Keleti (‘East’) has recently undergone long-awaited renovation.

Painstakingly sandblasted to a near pure white, its grand façade now juxtaposes with the contemporary gleam of the equally new metro station immediately below. Keleti was originally built in the early 1880s, its construction overseen

by Gyula Rochlitz, chief architect of the Budapest Railway Directorate. As a nod towards Keleti Station’s steam heritage, Rochlitz had statues of James Watt and George Stephenson installed on either side of the façade, in place to this day. The grand, echoing interior features frescos created by Károly Lotz, who was also responsible for the ornate ceiling in the Opera House. The overall result is both practical and dramatic.

VAC_Oversea

O V E R S EAS Bearing the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, this timepiece is the ideal companion for an extraordinary voyage that reveals a unique perspective on the world. It is the only watch of its kind.

CRAFTING ETERNITY SINCE 1755

OV E RSE AS CH RO N O G R A P H

Geneva official watchmaking certification

Kempinski Hotel, H-1051 Budapest, Erzsébet tér 7-8, T +36 1 266 1298

Watches & Jewelry VAC_Overseas_Chrono_Marquise_LuxuryBudapestMag_2017_225x284.indd 1

11.01.17 15:16

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Modern buildings BUDAPEST AQUARENA Dagály Swimming Arena, which is Budapest’s newest sight, will be the major venue and gem of the 2017 FINA World Championship. This world-class complex for swimming and water sports consists of two facilities: a base building to host a crowd of about 6,000 and a temporary building with provisional stands and service facilities that are only established for the FINA event. The Swimming Arena, with two Olympic-size pools and a total capacity of 12,000 spectators, was built in less than two years.

METRO 4 STATIONS When it was opened in March 2014, Budapest’s fourth metro line unveiled ten gleaming new stations to a sceptical public. Like all projects of this nature, M4 had been mired in controversy, delays and rising costs, but these were swept to one side when free access was offered on the 7.4 km KelenföldKeleti line for the first few days. Two generations removed from the drab, Soviet-built metro in place since the 1970s, M4 served swish, strikingly bold stations. The expert panel for USbased Architizer immediately showered Budapest’s Spora Architects with awards for its adjoining stations of Szent Gellért tér and Fővám tér.

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NATIONAL THEATRE Opened on the national holiday of March 15, 2002, the National Theatre established a new cultural quarter by the Danube in south Pest.

With a prow-like frontage alluding to this riverside location, the theatre entrance also comprises another symbolic water feature.

Floating before it, echoing its cherished heritage, is a representation of the theatre’s previous and much-loved incarnation on Blaha Lujza tér. Hungarian cultural legends are also depicted as reliefs or as sculptures in the adjoining park. The park contains maze and a ziggurat, a singular exhibition space equipped with a staircase and spiral ramp offering splendid views from the top.

ING BUILDING One of the must-see contemporary buildings of Budapest, this dazzling, singular construction glimmers opposite the City Park. Designed by Erick van Egeraat, the Hungarian headquarters of this Dutch insurance company contrasts with the villas of the surrounding embassy quarter, something the Amsterdam-born architect was keen to accentuate. Here stainless steel lines create a jagged effect, divided by a strip of plain glass. The effect is discombobulating, giving the initial impression that the building is leaning to one side.

PALACE OF ARTS Unveiled three years after the National Theatre in 2005, the Palace of Arts added three cultural landmarks to the riverside arts complex in south Pest. The Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, the Ludwig Museum and the Festival Theatre are gathered under one roof, facilitated by an award-winning technical infrastructure and offering visitors panoramic views of the Danube. Guided tours are offered of this impressive cultural complex, depending on performance and rehearsal times. Tours also take in the huge organ in the Bartók National Concert Hall, with its 470 wooden pipes, 5,000 tin pipes and 1,200 reed pipes.

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Churches BASILICA Named after St Stephen, the Basilica is not only the most important church building in Budapest but in Hungary itself. Created by several architects over the course of more than 50 years, it was finally unveiled in 1905. Chief designer Miklós Ybl, who was also working on the Opera House around the same time, died before the project was complete. József Kauser, who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, saw it though to the end. Like Parliament nearby, the Basilica stands 96 metres high, in correlation with the Hungarian Millennial celebrations of 1896. Its dome and twin towers still dominate the skyline of downtown Lipótváros. These days a lift whisks tourists up to the dome for a panoramic view of Budapest. Within, the Basilica’s most notable sight dates back a thousand years – the mummified right hand of St Stephen.

Hungary’s first king, who established the nation as a Christian country, died in 1038.

Thereafter, his Holy Right Hand, referred to in Hungarian as the Szentjobb, was kept in the monastery of the same name, before a remarkable journey around Dalamatia, Bosnia and Austria. It was installed here in 1950, and is paraded around every year on August 20, the celebration of St Stephen.

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GREAT SYNA SYNAGOGUE G GUE One ne of the largest of its kind in the world, the Great Synagogue is both a working place of worship and a major tourist attraction. It is also referred to as the Dohány utca Synagogue after its location at the gateway to District VII, the Jewish QuarQuar ter. U Unveiled nveiled in 1859, the Great Synagogue is characterised by its North-African Moorish splendour as designed by Ludwig Förster. T Two wo domes rise high over the complex, which also includes a Jewish Museum, the Raoul aoul Wallenberg Memorial Park and the Heroes’ Temple.

T You’ll Y ou’ll also find a cemetery within the Synagogue grounds Renovated enovated during the 1990s, the main building is expansive enough to accommodate 3,000 in separate men’s and women’s galleries, as well as a 5,000pipe organ. Franz Liszt was one of many organists to have played here.

MATTHIAS CHUR CHURCH It took architect Frigyes Schulek more than 20 years to combine medieval design with fin-de-siècle finery and create today’s Matthias Church. The original Church of Our Lady, dating back to 1247, hosted a number of coronations and royal weddings. King Mátyás, who presided over the Golden Age of Buda, was twice married here. Destroyed by fire in 1526, rebuilt as a mosque by the T Turks in 1541, this building atop Castle Hill was reconverted as a church after the Siege of Buda in 1686. Schulek reconfigured the church, literally block by block, adding his own interpretation of French Gothic medieval architecture.

For colour, Schulek turned to Zsolnay, the ceramics firm from Pécs, whose bright, glazed-tiled roof gives the church its signature appearance. The gargoyles in the stone spire are another Schulek introduction. The church hosts classical concerts in summer – but not the coronations of yesteryear.

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Museums NATIONAL MUSEUM Lending its name to the street it stands on and a restaurant and café alongside, Hungary’s National Museum pre-dates many of Budapest’s classic landmarks of the Habsburg era. In fact, the museum, designed in Neo-Classical style by Mihály Pollack between 1837 and 1847, played an unwitting role in Hungary’s Habsburg history.

On 15 March 1848, poet Sándor Petõfi chose the museum as the backdrop for his recital of his own ‘National Song’, a rallying cry for Hungarians to rise up against Austrian domination. Inside, the permanent exhibition covers the history of Hungary from its foundation up to 1990, in two separate sections divided by the Turkish defeat of 1686.

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MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY Before he created the spectacular New York Café, Alajos Hauszmann was commissioned to build the monumental Palace of Justice opposite Parliament. Around the same time, an ethnographic department was opened as part of the National Museum, where it stayed until 1973. It then moved to these stately surroundings, its high-ceilinged halls home to costumes, tools and furniture illustrating peasant life in Hungary and the region. Customs and traditions are also featured, giving an idea of how life was lived in the countryside, from birth to school, work to weddings, celebrations to funerals.

HOUSE OF TERROR Few museums in Budapest are as evocative as the House of Terror. Set in the same house where the events it describes took place, at Andrássy út 60, the House of Terror focuses on the torture of political opponents by the authorities during the war-time Fascist and post-war Communist eras. Torture cells and techniques are displayed, along with filmed interviews with those involved at the time. The exhibition broadens out to show life in Budapest under Communism from 1947 to 1989, the visitor left in no doubt as to its negative consequences.

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Romantic places VÁROSLIGET Budapest’s City Park, the Városliget, is a favourite destination for couples. What could be more romantic? In summer, the boating lake comes into its own, backdropped by the charming Vajdahunyad Castle. In winter, everyone flocks to the skating rink nearby. Year-round, the trees and plentiful greenery provide plenty of space for picnics and relaxation.

Alongside, though less secluded, Budapest Zoo and the amusement park are also ideal destinations for a romantic afternoon. For more intimacy, the Széchenyi Baths are perfectly suited to a long, casual soak à deux, inside or out. You can even hire cabins designed for changing as a twosome.

CITADELLA When recently married couples need a backdrop for the photograph that will stand on their mantelpiece, Citadella is often where they come to. Set atop Gellért Hill and offering a perfect panorama of Budapest below, Citadella refers specifically to the fortress built by the Austrians here after the Hungarian Uprising of 1848-49. Alongside are vantage points over the Danube. Above stands the Statue of Lady Liberty, brandishing a palm frond above her head, the monument a Soviet relic but also provides another classic photo opportunity. A short walk further down is a couple of terrace bars and restaurants for a quiet drink or meal al fresco.

FÜVÉSZKERT Initially the Füvészkert was popularised in Ferenc Molnár’s muchloved novel, ‘The Paul Street Boys’, a childhood favourite. At the time, few locals even knew about this gem hidden deep in the otherwise prosaic surroundings of District VIII. The Botanical Garden of Eötvös Lóránd University is a small oasis of romantic greenery. Designed as an English park, it was registered as a national nature reserve in 1960. Palm houses and rock gardens complement age-old maidenhair trees and evergreen ornamental trees.

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Geophysic Universal Time watch Philippe Jordan, Chief Conductor and Music Director in Paris and Vienna

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Unique to Budapest TRAM 2 Few journeys on public transport in any European capital are as memorable as the one offered by Budapest’s tram No.2. Hugging the Pest side of the Danube, the tram skirts round Parliament before taking in the hilltop sights of Buda on one side, downtown Pest on the other.

FUNICULAR Originally designed to shuttle civil servants up Castle Hill in the Habsburg era, the funicular now whisks tourist from Clark Ádám tér to the Royal Palace in a couple of minutes. It was revived in the 1980s, in historic style inside and out.

Offering fabulous views of the city as it ascends, the funicular carries a maximum of 48 passengers up in two cars. Tourists can then skip out at the top terminus and take a short walk up to the National Gallery.

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METRO 4 Budapest’s newest urban attraction was opened in the spring of 2014.

Comprising ten gleaming new stations, metro line 4 links the two main rail terminals of Kelenföld in south Buda and Keleti in Pest. Sleek escalators run deep down to platform level, where a strip of light flashes by passengers’ feet to indicate an incoming train. Below ground, stations display contemporary, often colourful design, juxtaposed with the functional feel of the stations themselves at street level. Green-coded metro 4 links with metro lines 2 and 3 at Keleti and Kálvin tér. If approved, an extension would take the line further north to Bosnyák tér.

KEREPESI CEMETERY Budapest’s answer to Père Lachaise, Kerepesi is where Hungary’s long departed great and good reside. Reformera politicians lie buried beneath suitably stately mausoleums, as do many writers of the same period, while stage stars have been honoured in a more whimsical fashion. Singer/actress Lujza Blaha has been remembered by a stone likeness of a four-poster bed. As in Paris, pathways and avenues guide you amid the greenery. Guided tours are available upon request.

COG-WHEEL RAILWAY Created like Nikolaus Riggenbach’s rack rail that scales the Alpine slopes of Switzerland, Budapest’s cog-wheel was originally a horse-drawn tram that ran from the Chain Bridge to Zugliget in the Buda Hills. Today the cog-wheel runs from Városmajor, via the hills of Svábhegy and Szécheny-hegy until it reaches the panoramic setting of Normafa. The cog-wheel is officially part of the city’s transport network as tram No.60.

Shopping High-end brands and home-made crafts

SHOPPING

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luxury boulevard, a Fashion Street, a commercial thoroughfare, several major malls and scores of fascinating outlets for imaginative domestic designers – Budapest’s shopping scene has developed considerably in the last two or three years alone.

The luxury boulevard, of course, is Andrássy út, the city’s answer to the Champs-Elysées. Along its most fashionable stretch, from the city centre to theatre-lined Nagymező utca, either side of the Opera House, you’ll fi nd many of the big names familiar to fashionistas in Milan or Barcelona.

Stroll towards the city centre, across Deák tér, and you come to Deák Ferenc utca, rebranded in 2008 as Fashion Street. Several highend international brands also line this relatively short, pedestrianised stretch that runs up to the main square of Vörösmarty tér.

During December, the square sets up as the city’s main Christmas market, the whole façade of the landmark Gerbeaud coffeehouse transformed into a giant, life-sized advent calendar.

Running off Vörösmarty tér, pedestrianised Váci utca is Budapest’s traditional commercial thoroughfare. Tourist-friendly souvenir stores and portrait painters now dominate, but the street still attracts its fair share of shoppers.

Nearby, look out for the Párisi udvar, also referred to as the Brudern-ház, Hungary’s fi rst shopping arcade dating back to the 19th century.

Downtown Budapest is dotted with designer boutiques, where contemporary Hungarian clothes, accessories and furniture are available. These designers and shop owners have formed their own association to promote local products. Twice a year they organise an evening of workshops and informal visits in the form of a tour: Stylewalker. Designers present their creations, and describe their work, in English if preferred.

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NUBU CONTEMPORARY HUNGARIAN FASHION NUBU – for the contemporary woman and man.

The collections of the Hungarian brand reflect on the sophisticated, modern and conscious lifestyle of the urban woman and men. The contemporary pieces combine comfort and function, discrete luxury and soft colors.

Outstanding quality, continuous experimentation, and elaborated details are the essence of NUBU. The brand offers ready-to-wear pieces, small accessories, and unique leather handbags from season to season, inspired by contemporary art.

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Hungary by hand KALOCSAI Its colours as bright as the paprika that the Danubian community of Kalocsa is also famous for producing, Kalocsai embroidery is arguably the most popular of the various hand-made forms you’ll fi nd in the main shops and markets of Budapest.

Certainly, its recent revival has kept many embroiderers of the older generation in business.

Their familiar colours of fl ame red, green, yellow and blue only came into fashion in the earlier part of the 20th century.

Among the signature floral patterns, you might spot red pepper motifs, a nod to Kalocsa itself.

Tulips, bluebells and daisies feature among the flowers.

MATYÓ The distinctive embroidery of Matyó dates back more than two centuries.

Developed in Matyóföld, in Hungary’s northeast towards Eger and the Bükk forest, most notably in Mezőkövesd, it features rich shades of blue, green, red, yellow, purple and black.

In Matyó embroidery, typically roses appear in various shapes and forms, tulip leaves and spiral patterns. Produced with its own particular stitching technique, Matyó embroidery features on aprons, women’s scarves and tablecloths, as well as shirtfronts and cuffs.

It wasn’t that long ago that it used to brighten the work clothes of both men and women, but that slowly died out in the 1950s.

SHOPPING

GOUBA

Markets GREAT MARKET HALL Budapest’s most famous market hall dates back to the 1890s. Standing by Szabadság Bridge at the southern end of Váci utca, this landmark building once featured an underground canal running from the Danube, a conduit for goods going to market. Completely restored a century later, the Great Market Hall is now a tourist sight as well as a three-storey trading centre. Hungarian wines, meats, fish, spices, and picked vegetables are the most popular items – as well as traditional strings of garlic and paprika.

Its five letters standing for Gozsdu Bazaar, GOUBA is a weekly artisans' market set up in the atmospheric, interlinking courtyards of Gozsdu udvar in the Jewish Quarter. More than 100 Hungarian designers, craftsmen, artists, ceramists and antique dealers offer their wares amid the bar-lined buildings. Jewellery, clothes, homeware, objets d’art and assorted gifts and trinkets are put out for display, while street performers and musicians provide impromptu entertainment. Home-made snacks, cakes, jams and fresh juices are also available, as well as local spirits such as pálinka.

GOUBA takes place from 10am on Sunday mornings between April and October, with a break during the height of summer. Admission is free.

WAMP WAMP is a social event held every two weeks on Erzsébet tér (Elisabeth Square) to introduce prominent Hungarian designers, artists and notable galleries to the wide public. It is more than a fair – it is also a cultural and design forum and an urban meeting point, not only for the creators and their customers but also for Budapest residents and tourists alike, as well as creative professionals, young trendsetters and families. In addition to being a kind of umbrella organisation promoting the Hungarian design scene, WAMP has also entered the international bloodstream of design: as an active member of various international projects, it introduces Hungarian artists abroad, and foreign ones in Hungary.

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Gastronomy

Michelin stars and local delights

GASTRONOMY

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here hasn’t been a better time to be a gastronome in Budapest. Michelin has recently bestowed stars and recommendations onto the city’s leading restaurants – and quality has risen significantly across the board.

It wasn’t that long ago that dining out in the Hungarian capital wasn’t the experience it is now. No, Budapest isn’t London or Paris – but, then again, nor is Amsterdam or Prague.

Today, any local establishment worth its salt has to meet exacting standards of cuisine, presentation and service. Chefs are now TV celebrities, cooking programmes abound and gastronomy is the topic du jour.

All of this, of course, is underpinned by Hungary’s great culinary tradition. Much of what is considered the best in domestic cuisine was developed a century ago, when Joseph Maréchal, József Dobos and János and Károly Gundel introduced a strong French influence into Budapest’s kitchens. Some of these names live on, not just in restaurants such as Gundel itself – still the most famous establishment a century on – but in actual dishes and desserts invented by these masters of yesteryear.

But, a century later, it needed a new generation of independent, globally aware chefs and restaurateurs to revive and reinvent these traditions. And the produce they have to work with is also top-class.

Peppers, tomatoes, spinach, indeed all kinds of vegetables here are fresh from the garden and naturally organic. Fruit too.

As for meat, Hungary has recently seen a revival of mangalica pigs and grey cattle, responsible for prime cuts in the finest restaurants.

Finally, the standard of domestic wine has improved tremendously in recent years, along with pálinka, the local clear spirit similar to grappa.

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Specialities GOOSE LIVER If any one thing defines the exquisite taste of Hungarian cuisine, it is libamáj (goose liver); served cold as an appetiser or used in a hot stew with peppers, tomatoes and onions, done in paprika sauce. Hungary is the world’s largest exporter of foie gras, France being its principal market. Here, goose dishes are particularly popular around St Martin’s Day, 11 November, when specialities are served across Budapest.

CAKES AND PASTRIES Hungarian cakes and pastries are an art. Local pastry chefs spend years perfecting their craft, relying on age-old recipes, perhaps adding their own twist of modern invention. Poppy seeds, sour cherries and ground walnuts all come into play to create these irresistible delights. Displayed in windows of the pastry shop (cukrászda), or served in classic, traditional coffeehouses, cakes such as Dobostorta, Eszterházy torta and Rigó Jáncsi provide an authentic and unmissable taste of Hungary.

HUNGARIAN TRUFFLES In August 2014, a black labrador unearthed the biggest truffle yet found in Hungary. Weighing a whopping 1.28 kg, it was found in oak forest 130 km from Budapest. The products of this burgeoning domestic industry are slowly being found on the restaurant tables of Budapest. Revered in France, where they are referred to as the ‘diamonds of the kitchen’, here truffles tend to be of the summer variety, similar to those found in Italy and Spain.

GASTRONOMY

HUNGARIAN GREY CATTLE Among the iconic symbols of Hungary, the longhorned grey cattle, szürkemarha, are among the more endearing. Grazing on the Great Hungarian Plain since time immemorial, the Hungarian grey provided prime meat until the 19th century, when its role started to decline. Recently revived, its meat is now highly sought after, the cattle feeding on natural plant food to produce a particularly delicious variety of beef. Its most popular use is in stews, pörkölt, prepared in a traditional cauldron, or bogrács.

PAPRIKA Nothing typifies Hungary more than paprika.

Fiery red, paprika differs here in that it varies in flavour from sweet to spicy. Hungary was the first country to cultivate these different varieties, in the southern city of Szeged in the 1920s. Used mainly in soups and stews, particularly the stellar fish soup or halaszlé, paprika is usually served in a small dish to sprinkle in according to taste.

MANGALICA, THE CURLY-BRISTLED PIG The Mangalica lard type of pig breed is native to Hungary, and has a 200-year history. The most conspicuous characteristic is its coat of rough black, blond, or ginger bristles covering the entire body; thinner and smoother during the summer, thicker, rougher and curlier in the winter.

Said to have the highest percentage of lard to body weight in the porcine world (on average 65-70% of the carcass is fat, and lean meat represents only 30-35%, compared to more than 50% in modern breeds), it is also widely believed that its meat and monounsaturated fat are healthier than those of other breeds. While this health “fact” has not yet been definitively proven, the dark meat has an intense flavour many of the world’s top chefs rave about, and it has been given a significant role in Hungarian gastronomy in recent years.

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Hungary – land of wine It was the Romans who brought vines to Pannonia. Vineyards were extensively cultivated around Tokaj and Eger several centuries ago; sweet Tokaji and the full-bodied red Bull’s Blood are still the best known varieties beyond Hungary’s borders today.

In more modern times, grape types such as Kékfrankos, Furmint, Hárslevelű and Muscat began to dominate. From the 1990s onwards, a select group of private winemakers across Hungary started using modern production techniques to create some of the most interesting brands in the region.

Particularly around Lake Balaton, and in Pécs and Villány in the south, these producers began to make a name for themselves in the high-end restaurants of Budapest.

Today an establishment such as the House of Hungarian Wines on Castle Hill contains more than 700 labels from Hungary’s 22 wine-producing regions.

Wine restaurants, wine boutiques and wine festivals have been set up across Budapest and Hungary as a whole. Wine is big business – though most of this business is kept within Hungary’s borders.

GASTRONOMY

TOKAJ

VILLÁNY The Villány region has played a pioneering role in the rebirth of Hungarian viniculture, and in rehabilitating an international reputation severely damaged by the “quantity, not quality” mindset of communist-era collectivisation. This is one of the most highly developed wine yielding regions in Hungary. There are two types of cultivation with divergent images tied to two large towns: Villány itself, from which the region takes its name, is famous for its fiery red wines, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, and its modern technologies, while Siklós and its white wines have been somewhat pushed into the background. This is the southernmost (also warmest and sunniest) wine region in the country, and grapes are cultivated on 2,100 hectares (about 5,189 acres).

Tokaj is synonymous with Hungarian wine. Set in the foothills of the Zemplén Mountains in Hungary’s far northeast, Tokaj is where the world-famous sweet dessert wine of the same name is produced.

Here, warm Septembers and Octobers, combined with moist conditions, create noble rot, a benevolent form of fungus affecting wine grapes. These botrytised grapes are picked one by one into buckets, puttonyos – the higher the puttonyos number, the higher the natural sugar residue.

EGER The wine of Eger is steeped in legend. Bull’s Blood, Egri Bikavér, is said to have inspired Hungarian soldiers to defend Eger Castle from Ottoman attack. Back in the 16th century, Kadarka grapes were used in its production – now Bull’s Blood is usually made with a mix of Kékfrankos, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, to name but three. Eger also produces Olaszrizling and Chardonnay whites – and is home to the famous row of wine cellars, Szépasszonyvölgy, the Valley of Beautiful Women.

LAKE BALATON Five of Hungary’s 22 wine-producing regions are to be found around Lake Balaton. The most distinctive wines here owe much to the volcanic soil of their provenance – specifically from Badacsony and the adjoining territory known as Balaton-felvidék. Badacsony in particular has its own micro-climate, its southern slopes receiving sunlight reflected from the surface of the lake. These conditions create full-bodied whites, traditionally stored in oak barrels, giving a rich taste. Szürkebarát, a descendant of Pinot gris, is a common variety here, along with Olaszrizling. The formerly dominant Kéknyelű is also making a modest comeback.

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Pálinka

Italians sip grappa, Germans neck schnapps and Hungarians…

Hungarians revere pálinka. Loosely translated as brandy, pálinka is a clear spirit, flavoured by fruit, most commonly pears, plums and apricots. It is said in Hungary that if you can make jam out of it, you can make pálinka too.

As well as these fruit flavours, there are types of pálinka whose variety depends on production techniques. The most sought-after are törköly, made from pomace, the solid remains of the grape, and ágyas, matured with fruit for at least three months.

In the last two or three years, pálinka has become immensely fashionable, distributed in tall, thin bottles with designer-friendly labels and sold in the best bars and restaurants.

How it’s consumed, however, hasn’t changed. Unlike vodka, it isn’t served chilled. Unlike tequila, it isn’t slammed. Pálinka is sipped among friends, glasses clinked beforehand, and a toast given. Produced at most celebrations, pálinka comes into its own in countryside villages, particularly for traditional occasions such as pig-slaughtering.

SZILVAPÁLINKA Any Budapest bar or restaurant is guaranteed to have szilvapálinka, made with plums. Since Hungary joined the EU, the international rules on pálinka production have been as clear as the drink itself. Only fruit spirits mashed, distilled, matured and bottled in Hungary can be called pálinka – with the exception of certain apricot varieties in Austria.

Even more specifically, certain types of szilvapálinka, namely Szatmári and Békési, must have been produced in those particular territories. Békési itself is created with red plums harvested from the valley of the river Kőrös.

KÖRTEPÁLINKA The most famous type of pear pálinka, körtepálinka, derives from the late-season pears of Göcseji in Zala County close to the Slovene border. Here the soil is perfect to produce varieties such as Williams, Packham’s Triumph and Conference, all of which go into pálinka production.

GASTRONOMY

CONCENTRATED INNOVATION Á LA TOKAJ

Get to know one of Hungary’s most innovative pálinka and spirits producers, Tokaj Spirit!

Tokaj Spirit started operations in 2012, but the continuous growth of the company dates back to 2014, following a minor facelift. Tokaj Spirit’s young, enthusiastic and creative team set itself the goal to present TokajHegyalja, already famous for its wines, with a new, thus far undiscovered image through the production of special spirits.

Few people know that the region’s climate and soil character are not only excellent for grape production, but also for other fruits, such as black currant and blackberry.

Tokaj Spirit pálinkas are produced from fruits grown in Hegyalja, and with all due care, to make the opening of each bottle a solemn moment. Sour cherry, forest dogberry and black currant are just a few examples of our pálinka selection, from which the full range stretches to a dozen flavours.

But Tokaj Spirit’s really unique feature are its spirit innovations. The team is proud of its Pálinkabefőtt, which is a re-definition of bedded sour cherry pálinka; as well as Hungary’s strongest pálinka with an alcohol content of 80 degrees; Mézeskalácslikőr (honey-cake liqueur) is the top product of the Christmas season; but spirits treated to cigar distillation, and spirits kept in Tokaj aszú casks for many years are also available.

Tokaj Spirit’s key product, however, is not a pálinka, but a liqueur that is pálinkabased and contains five kilograms of fresh sour cherries, and has won the “Best bedded sour cherry of Europe” award at the Destillata international drink fair.

The dark red spirit, called “Glam meggy”, is growing in popularity thanks to its rich scent and flavour and the painted laced bottle that has now become a symbol of our company.

We do not have enough space here to report about everything that happens at Tokaj Spirit, but we trust that ever more people will become familiar with this young and dynamic brand.

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Stylish wine bars in Budapest Just a decade ago, one could hardly find a genuine fine wine bar in Hungary’s capital but now they are proliferating, reflecting the growing interest in Hungarian wine from both locals and foreigners alike. Here is a selection of some of the highlights of Budapest’s burgeoning wine bar scene.

Close to Jaszai Mári tér, Drop Shop offers a formidable selection of foreign wines but also some exciting Hungarian bottlings, such as Gizella’s 47 Csepp – a dry Hárslevelű-Furmint blend, which is the joint work of the Drop Shop team and Gizella winemaker László Szilágyi. The design, by Kata Sütő, successfully integrates a classic wine bar feel into a sleek modern setting.

Sütő’s cutting-edge interior design skills are also on show at DiVino, which showcases the wine of the now more than 30 members of the Junibor movement, which comprises a youthful, dynamic group of young winemakers, many the offspring of established winemakers and mostly under the age of 35. The first bar, DiVino Bazilka, just off Szent István tér, became such a popular fixture that a second, DiVino Gozsdu, soon followed.

Budapest’s buzzing District VII is also home to other exciting wine bars. On Király utca, the Kadarka Wine Bar pulls in a buoyant wine lover crowd with its extensive selection that includes plenty of wines hard to find elsewhere, while the elegantly modern ETAP offers a well thought-out selection that plays nicely to Hungary’s vinous strengths. Nearby, Doblo is an intimate setting offering a solid wine selection, plus lots of pálinka, served within its charming brick-walled interior. A new addition to the area is Képzeld El, which is receiving rave reviews. Over in District IX, a very reasonably priced wine list with some real surprises can be found at Vinopiano, which is part of the same building that houses craft beer Mecca Élesztő.

Back in District V, Innio continues to appeal to the 20-30-something professional crowd with its dazzling combination of contemporary design and increasingly innovative wine and food offerings. Service is by snazzy enomatic wine dispensing machines at CultiVini, which is a neat spot for getting some valuable wine tasting in at your own pace without getting disturbed by overbearing servers and sommeliers eager to show off their wine knowledge. However, help is on hand from the expert, English-speaking staff should you be looking for it. Carpe Diem is a highly welcome addition to District V – and the Budapest wine scene overall – with its exciting range of foreign wines. The St. Andrea Wine & Gourmet Bar puts the elegant wines the noted Eger producer under the spotlight in a suitably elegant building. The wine list includes some that can only be found here, or in the cellar itself.

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GASTRONOMY

The Gourmet Metropolis BUDAPEST’S BEST FINE DINING RESTAURANTS

Alabárdos

Bock Bisztró Pest Borkonyha

Address: I. Országház utca 2.

Telephone: +36 1 356 0851 Reservations: +36 1 356 0851 E-mail: alabardos@t-online.hu Website: www.alabardos.hu Head chef: Attila Bicsár Open: Mon-Fri 7pm-11pm, Sat noon-3pm, 7pm-11pm Cuisine: Hungarian Seats: 45 + 25 First opened: 1964

Address: VII. Erzsébet krt. 43–49.

Telephone: +36 1 321 0340 Reservations: +36 1 321 0340 E-mail: info@bockbisztro.hu Website: www.bockbisztro.hu Head chef: Pál Szalkai Open: Mon–Sat noon-24pm Closed on Sundays and Holidays Seats: 40–50 First opened: 2004

Address: V. Sas utca 3.

Telephone: +36 1 234 5678 Reservations: +36 1 234 5678 E-mail: borkonyha@t-online.hu Website: borkonyha.hu Head chef: Ákos Sárközi Open: Mon-Sat noon-midnight Cuisine: Wine restaurant Seats: 50 First opened: 2010

Located in the Castle District, hence the slight historic touches in the décor, the 50-year-old Alabárdos could long have offered a tired tourist menu and still made money. Instead, it creates painstakingly conceived dishes such as roasted fillet of pike-perch with broccoli variations, saffron-seasoned pearl onions and sausage crumbs – and the grilled liver and breast of duck with home-made pasta is a favourite. All is beautifully presented in contemporary fashion, juxtaposing with the time-honoured surroundings viewed from the window. Closed, surprisingly, on Sundays.

‘No one has gone broke just because he tried to please his guests.’ The most important principles of hospitality are today the same as they have always been: to produce excellent dishes of high quality, serve them with style and temper. Greetings from our corporate chef: Lajos Biró, executive chef: Viktor Varju and head chef Zoltan Danó.

Set in the restaurant-swamped streets of Budapest’s business quarter behind St Stephen’s Basilica, the ‘Wine Kitchen’ has to go that extra yard to attract discerning nine-to-fivers.

And that, Tamás Horváth, Zoltán Kalocsai and team, including chef Ákos Sárközi, most certainly do. Here French and Mediterranean bistro fare is complemented by 200 types of mainly Hungarian wines, 45 available by the glass. There’s also a nice familiar feel to the place – Tamás and Zoltán are old schoolmates who worked together at the Magnáskert as headwaiter and sommelier respectively.

GASTRONOMY

Fausto’s

Salon

Address: VII. Dohány utca 3.

Telephone: +36 30 589 1813 Reservations: +36 30 589 1813 E-mail: faustos@fausto.hu Website: www.fausto.hu Head chef: Giorgio Chavicchiolo Open: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, 7pm-11pm, Sat 6pm-11pm Cuisine: Italian Seats: 50 First opened: 1994

Address: Boscolo Budapest, VII. Erzsébet körút 9.

Telephone: +36 1 234 5678 Reservations: +36 1 234 5678 E-mail: newyorkcafe@newyork.boscolo.com Website: www.salonrestaurant.hu Head chef: András Wolf Open: Tue-Sat 6pm-midnight Cuisine: Hungarian Seats: 25-30 First opened: 2010

For the last 20 years, Fausto’s has been at the top of Budapest’s culinary scene. Owner Fausto Di Vora learned his trade in Seoul, New York and Los Angeles, before opening the high-quality Fausto’s with chef Giorgio Cavicchiolo. Fish is still transported double quick from the market in Venice to feature on a small but imaginatively conceived à la carte menu. The starters are works of art – and the daily three-course lunch, considering the quality of produce, presentation and service, is a snip at HUF 5,000.

Under executive chef András Wolf, the Salon in the Boscolo Budapest hotel has made its name with its reinvention of traditional Hungarian dishes. Opened in 2010, the Salon provides a seven-course menu, each dish – saddle of venison, stuffed rabbit with pumpkin, mustard and lentils – complemented by a specific Tokaji, Villány or Kadarka wine. A four-course selection and vegetarian menu are also offered, as well as the best dishes à la carte. Desserts are also matched with specific wines, either sweet treats or a cheese selection.

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GASTRONOMY

Nobu

Onyx

Costes Downtown

Address: Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, V. Erzsébet tér 7-8 Telephone: +36 1 429 4242 Reservations: +36 1 429 4242 E-mail: reservation@noburestaurant.hu Website: www.noburestaurants.com/budapest Head chef: Gábor Schreiner Open: Every day noon-3.30pm, 6pm-11.45pm Cuisine: Japanese/Peruvian Seats: 80 + 50 First opened: 2010

Address: V. Vörösmarty tér 7-8.

Telephone: +36 30 508 0622 Reservations: +36 30 508 0622 E-mail: onyx@onyxrestaurant.hu Website: www.onyxrestaurant.hu Head chef: Tamás Széll Executive chef: Szabina Szulló Open: Tue-Fri noon-2.30pm, 6.30pm-11pm, Sat 6.30pm-11pm Cuisine: Hungarian Seats: 58 First opened: 2007

Address: V. Vigyázó Ferenc utca 5.

Telephone: +36 1 920 1015 Reservations: +36 1 920 1015 E-mail: info@costesdowntown.hu, reservation@costesdowntown.huu Website: www.costesdowntown.hu Head chef: Tiago Sabarigo Executive chef: Miguel Rocha Vieira Open: Mon-Sun 06.30am–23pm Seats: 68 First opened: 2015

Co-owner Robert De Niro himself came to town for the long-awaited opening of this upscale sushi chain in the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, as did Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, the ‘Nobu’ famed for his fusion of Japanese and Peruvian cuisine in similar restaurants from Beverly Hills to Beijing. This Budapest branch offers the same black cod delicacies that helped earn Nobu worldwide renown. Tuna, seabass and yellowtail fish also feature heavily on the menu, in sushi, sashimi and tempura forms – the tempura menu alone is 15 items long.

Another of Budapest’s Michelin-starred restaurants, the lavish Onyx operates on the upstairs floor of the historic Gerbeaud coffeehouse, on the main square of Vörösmarty tér. Opened in 2007, Onyx quickly gained a justifiable reputation under executive chef Szabina Szulló and sous-chef Tamás Széll. A current, selective, main-course menu includes John Dory in bouillabaisse sauce, venison and black pudding, and suckling pig with cabbage and quince. From Tuesdays to Fridays, look out for the weekly changing lunchtime menu. There are tasting menus too, to be ordered for the entire table.

The sibling of the Michelin star winning restaurant Costes, Costes Downtown opened in the city centre, practically in the heart of Budapest, on the ground floor of Prestige Hotel, and in no time has won a star of its own. Its modern yet cosy design will impress even the most exclusive negotiating partners, but due to the warm welcome no one will feel uncomfortable. The most important feature of Costes DT’s cuisine is the constant alternation of flavours and textures, whether it be foie gras terrine, pumpkin soup or chocolate dessert.

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GASTRONOMY

Best new restaurants TAMA BUDAPEST With its pleasant interior, impeccable service and unparalleled culinary specialties, TAMA Budapest welcomes all guests who are open to the novelties of gastronomy, enjoy domestic flavours and like to indulge their senses, and expect the highest quality.

While respecting the traditions and ingredients of Hungarian cuisine, the technology of food preparation in our kitchen is more in line with the style of Italy: light, and rich in flavour and details. www.tamabudapest.hu 1051 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 22.

ESCA STUDIO RESTAURANT ESCA studio restaurant’s chef/owner Gábor Fehér spent several years in reputable Hungarian restaurants, collected experience in Denmark and then graduated in Paris’ famous culinary school Le Cordon Bleu.

Afterwards he came back to Budapest and launched his remarkable, small and intimate restaurant in the heart of the city. Situated in Dohány street – in the middle of the Jewish Quarter – it holds up to 16 people. Besides Nordic style meals, ESCA also presents Scandinavian influences in its interior design. www.escastudiorestaurant.hu 1074 Budapest, Dohány u. 29.

BAALBEK Located in downtown Budapest, Hungary’s first Lebanese restaurant, Baalbek has coloured the Buddha-Bar Hotel Budapest Klotild Palace’s gastronomic palette even further since 2015. This new, hip place for lovers of oriental cuisine prepares every traditional dish halal (in accordance with Islamic law) and offers all-time favourite meals, such as a wide variety of mezzes, mixed grill plates and fresh salads.

Besides bringing the Middle East’s most exciting flavours to the city, Baalbek’s cosy terrace welcomes guests every day with authentic Arabic tea and rich shisha selection to complete the culinary journey. www.buddhabarhotelbudapest.com 1052 Budapest, Váci u. 34.

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Rich Culture From grand opera to contemporary art

RICH CULTURE

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udapest is awash with culture. World-class concert halls and several domestic symphony orchestras to perform in them, half-a-dozen major theatres and a thriving gallery scene – not to mention a glittering Opera House – await the culture-hungry visitor.

Named after its Hungarian founder, Franz Liszt, the Music Academy is both a concert venue second-to-none and Hungary’s most prestigious music university. Reopened in 2013 after major renovation, it stands by a statue of Liszt – there’s another a short walk away, outside the Opera House.

In between runs Nagymező utca, aka the Budapest Broadway, steeped in theatrical legend. Statues and footprints of famous thespians decorate the pavement amid the theatres where they made their names.

This is the city’s historic cultural quarter. Around the time of the 2000 millennium, a new one was created, by the Danube in south Pest. Budapest had long needed a prestigious national theatre, after the much-loved one that had stood for six decades was destroyed in 1965.

Its former site is Blaha Lujza tér, named after the revered singer who once performed there. The new theatre was opened in 2002, the façade of the old one a design feature in the waterside park surrounding it.

In 2005, it was joined by the Palace of Arts, containing the Béla Bártok National Concert Hall, where leading domestic and international symphony orchestras play. In the same building, referred to as MÜPA for short, are the Festival Theatre and the Ludwig Museum.

The Ludwig is the city’s main showcase for modern and contemporary art, its original establishment founded in 1989.

It heads an ever-changing but ever-fascinating art scene worth investigating.

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RICH CULTURE

Palaces of culture

URÁNIA CINEMA This sumptuous venue really is a modernday working cinema – although it started life as a live theatre, in 1899. Screening fi lms as part of its schedule from 1900, it began operating as a full-time cinema in 1916.

Retaining its original Moorish style, today it comprises a 700-seat main auditorium and two smaller screens. An EU-heritage building, the Uránia is one of the main hosts for the Budapest Film Festival.

RICH CULTURE

FRANZ LISZT MUSIC ACADEMY The Music Academy was established in 1875, in the residence used by its founder, Franz Liszt, when he was in Budapest. It later moved to Andrássy út then, in 1907, to this Art Nouveau masterpiece of a building created

by Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergi.

Renovated a century later, it was reopened in 2013. It has always been a concert hall, music university and library, home to the Liszt Collection of books and manuscripts. Liszt himself still sits outside, in statue form.

ERKEL THEATRE Ferenc Erkel composed the Hungarian anthem and was the fi rst music director of the Opera House. In 1911, another theatre was opened across town, in District VIII. Its intention was to provide the general public with affordable opera – but it didn’t survive World War I. It became a theatre and, after World War II, was renamed after Erkel. The theatre underwent a six-year renovation from 2007 and now acts as a second stage for the main Opera House.

OPERA HOUSE The grand dame of Budapest’s palaces of culture, the Opera House dominates the showcase boulevard of Andrássy út. Opened before Emperor Franz Josef in 1884, the Opera House was reopened exactly a century later after major renovation.

In its history, it has been graced by the world’s most prestigious orchestras, and by music directors such as Gustav Mahler and Otto Klemperer.

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RICH CULTURE

Art – modern and contemporary

VICTOR VASARELY Arguably Hungary’s most famous artist of the modern era, Pécs-born Victor Vasarely made his name in France. Considered the founder of the op art movement, Vasarely created a style of geometric abstract art, its optical illusions having an almost hypnotic effect. Using techniques learned as a graphic designer at advertising agencies in Paris, Vasarely produced enough paintings and sculptures to have his own museum in France from 1970. In 1987, a 400-piece Vasarely Museum opened at the Zichy Palace in Óbuda, near Árpád Bridge in Budapest.

MOHOLY-NAGY A pioneering photographer and a professor at the Bauhaus school in Berlin, László MoholyNagy is known for his bringing together of technology and design. Also a painter, MoholyNagy had a major effect on a generation of art and design students in Berlin – until he was forced to leave for London, and then America. There he opened a School, later an Institute, of Design.

RICH CULTURE

ISTVÁN NÁDLER A major figure in the neo-avant-garde movement of the 1960s, Visegrádborn István Nádler still exhibits regularly around Hungary. He is also known as being one of the three founders – along with Imre Bak and János Fajó – of the so-called Budapest Workshop in 1971. They had previously featured in two influential exhibitions, both named ‘Iparterv’, or ‘Industrial Plan’, held in 1968 and 1969. The Budapest Workshop was a focus for the city’s creative community, and its influence stretched further into design and literature.

LÁSZLÓ FEHÉR The prolific László Fehér is known for his many works in styles such as neo-avant-garde and hyperrealism. In this contemporary form of art, artists use photographic images as the reference point from which they can create a piece with a higher defi nition and more detail.

Fehér’s works have been exhibited at the prestigious Musée d’Art Moderne Saint-Étienne Métropole, and feature in Vienna’s Sammlung Albertina, and the Hungarian National Gallery and the Ludwig Museum in the Palace of Arts in Budapest.

IMRE BAK Budapest-born Imre Bak was one of the artists involved in the Budapest Workshop from 1971 onwards. In the 1990s, his paintings began to feature geometric structures, their perspective and bright colours having a pleasing effect on the viewer. His works hang in the prestigious Ludwig Museum in Budapest’s Palace of Arts.

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Spas & sport

Where to bathe, play and watch

SPAS & SPORT

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port, health, recreation and relaxation have always been major attractions of Hungary’s tourist industry. Budapest is one of the few capital cities with a surfeit of spa waters, and therapeutic soaking has been practised here since Roman times.

Reactivated under the Ottomans, Budapest’s bathing culture was developed in the early 20th century, when ornate bathhouses were built. Promoting the city as a spa destination, establishments such as the Gellért, the Széchenyi and, most recently, the Rudas, have all seen major modern renovations and now are essential stops on any visit to the city.

These have become more inclusive and tourist-friendly, some doubling up as lidos to provide a whole day of family-friendly leisure.

Alongside, health tourism has flourished. Spas, day spas and many high-end hotels now provide a whole raft of treatments, therapies and massages.

Just as Budapest has long been a spa destination choice, so Hungary has always excelled in the water at major sports events.

For generations, dating right back to 1896, Hungarians have won Olympic golds for their sporting prowess.

As well as enjoying success in the pool and on the pitch, Hungary is well versed in hosting sports events. In 2014, Budapest was among a select handful of cities chosen to host matches for football’s European Championships of 2020.

The biggest event on the sporting calendar is the Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, 20 km northeast of Budapest. Established in 1986, the Hungarian Grand Prix brings tens of thousands of sports fans to the capital every summer.

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SPAS & SPORT

Baths GELLÉRT BATHS The most famous baths in town, the Gellért Spa is part of the equally classic Art Nouveau hotel of the same name.

Built at the same time, the baths were also an essential stop on the Grand Tour for high-spending visitors during Budapest’s Silver Age between the wars.

They haven’t lost their cachet since.

Consisting of an outdoor pool, a wave bath and extensive sunbathing area, they retain their historic character inside, where the spa baths and saunas operated as single-sex attractions until relatively recently. All was extensively renovated in 2008. Hotel guests may access the spa for free – everyone else has to pay top dollar.

SZÉCHENYI BATHS No trip to Budapest is complete without a visit to the Széchenyi. The city’s busiest and most tourist-friendly spa, the Széchenyi provides the backdrop for the iconic image of bathers playing chess in the waters. This is one of three outdoor pools, complemented by saunas, steam rooms, relaxation areas and more baths at varying temperatures inside.

There’s a terrace restaurant too. Of all the baths, this is the one where you can most easily spend the whole day.

LUKÁCS BATHS Originally part of a spa hotel opened in the 1880s, the Lukács Baths have been helping to heal people for generations. As you enter the leafy grounds, you’ll notice a wall of plaques from visitors down the ages, testifying to the efficacity of the waters. Once inside, there’s a series of pools and saunas, with a large pool outside, sheltered by the complex buildings. Staff in white coats patrol the warrenous cavern of corridors and walkways – the Lukács is the one spa in town that feels that it is used for medicinal rather than leisure purposes. It can still provide a pleasant day out – without the lido feel of the Széchenyi.

RUDAS BATHS The most recent of Budapest’s baths to be renovated, the Rudas Baths near the Buda side of Elizabeth Bridge now feature a panoramic pool roof and restaurant, as well as tastefully restored spa areas. Despite this 21st-century makeover, the Rudas still echoes its distinct Ottoman roots – it was first built and developed in the 1550s and 1560s. In another recent development, the spa now allows men and women to bathe together at weekends, with allnight opening hours.

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he Hungarian Grand Prix is the biggest event in the local sporting calendar. Estimated to bring in HUF 20 billion annual revenue – HUF 13 billion in direct takings and HUF 6 billion in indirect advertising for Hungary – the weekend attracts 200,000 paying customers, 80% of them foreign.

It was introduced in 1986 by Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who wanted a Grand Prix circuit behind the Iron Curtain.

The original idea was a race through the streets of Budapest, à la Monaco. Instead, a track based on the same concept was built in a pretty valley 20 km northeast of Budapest in Mogyoród.

The Hungaroring was characterised by its twisty, turning circuit and the near perfect view afforded to all spectators by the bowlshaped landscape. This meant advertisers could display more billboards as cars slowed around the bends in the fierce heat of Hungary in mid-summer. The track was modified to make overtaking less of a rarity and improvements were made to the press, VIP and pit areas, making the Hungaroring a pleasant place to work and watch. To keep the cash tills ringing all year, the complex now features a go-kart track and adventure park.

Formula 1

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Golf

ungary now has eight, 18-hole golf courses across the country, all developed since the early 1990s. In 1902 Count Géza Andrássy, (the man behind Polo here) first swung a golf club and brought the sport to Hungary.

Golf was at its height in the 1930s, when world-famous golfer Bobby Jones played in Buda. After WWII, a long break occurred till the 1980s when the Magyar Golf Club opened in Kisoroszi. Golf was, at first, slow to catch on as a modern-day pastime, and this course remained at nineholes until the arrival of the golf clubs at Birdland and Hencse. Kisoroszi was then extended to a full 18 holes.

There are also several nine-hole courses in and around Budapest – see hungolf.hu for details.

Polo T

he sport of kings was developed in India under the British, who then took it back home and it spread to all over the world in the late 19th century. Hungary enjoyed its most successful polo era before the war, when the Honvéd Polo Club won the European title and the national team beat Germany at the 1936 Olympics.

It was Count Géza Andrássy who introduced the sport to this country, and given Hungary’s proud tradition of horsemanship, it proved easy to learn. Today, matches are held throughout the season, which opens in April, with the Diplomats’ Tournament in June, the President’s Cup in July and the Hungarian Cup in September. All take place in Tabajd, southwest of Budapest. For details, see magyarpoloclub.hu.

ZENITH

Watch Manufacture Since 1865 Zenith is a brand that has been bringing style and substance to the wrists of watchmaking cognoscenti all over the world for more than 150 years. Founded in Le Locle in 1865 by a visionary watchmaker, Georges Favre-Jacot, the Manufacture Zenith gained swift recognition for the precision of its chronometers, with which it has won 2,333 chronometry prizes in a century and a half of existence: an absolute record. Having earned fame thanks to its legendary El Primero calibre – an integrated automatic column-wheel chronograph movement launched in 1969 and endowed with a high frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour that ensures short-time measurements accurate to the nearest 1/10th of a second – the Manufacture Zenith has since developed over 600 movement variations.

Zenith remains one of a select group of traditional luxury watch brands to produce all its movements in-house, the industry’s ultimate token of quality.

Engaged in several vintage territories such as classic cars, Zenith currently offers a collection of exclusive and ageless finely crafted timepieces designed for sartorially minded men and women. Zenith’s rich heritage, tradition, passion and pursuit of excellence reflect the legacy of its slogan “Legends are forever”.

ELITE 6150 It is the face of the Elite collection. Its pure lines embody contemporary elegance from Zenith. Newly released and yet already timeless.

Already a must-have, this timelessly elegant watch incorporates a sure token of the accomplished skills cultivated by a true Manufacture: a state-of-the-art in-house movement with a four-day power reserve. With its classic design tinged with a hint of modernity, the Elite 6150 is a bridge between Zenith’s proud heritage and its resolutely future-oriented attitude. The legend moves ever onwards.

HERITAGE CRONOMETRO TIPO CP-2, TRIBUTE TO A LEGENDARY WATCH In recent years, the 2,500 units produced

by Zenith in the 1960s for the Italian armed forces have been fetching sky-high prices on the vintage market. The iconic TIPO CP-2 is one of the historical treasures of the Manufacture in Le Locle. To celebrate this legendary timepiece, Zenith is launching a modern version entirely in tune with the spirit and design of the original: introducing the Heritage Cronometro TIPO CP-2, the latest addition to the Heritage collection.

The history of the Manufacture Zenith harbours priceless treasures composed of fabled models that have shaped the history of watchmaking. From the early 1960s onwards, the Italian military chose Zenith to equip the pilots of its Navy and Air Force. The Rome-based distributor “A. Cairelli” handled delivery of the 2,500 chronographs that were still being worn by pilots of the U.S. Lockheed F104 Starfighter aircraft in the late 1970s to the Marina Militare and the Aeronautica Militare Italiana.

The military chronograph codenamed TIPO CP-2 featured two counters in its initial version and its 43 mm diameter ensured a degree of legibility that was essential for pilots.

The Heritage Cronometro TIPO CP-2 was universally appreciated by its users

and once again demonstrated Zenith’s expertise in mastering time measurement.

From the early 20th century onwards, a number of different armed forces entrusted Zenith with equipping their military with models meeting their demanding technical specifications in terms of reliability, indications, readability, as well as their robustness in every situation.

In light of aficionados’ tireless enthusiasm for this exceptional timepiece, the Manufacture Zenith is issuing a new 1,000-piece limited series of its historic chronograph.

This time around it has the most iconic movement of them all: the famous Zenith El Primero, another history-maker beating to the rhythm of 36,000 vibrations per hour.

Entirely respectful of its predecessor’s spirit and characteristics, this new version of the chronograph also brings the convenience of automatic winding with a 50-hour power reserve.

Few modern chronographs so fully respect the form and spirit of the models that inspired them. The Manufacture Zenith once again asserts itself by rising to a challenge on a par with its ambitions: transcending time!

The TIPO CP-2 chronograph belongs to the exclusive circle of legendary chronographs that have earned the status of exceptional timepieces in both military and watchmaking history.

Zenith watches are available in Budapest exclusively at W Watch de Luxe, 1052 Budapest, Kristóf tér 6. www.wdl.hu | Phone +36 1 411 0430 www.zenith-watches.com

Discover Budapest Explore Europe’s prettiest capital

Castle District Historic hilltop attractions

CASTLE DISTRICT

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he Castle District is the first stop on any sightseeing tour of Budapest. Easily accessed by the funicular from Clark Ádám tér, it contains the city’s main tourist attractions.

The Royal Castle, Matthias Church and Fishermen’s Bastion are clustered here, surrounded by quiet cobbled streets with the spectacular panorama of the Pest embankment spread out below.

This is tourist central, so be prepared for crowds.

After your funicular makes the short climb up Castle Hill, you are immediately greeted by a statue of a turul, a mythical bird whose legend is attached to the history of the original Magyar tribes settling in this part of the Carpathian Basin.

Hungarians first settled atop Castle Hill after the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. Around the same time, King Béla IV made Buda his capital, building a castle and a church here.

Destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt, these twin landmarks would bear the scars of Buda’s many invasions over the next millennium.

The most recent conflict, the 31st to date, came in 1945, when bitter hand-to-hand conflict took place between Nazi and Soviet troops while citizens hid away in their cellars.

Much that you see today around Castle Hill has been reconstructed since then.

The Royal Palace itself, the first attraction you come to as you walk up from the funicular, was rebuilt over three decades after the war. A sprawling complex of wings, courtyards and cultural institutions, it remains a mixture of styles, with little

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CASTLE DISTRICT

“THE ORIGINAL PALACE WAS SUMPTUOUS, WITH ORNATE FOUNTAINS AND RUNNING WATER FOR GUESTS OF THE ROYAL COURT.” left of the grand residence developed under ‘Good’ King Mátyás in the second half of the 15th century.

Statuary from the medieval monarch’s court, created in the style of the Renaissance, is on display in the Budapest History Museum in Wing E of the Royal Palace. His original palace was sumptuous, with ornate fountains and running water for guests of the royal court.

Fifty years later, the Turks took Buda, causing partial damage to the palace, which was reduced to rubble when the Holy League retook it in 1686.

The present-day structure of the palace is mainly down to Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, who commissioned a new complex in the late 1700s. Again, some 150 years later, much of the 200-room building was severely damaged during the War of Independence between the Hungary and Austria.

After Budapest became a twin capital in the Habsburg Empire in 1867, the palace was revamped in neo-baroque fashion by the two leading architects of the day, Alajos Hauszmann and Miklós Ybl. Around the same time, Frigyes Schulek was rebuilding nearby Matthias Church and creating the similarly ornate look-out feature of Fishermen’s Bastion alongside.

The main attractions in today’s palace are the Hungarian National Gallery, the National Széchényi Library and the Budapest History Museum.

CASTLE DISTRICT

“AFTER BUDAPEST BECAME TWIN CAPITAL OF THE HABSBURG EMPIRE IN 1867, THE PALACE WAS REVAMPED.” Grand in scale, the Hungarian National Gallery is almost too big to take in over one visit. Along with sculptures and graphics, its vast permanent collection covers more than half a millennium of Hungarian art. Highlights include works by the nation’s most renowned artists, Mihály Munkácsy, József Rippl-Rónai and Tivadar Koszta Csontváry, from around the turn of the last century.

Further treasures from the Golden Age of Buda under Mátyás are housed in the equally huge National Széchényi Library. In the archives are the remains of the king’s library, said to be one of the largest in the world at the time.

Out front are millions of books, documents and manuscripts donated to the Hungarian State in 1802.

The story of Hungary’s capital is told in the Budapest History Museum, which runs from prehistoric times to the present day. Note the displays relating to victory over the Ottomans in 1686 and Budapest’s role as capital of the short-lived Soviet republic in 1919.

The two other major attractions of Castle Hill are a five-minute walk away on Szentháromság tér. Towering

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over this focal square is Matthias Church, named after the king who was married here on two occasions, Mátyás.

When rebuilding the church in the late 1800s, architect Frigyes Schulek managed to incorporate elements from the original

“THE FISHERMEN’S BASTION IS INTERSPERSED WITH VANTAGE POINTS, EACH OFFERING A VIEW OF PEST CITYSCAPE” medieval church with ornate features typical of Habsburg Budapest. The most striking is the multi-coloured roof, created by bright tiles from the renowned Zsolnay factory in Pécs.

Alongside, Schulek complemented the bright church with the faux-historic

confectionery of the Fishermen’s Bastion.

Comprising seven turrets representing the Hungarian tribes who came here in the late 800s, it is interspersed with a row of vantage points, each offering a fabulous view of the Danube and Pest cityscape.

Moving from here, past the statue of St Stephen, Hungary’s first king, you come to the corner of Úri utca. There, another equestrian statue, that of the Habsburg hussar András Hadik, stands. Tradition has it that local students come here before their end-of-year exams to rub the horse’s testicles for good luck.

Recently reopened below Castle Hill, the Várkert Bazár is a faithful and stylish recreation of the original structure created

by Miklós Ybl in the 1880s. Dramatically illuminated, it brings back to life the former Buda Youth Park of Socialist-era concerts and public events.

Running along the embankment, the Várkert Bazár now offers ample space for all manner of exhibitions.

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GellĂŠrt Hill Spa waters and spectacular views

GELLÉRT HILL

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ellért Hill is named after the Italian missionary who helped convert Hungary to Christianity in the 11th century.

In a pagan uprising, he was thrown down this slope into the Danube, thus becoming Hungary’s first Christian martyr. For his troubles, he was commemorated with a statue that stands halfway up the hill, overlooking Elizabeth Bridge, usually with a waterfall gushing below his feet.

Beneath the unfortunate saint, the recently renovated Rudas Baths now makes panoramic use of its riverside location, while the nearby Rác still awaits reopening.

Healing waters, have always been a major attraction around the foot of Gellért Hill. The landmark Gellért Hotel, the accommodation du choix during Budapest’s Silver Age between the wars, was built around its equally famous spa baths. Its art nouveau façade still echoes the days of the Grand Tour, when there was even a seaplane jetty right outside, waiting to take high-paying passengers to Lake Balaton.

Today, the square outside the hotel, Gellért tér, contains the city’s most recent form of transport, a stop on the new metro line 4. The station itself is worth a look, a bright example of contemporary urban design, complete with a water feature as you reach street level.

Even before the recent introduction of a metro station, Gellért tér was always a major transport intersection, with trams crisscrossing Buda or heading over to the central hubs of Pest. Carrying them over there, Szabadság Bridge also features statues of the turul, the mythical bird of prey attached in legend to the Hungarian colonisation of this region.

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Once named after – and unveiled by – Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef, the bridge was one of many buildings and monuments erected for the Hungarian Millennial celebrations of 1896.

As if to accentuate the watery theme, in front of the Gellért Hotel is an arch-topped fountain, designed to represent the city’s eight natural springs.

As you leave the Gellért Hotel, keeping the spa and outdoor wave pool to your left, you’ll notice to the right a rather stern entrance. This is the Cave Church, founded by the monks of St Paul in the 1920s. Caves run the length of Gellért Hill – it is thought

“SZABADSÁG BRIDGE FEATURES STATUES OF THE TURUL, THE MYTHICAL BIRD OF PREY ATTACHED IN LEGEND TO THE HUNGARIAN CONQUEST.” that this particular one has been inhabited for some four millennia – but this is the only one used as a place of worship. Closed after 1945, the Cave Church was reopened after 1989 and now offers curious visitors a somewhat spooky experience.

Gellért Hill itself is 230 metres high, and it’s a steep climb from the side of the hotel up a series of steps and paths – which also zig-zag up from the Gellért Statue on the other side of the hill.

With the view below becoming ever more dramatic, you slowly reach a destination visible from all over the city: the statue of Citadella.

Representing Lady Liberty, this 14-metrehigh monument has a somewhat chequered history. It was created by Zsigmond KisfaludiStróbl, some say originally in memory

GELLÉRT HILL

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“REPRESENTING LADY LIBERTY, THIS 14-METRE-HIGH MONUMENT HAS A SOMEWHAT CHEQUERED HISTORY.” of István Horthy, eldest son of Hungary’s Regent Admiral Miklós. Horthy junior, a fighter pilot, who died in a plane crash in 1942.

Hungary’s new Soviet leaders decided to have the sculptor adapt the statue to celebrate the Liberation of Budapest by the Red Army. The inscription around the base sang the praises of the Soviet heroes who fell in 1945, while Stalin’s soldiers were depicted in dramatic poses.

Since 1989, the words have been changed to ‘all those’ who gave their lives for Hungarian freedom, while the bronze soldiers themselves have been moved to join the grandiose likenesses of

Omorovicza Luxury Bp ad 2-1 Dec2016.indd 1

Lenin, Marx and Engels in Memorial Park on the city’s southern outskirts.

Though many still call the monument the ‘Citadella’, this name actually refers to the fortress that spreads out immediately below. It was built by ruthless Habsburg commander Julius Jacob von Haynau in the immediate aftermath of the failed Hungarian uprising of 1848-49. Better known in Hungary for his hanging of 13 rebel generals in Arad – an event still marked by some to this day by the Hungarian custom of not clinking beer glasses – von Haynau had the fortress built by forced labour.

It remained a manned Habsburg garrison long after the Compromise of 1867 that made Budapest and Vienna twin capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Today, this shoe-shape structure still commands a superb – and strategic – view over the Hungarian capital, one enjoyed by partygoers at a nightclub that occasionally operates here.

THE CITY OF HEALING SPRINGS

HYDRO MINERAL TRANSFERENCE ™

The Omorovicza story begins over 2,000 years ago, when the curative properties of Hungary’s healing waters were discovered and the first baths were built in Budapest.

Hungary’s mineral-rich thermal waters have been prized ever since. Here the earth’s crust is thinner, so waters gather more beneficial minerals as they journey to the surface. This, combined with an unusually high number of natural springs, has earned Budapest the title of ’International Spa City’.

In the 1800’s, the Omorovicza family built the beautiful Racz Bath in Budapest, on the site of a medieval healing spring, renowned for the curative properties of its water.

Two hundred years later, founders Margaret and Stephen de Heinrich de Omorovicza met in Budapest. Relaxing at the Racz Bath and other ancient thermal baths, the couple were amazed by the effect the mineral rich healing waters had on their skin and saw their potential to be harnessed in a skincare range.

At the heart of each Omorovicza product is the patented Hydro Mineral Transference™ delivery system. Working with a Hungarian Nobel-prize winning Laboratory of Dermatology, Margaret and Stephen pioneered and patented a delivery system, Hydro Mineral Transference™, that reconfigures the molecular structure of the minerals in the healing waters and delivers the minerals to the deeper layers of the skin. Day by day, skin becomes more supple and younger-looking.

PURE INGREDIENTS From the bed of Lake Heviz to the peak of the Andes Mountains, Stephen and Margaret travelled the globe to source its finest natural ingredients. Each product is fragranced with natural scents crafted just for Omorovicza in Grasse, in the south of France. Omorovicza uses high-performance, naturally derived alternatives to commonly used synthetics, ensuring the Omorovicza experience is one of total luxury and maximum efficacy.

OMOROVICZA BOUTIQUE & SPA Andrássy út 2. 1061 Budapest +36 1 302 4604 www.omorovicza.com

Liberty

01/12/2016 10:58

Rรณzsadomb & Buda Hills

Turkish history and rolling greenery

RÓZSADOMB & BUDA HILLS

T

he outer districts of Buda reveal the Hungarian capital at its most bucolic. Just a short ride from the city centre you can find yourself in rolling hills, woods and scenic, terrace restaurants.

If you’re using public transport, you’ll be leaving from Buda’s main hub of Széll Kálmán tér. Nearby, the Millenáris Park is a family-friendly recreation complex, created from the former Ganz Electric Works. Among its many attractions are the Palace of Wonders, an interactive science museum for youngsters, and the House of Future, a display of cutting-edge discoveries.

If you head towards Margaret Bridge, you stumble upon the steep, cobbled streets of Budapest’s Turkish quarter, and the most intact remains of the 150-year Ottoman occupation of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The most notable sight lends its name to today’s upscale district that stretches beyond it: Rózsadomb, Rose Hill.

Gül Baba, ‘The Father of the Roses’, was a Turkish dervish and close associate of the sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Here this member of the Bektashi order was said to have introduced roses to Budapest. He died in 1541, the sultan declaring him the patron saint of Buda.

His tomb was built here, at the top of Gül Baba utca, shortly afterwards. Within, handwritten verses inscribed a century later outline his life’s achievements.

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RÓZSADOMB & BUDA HILLS

RÓZSADOMB & BUDA HILLS

Recently restored by the Turkish government, the Tomb of Gül Baba is still a place of pilgrimage for Bektashi Muslims.

It is worth the calf-crunching climb for the views alone – Rózsadomb, Budapest’s snazziest residential area, stretches out beyond. Then come the verdant landscapes of Hűvösvölgy, Szépvölgy and János-hegy.

This is the domain of hikers, bikers and dog-walkers. The hills and valleys of Buda attract locals all year round. In autumn, the scenery changes colour every week, from green to every shade of red and brown. In winter, deep snow brings out families to sledge down the slopes of Normafa, the smell of mulled wine in the air. Spring and summer encourage picnics and sunbathing. Hiking and biking trails are clearly marked.

There are all types of transport that wind their way through the woods, from a cog-wheel train that sets off from Városmajor to the famous children’s railway, officially the world’s longest. Connecting Széchenyi-hegy with Hűvösvölgy, this quaint little vehicle is still operated by children, under adult supervision. The driver, of course, is a grown-up.

Finally, a chair-lift climbs from Zugligeti út to János-hegy, and the Elizabeth look-out tower.

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Margaret Island Pleasure, leisure and famous pools

MARGARET ISLAND

H

alfway between Buda and Pest, Margaret Island is the city’s green lung and most accessible area for recreation.

Most of its attractions are relatively modern – spa hotels and sports grounds – but you’ll also find the remains of the Dominican convent where Saint Margaret prayed in the 1200s. The daughter of Béla IV, Margaret later lent her name to the island.

Stretching between Árpád Bridge in the north and recently renovated Margaret Bridge in the south, the 2.5 km-long Margaret Island remains car-free. Wheeled transport, though, is actively encouraged, with plenty of places to hire bikes and four-person pedalos. Jogging, tennis and swimming are only three of several other sports practised here.

Those who prefer to watch gather at the Alfréd Hajós National Swimming Stadium. Designed by the legendary Hajós himself, the pool has recently hosted two European Aquatics Championships and, in the summer of 2014, the European Water Polo Championships.

Hajós was not only Hungary’s first Olympic champion, he was also the youngest winner at the inaugural Games in 1896, braving the freezing Aegean in early April to claim gold.

Hajós, also a notable architect, had started a long and noble tradition of Olympic achievement for Hungarian swimmers.

Generations of champions have trained in the pool that now bears his name.

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“IN THE SUMMER OF 1989, EAST GERMANS SLEPT HERE BEFORE THE TREK TO THE WEST ACROSS THE AUSTRIAN BORDER.” For many families, though, Margaret Island means the Palatinus. Open from June to September only, with a newly renovated thermal pool, the Palatinus is Budapest’s best-loved lido. Many Hungarians have spent entire childhood summers here.

Guests at the Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget and Danubius Health Spa Resort Margitsziget may

also take advantage of the spa waters around which each of these four-star hotels has been built.

Margaret Island is not all swimming and cycling.

You’ll also find a recently renovated Japanese garden, with fishpond, a petting zoo and a concert stage where open-air performances are hosted all summer.

Towering over the island’s 10,000 trees is a UNESCO-designated water tower, created in art nouveau style in 1911, when many of the surrounding attractions and hotels were built. Today this 57 metre-high landmark serves as a look-out tower and exhibition space.

The unusual statue you’ll see in the middle of the island was erected in 1973 – exactly 100 years after the then separate communities of Buda, Pest and Óbuda were unified.

MARGARET ISLAND

Another notable sight usually springs to life on Saturday afternoons, when many weddings take place in Budapest. At the southern end of the island, the musical fountain is a favourite place for newly wed couples to pose for photos while pieces of popular music accompany the flumes of water.

Margaret Island is accessed from the bridge of the same name, French-built in the 1870s. Recently closed for a year during a major overhaul, Margaret Bridge doesn’t run straight over the Danube like its older neighbour, the Chain Bridge, but was created in a V-shape to allow trams and pedestrians easy passage to the tip of the island.

Immediately below, the embankment is popular with sunbathers and fishermen – and, in the summer of 1989, with East Germans, who slept here before the momentous trek to the West across the Austrian border.

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Pest embankment New meets old in elegant fashion

PEST EMBANKMENT

T

he elegant sweep of buildings you see from the heights and historic sights of Buda is the Pest embankment.

From Margaret Bridge in the north to Rákóczi Bridge in the south, the Danube provides the most dramatic element to this gorgeous riverscape, arguably the most attractive of any capital in Europe.

In Vienna, the Danube is hidden away. In Bratislava, it’s present but not quite central. In Budapest, the river creates the city, its banks a stone’s throw from Pest’s focal squares and streets. Here you can walk from Váci utca to the Pest embankment in minutes, the views becoming more enticing as you approach the waterfront.

Passing before you will be the No.2 tram, which hugs the Danube on the Pest side, providing passengers with spectacular views of Buda landmarks for the modest price of a transport ticket.

Another way of both getting around and gawping at Budapest is by boat – frequent sightseeing tours and regularly scheduled services to Szentendre up the river depart from the harbour building adjacent to Vigadó tér on the Pest embankment.

Here the Danube it at its narrowest. To your left rises Elizabeth Bridge, a slender, cable structure created in the 1960s, very different in shape and style from the original one that stood here from 1903.

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PEST EMBANKMENT

PEST EMBANKMENT

To your right stretches the most iconic sight in the whole capital: the Chain Bridge. It was conceived by anglophile Count István Széchenyi, who came upon the idea when unable to cross the Danube by flimsy pontoon one bitter winter’s day in 1820. Thus prevented from attending his father’s funeral, Széchenyi vowed to build the first bridge to connect the then separate communities of Pest and Buda.

Inspired by the bridges he had seen in Hammersmith and Marlow, both devised by Bristol-born engineer William Tierney Clark. Széchenyi had Clark design a bridge of similar strength and beauty.

Clark only visited Budapest on a couple of occasions, leaving the day-to-day construction to a young Scottish engineer, Adam Clark, (no relation). It was the Scot who saw the project through, even to the extent of hiding the plans from the Austrians who threatened to blow up the bridge during the War of Independence in 1848-49.

Clark is not only revered in Hungary for his guile and bravery, but because he married a Hungarian and settled down in Budapest to raise three children.

The roundabout at the Buda side of the Chain Bridge is named after Adam Clark.

The bridge itself, guarded by stone lions and illuminated dramatically, perfectly complements the Pest embankment.

The most prominent landmark to grace the riverbank, Parliament, was the largest of its kind in the world when opened in 1902. Still vast and imposing, it now benefits from a relandscaping of Kossuth Lajos tér around it.

Further down are the grand façades of five-star hotels, built in the 1970s, fronting a stretch of the Pest embankment known as the Duna korzó. This was once a strip of elegant coffeehouses where locals would stroll for their evening’s promenade.

Further south, by Szabadság Bridge, the Great Market Hall is another revamped landmark. Once a customs house, at that time it was equipped with an underground canal that was used to supply traders. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously visited here in 1984.

The rest of south Pest is somewhat prosaic until you reach the riverside arts complex conceived for the new millennium.

Comprising the Palace of Arts, National Theatre, National Concert Hall and Ludwig Museum, it has brought previously unsung District IX into the limelight, encouraging young families to move into this rapidly gentrifying area.

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Belvรกros

Commerce and culture side by side

BELVÁROS

D

owntown Budapest, the Belváros, comprises a compact area squeezed between the Inner Ring Road, the Kiskörút, and the river. These borders follow the lines of Pest’s medieval city walls, long disappeared.

Within you find the city’s shopping hub, most of its five-star hotels, the university quarter, any number of restaurants and the occasional museum.

Fanning out from the Belváros are the pie-slice districts of Pest: VI, VII, VIII, and IX. This, though, is District V, a desirable address for shop owner, restaurateur and resident alike.

Its main square is Vörösmarty tér, named after the romantic poet and playwright of the first half of the 19th century who helped translate Shakespeare into Hungarian. His statue centrepieces the square, sitting three metres high above depictions of typical Hungarian figures described in his works.

Surrounding them are the façades of modern-day commerce. In the run-up to Christmas, a traditional market is set up here, purveying only hand-made artefacts and traditional eats and drinks. Backdropping this festive scene, the entire front of the landmark Gerbeaud coffeehouse becomes a giant advent calendar, its windows illuminated as Christmas slowly arrives.

The café itself is arguably the most famous in a city known for them – certainly, its founder, Geneva-born Emil Gerbeaud, invented a house confectionery that was later sold all over Budapest. With tables outside in summer, this venerable establishment still echoes fin-de-siècle elegance, all chandeliers and dark wood. Since 2009, the Gerbeaud has had a sister operation of similar style – in Tokyo. In Budapest, upstairs, is the Michelin-starred Onyx restaurant.

The main shopping street of Váci utca runs arrow-straight from Vörösmarty tér, parallel to the river. This is Budapest’s busiest commercial thoroughfare, almost permanently packed with tourists unhindered by traffic. Portrait painters, souvenir sellers and buskers ply for custom between the gleaming shopfronts.

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Váci utca runs up to permanently busy Szabad sajtó út that carries traffic over Elizabeth Bridge to Buda. Tucked in to the right, the Inner City Parish Church survived the construction of the modern-day bridge in the early 1960s.

Originally the planners had envisioned having to move the church, founded 900 years previously. This is where Saint Gellért, whose statue stands on the other side of the bridge, was buried in the 11th century. The church later underwent a series of rebuilds, reflected in its Gothic, Baroque and Neo-Classical styles.

Islamic too – you can still find a Turkish prayer alcove inside.

Alongside the church by the river lie the Roman remains of Contra Aquincum, dating back to the second century AD. Overlooking them stands a statue of Hungary national poet, Sándor Petőfi, who met his fellow revolutionaries at the nearby Pilvax coffeehouse before inciting an uprising against Hungary’s Austrian rulers.

Now on Pilvax köz, the site stands amid some of Budapest’s most desirable boutiques, on Haris köz, Párizsi utca and the ornate fin-de-siècle arcade of the Párisi udvar.

Váci utca continues across Szabad sajtó út, the shops becoming somewhat more eclectic. This is the historic quarter of the inner city, dotted with churches, museums and prestigious seats of learning.

Of particular note, on Veres Pálné utca, is the Endre Ady Memorial Museum, set in the last residence of Hungary’s most renowned poet of the 20th century. Photographers, manuscripts and personal artefacts are on display amid the poet’s own furniture.

Nearby, the Petőfi Literary Museum is set in the former Károlyi Palace on Károlyi Mihály utca. Original items here include a beautiful 1847 edition of Petőfi’s poems and sundry documentation, in Russian, relating to the writer’s death on the battlefield in 1849. Mystery surrounds

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BELVÁROS

the poet’s disappearance – he was last seen taking part in the Battle of Segesvár, today’s Sighisoara, against Tsarist troops. His body has never been found.

Behind the museum is the pretty, pocket park of Károlyi-kert, which once belonged to the aristocratic family of the same name. Now fenced-in but open to the public, it recalls similar urban gardens in Paris. Around it have sprung contemporary fashion boutiques and bars, who take part in the downtown design event known as Stylewalker. This regular open-doors event allows the public to see local creatives at work, and even meet them faceto-face.

Beyond is the Kiskörút, the Inner Ring Road, here named after the landmark that dominates it: the National Museum. Although

officially in District VIII, as it stands on the other side of Múzeum körút, the museum is a short hop from the city centre. This grand Neo-Classical monument is not only known for its exhibits – which cover the history of Hungary from its foundation until 1990 – but also for its role in Hungarian history. It was on these steps that poet Sándor Petőfi read out his ‘National Song’ to ignite the 1848 Uprising against Austria.

Walking back towards the city centre, you pass the famous Hotel Astoria, where the first Hungarian government was formed in 1918. Its grand coffeehouse remains a popular meeting place to this day.

Keeping the Synagogue and the Jewish Quarter to your right, you come to Deák tér, the city’s main transport hub. Here three

of Budapest’s four metro lines converge, beneath an open square named after a leading Hungarian statesman from the mid 1800s. Ferenc Deák also lends his name to an adjoining thoroughfare, rebranded Fashion Street as it’s lined with the kind of upscale boutiques you might expect to see in Paris or Milan.

Towering over this bustling commercial zone, in place year-round from 2014, the Giant Wheel, or Sziget Eye, was originally installed by the organisers of the music festival of the same name. It stands on Erzsébet tér, officially in Lipótváros, the northern, businessfocused half of the Belváros.

WESTEND CITY CENTER 1062 Budapest, Váci út 1-3.

ARENA PLAZA 1087 Budapest, Kerepesi út 9.

ALLEE 1117 Budapest, Október 23. utca 8-10. ÁRKÁD BUDAPEST 1106 Budapest, Örs vezér tere 25 DUNA PLAZA 1138 Budapest, Váci út 178.

CAMPONA 1222 Budapest, Nagytétényi út 37-43.

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Belváros shopping guide adidas V. Váci utca 24. +36 1 266 3671 www.adidas.hu Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm

Hampel Katalin V. Váci utca 8. +36 1 318 9741 www.hampelkati.com Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-1pm

Massimo Dutti V. Bécsi utca 5. +36 1 501 2030 www.massimodutti.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11am-8pm

Anda Emilia V. Galamb utca 4. +36 30 933 9746 www.andaemi.com Mon-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-2pm

Hugo Boss V. Deák Ferenc utca 19. +36 30 992 5901 www.hugoboss.com Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-6pm

Metropolitan V. Aulich utca 4-6. +36 1 302 5243 www.metropolitanbudapest.hu Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm

Anik Jewellery V. Váci utca 19-21. +36 1 266 3264 www.anikjewellery.com Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-5pm

Intimissimi V. Deák Ferenc utca 19. world.intimissimi.com Every day 10am-9pm

mono V. Kossuth Lajos utca 20. +36 1 317 7789 www.monofashion.hu Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm

Baraka Diamond V. Párizsi u. 3. +36 1 318 2156 www.barakadiamond.hu Mon-Sat 10am-18pm Chantal Boutique V. Budapest, Haris köz 4. + 36 1 318 3812 www.facebook.com/chantalcipo/ Mon-Sat 10am-18pm Chrisand Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest +36 70 318 4324 www.bunda.wlap.hu/hu/bunda/ szorme/ Mon-Sun 8am-20pm Desigual V. Váci utca 12. +36 1 580 9110 www.desigual.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-5pm Eclectick V. Irányi utca 20. +36 1 266 3341 www.eclectick.hu Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm Ékes Kesztyu˝ V. Régiposta utca 14. +36 1 266 0986 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-1pm Furla V. Deák Ferenc utca 23. +36 1 328 0851 www.furla.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11am-7pm

iStyle V. Deák Ferenc utca 23. +36 1 453 3939 www.istyle.eu/hu Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-6pm Je Suis Belle Párisi udvar, V. Ferenciek tere 11. +36 1 951 1353 www.jesuisbelle.hu Tue-Fri noon-7pm kamchatka design V. Nyári Pál utca 7. +36 1 266 1720 www.kamchatkadesign.com Mon-Fri noon-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm Katti Zoób V. Szent István körút 17. +36 30 657 5794 www.kattizoob.hu By appointment.

Lacoste V. Deák Ferenc utca 21. +36 1 266 9458 www.lacoste.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-5pm Lloyd V. Deák Ferenc utca 21. +36 1 429 0101 www.lloyd.de Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-5pm L’Occitane en Provence V. Váci utca 11/B +36 1 411 1221 hu.loccitane.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 11am-7pm Marquise Watches & Jewelry V. Erzsébet tér 7-8.

Kempinski Hotel +36 1 266 1298 www.marquisebudapest.com

Mono Art & Design V. Kossuth Lajos u. 12. +36 70 607 4906 www.facebook.com/ monoartanddesign/ Mon-Sat 11am–20pm Sun 11am–18pm nanushka V. Deák Ferenc utca 17. +36 1 202 1050 www.nanushka.hu Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm Orsay V. Váci utca 9. +36 1 951 0890 world.orsay.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-7pm

TATUUM V. Váci utca 1-3. +36 30 252 5324 www.tatuum.com Tipton Eyewear V. Belgrád rakpart 26. +36 1 243 2931 www.tiptonbudapest.com Mon-Fri 11am-6pm Tommy Hilfiger V. Deák Ferenc utca 15. +36 30 676 9458 eu.tommy.com Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-6pm United Colors of Benetton V. Deák Ferenc utca 19. +36 30 682 3617 www.benetton.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm USE Unused V. Sas utca 15. +36 30 549 0868 www.useunused.com By appointment.

Varga Design V. Haris köz 6. +36 1 318 4089 www.vargadesign.hu Mon-Fri 10am-18pm Sat-Sun 10am-16pm Watch de Luxe V. Kristóf tér 6. +36 1 411 0430 www.wdl.hu

Oysho V. Bécsi utca 5. +36 1 580 2313 www.oysho.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11am-8pm

Wellensteyn XIII. Pannónia utca 15.

III. Szépvölgyi út 43. +36 1 210 24 86 www.wellensteyn.hu Mon-Sun 10am-19pm

Seiko VI. Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 15/d +36 1 354 1204 http://seikoboutique.hu/ Mon-Fri 10am-18pm Sat 10am-16pm

women’secret V. Váci utca 8. +36 20 512 2778 womensecret.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-7pm

Süel V. Deák Ferenc utca 17. +36 30 670 1455 www.suel.hu Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-8pm

Zara V. Váci utca 6. +36 1 327 0201 www.zara.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-7pm

Swarovski V. Váci utca 11/A +36 1 411 0983 www.swarovski.com Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 11am-5pm

Zara Home V. Bécsi utca 5. +36 1 580 2356 www.zarahome.com Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11am-8pm

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Lipรณtvรกros

Where laws and money are made

LIPÓTVÁROS

B

usiness and bureaucracy dominate the agenda and the architecture of Lipótváros. Stately, NeoClassical institutions of the Austro-Hungarian era rub shoulders with gleaming, contemporary office blocks.

This is very much a nine-to-five neighbourhood, busier by day than at night, its many restaurants catering to the lunchtime crowd.

Officially, Lipótváros is District V, part of the Belváros, but this northern half has a distinctly more formal feel to the commercial zeal of Vörösmarty tér and Váci utca.

The tone is set by its most prominent landmark, Parliament.

The largest building in Hungary, and the equal tallest in Budapest, Parliament was created by Imre Steindl in the 1890s when Hungary, and Budapest, were at their height. Twin capital of an expansive empire in Central Europe, Budapest required a parliament worthy of its status.

This was the largest parliament in the world, heavy with symbolism. Its Neo-Gothic exterior dominates a graceful bend in the Danube, granting Parliament historic stature.

Steindl didn’t live to see his building completed but its historic associations live on. Inaugurated in the year of the Hungarian Millennial celebrations, 1896, it stands exactly 96 metres high. Not even then were all 691 rooms utilised – some, in fact, have never been used. In the Cupola Hall, the Holy Crown of Hungary was a gift from the Pope to St Stephen in 1000 AD to mark Hungary

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“TODAY A PLEASANT EXPANSE OF GREEN IN THE HEART OF THE CITY, RECENTLY SZABADSÁG TÉR HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF MUCH DEBATE.” becoming a Christian state. Images of Hungary’s historic heroes – Hunyadi, St Stephen, Árpád – stare down on those taking guided tours around the vast edifice.

Outside, in one corner, sits a statue of a brooding Attila József, the poet raised in the grinding poverty of fin-de-siècle Ferencváros. He died at 32, hit by a train by Lake Balaton.

In another corner, on Vértanúk tere, stands a statue of Imre Nagy. An unlikely hero with his

round-rimmed spectacles and brush moustache, Nagy was the Hungarian leader who turned against Moscow in 1955 but was reinstalled by popular demand a year later. The key figure of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, he was arrested during the Soviet invasion, secretly tried and executed. Thrown into an unmarked grave, his reburial in 1989 was a pivotal event in the fall of socialism in Hungary.

Here he stands on a small bridge looking wistfully toward Parliament.

The surrounding square of Kossuth Lajos tér has recently been relandscaped, made traffic-free and embellished by sculptures. Another prominent new feature is a memorial to the victims of 1956.

Originally conceived as the Ministry of Justice by prominent architect Alajos Hauszmann, who also worked on Parliament opposite, the stately building dominating the east side of Kossuth Lajos tér today houses the Museum of Ethnography. Exhibitions of peasant life, work and customs are displayed around its grandiose, echoing halls. Running north from

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here is Falk Miksa utca, lined with galleries and antique shops, a favoured destination for collectors who gather for regular auctions.

Running east is Báthori utca, which leads to the Eternal Flame at the junction of Aulich utca and Hold utca. It was here, in 1849, that Count Lajos Batthyány, head of the Hungarian government during the Uprising of 1848, was executed.

Nearby is another of the city’s prominent squares.

Surrounded by stately buildings, Szabadság tér stands on the site of the prison where Batthyány was incarcerated.

Today a pleasant expanse of green in the heart of the city, Szabadság tér has recently been the subject of much debate. One of the rare spots in Budapest still to feature Soviet statuary, erected in 1946, Szabadság tér also contains the former MTV television building, currently empty and awaiting occupation.

Here, also, stands the American Embassy, a statue of Ronald Reagan and another of Harry Hill Bandholtz. This little-known U.S. general stopped Romanian soldiers from looting historic Hungarian treasures from the National Museum in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Turning south, the skyline is dominated by another of Budapest’s grand landmarks. Designed in 1845 but not completed until 1905, St Stephen’s Basilica is named after the first king of Hungary.

The saint’s mummified right hand is displayed in its own side chapel, and paraded on St Stephen’s Day, 20 August. This is Hungary’s national day, with firework celebrations at night.

Like Parliament, the Basilica stands 96 metres tall, in recognition of the Millennium celebrations of 1896. Its main architect, Miklós Ybl, of Opera House fame, was forced to rebuild the almost-

SEIKO BOUTIQUE Seiko Boutique has opened its doors in the heart of Budapest. In the same neighbourhood as the store one can find world famous sights of the city such as St. Stephen’s Basilica, the Chain Bridge and the wellknown promenade, Andrássy út.

In opening Seiko Boutique, we present the world of exclusive Seiko models in a worthy environment, just as in metropolises such as Tokyo, New York, Paris, Milan and Frankfurt. This is the only Seiko Boutique in Central and Eastern Europe.

With a modern interior, pure design and timeless material finishes, the boutique provides an amazing atmosphere. The essence of Seiko Boutique is to focus all attention on our premium quality watches and limited edition models.

We are proudest of our Grand Seiko collection, which is a true work of art of Japanese craftsmanship and is distributed only in a few of the world’s countries. Here one can find the widest range of premium Seiko watches in Hungary; moreover, there is an opportunity to choose the right watch for you with Seiko experts in a private room.

Address 1065 Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 15/d Telephone number +36 1 354 1204 Opening hours Monday-Friday: 10:00-18:00 Saturday: 10:00-16:00 Sunday: closed www.seikoboutique.hu

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bells fill the two towers, accessed by lift or stairs by paying visitors for panoramic views of Budapest and the river.

The façade of the basilica looks down Zrínyi utca towards the Danube, and Széchenyi tér. Since 2004, this riverside square has been dominated by a five-star Four Seasons hotel, the sparkling Gresham Palace, restored to its turn of the century finery. Conceived as an insurance office, this art nouveau landmark displays bright Zsolnay tiling and much of its original marble in its sumptuous entrance.

“OUTSIDE, IN ONE CORNER, SITS A STATUE OF A BROODING ATTILA JÓZSEF, THE POET RAISED IN THE POVERTY OF FIN-DE-SIÈCLE FERENCVÁROS.” finished church after the dome collapsed in 1868.

József Kauser saw the project through after Ybl died in 1891. Today, funerals and weddings of prominent Hungarians take place here. Huge

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Andrássy út

From luxury stores to prize art

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ndrássy út is Budapest’s grand boulevard, its Champs-Elysées. Wide and mainly tree-lined, this palatial avenue runs for 2.5 kilometres up to the city’s own Arc de Triomphe, the colonnade on Heroes’ Square.

High-end international boutiques, elegant coffeehouses and the Opera House stand in the busier lower section leading from the city centre. After the transport hub of Oktogon, Andrássy út crosses the Nagykörút to become less commercialised as it approaches Heroes’ Square.

This is the embassy quarter, a villa district where many of Budapest’s diplomats and magnates resided when the city was developing as an imperial capital around the turn of the last century.

Beyond lies Városliget, the city park where the Széchenyi Baths, the circus, the zoo and other attractions beckon. Bike paths now line Andrássy, encouraging cyclists to ride up the boulevard to Városliget. Alternatively, an electronic rail line runs the length of Andrássy below ground. Opened for the Millennium celebrations of 1896, this was the first underground in Continental Europe and its carriages continued in operation for 80 years. Revamped in its original style, today the Földalatti is part of the city’s metro network, the yellow M1 line running north from Vörösmarty tér.

The third stop up is Opera. Here, in 1884, Miklós Ybl unveiled his Opera House, cultural icon and focal point of Andrássy út. With a sumptuous interior of gold, marble and wrought iron, it features frescoes by Károly Lotz and statues of prominent Hungarian composers Franz Liszt and Ferenc Erkel. Gustav Mahler was its musical director for four years.

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Soon after the opening of the Opera House, the grand boulevard was named after Count Gyula Andrássy, the great statesman who had been a leading light in its creation over a decade earlier.

Walking up from the Opera House towards Oktogon, you pass Nagymező utca, known as Budapest’s Broadway.

Theatres and pre-show restaurants are dotted amid statues and footprints of famous thespians.

Further up Andrássy, the Írók Boltja bookshop was once a legendary coffeehouse and meeting place for artists, the Café Japan. This stands on the corner of Liszt Ferenc tér, featuring a statue of the famous composer who lends his name to the nearby Music Academy.

The next major crossing point is Oktogon, where grand coffeehouses once stood. Conceived, as its name suggests, as octagonal, this major transport junction was brought to life by architect Antal Skalnitzky. Winning an award at the Vienna World Fair for his design, Skalnitzky devised four facing buildings on four corners.

Skalnitzky was also responsible for the Academy of Sciences and Budapest’s first National Theatre.

Three blocks up from Oktogon, the fated residence of 60 Andrássy út is now a major tourist attraction.

The House of Terror is set in the actual building used for the torture of political opponents, first by the extreme right-wing Arrow Cross, then by the Communist Secret Police, the ÁVO. Reconfigured as an awardwinning museum in 2002, the House of Terror displays video interviews, original artefacts and actual torture cells to tell the building’s dark history.

Gradually being renovated, Kodály körönd is the once elegant rond-point where composer Zoltán Kodály lived and worked. An associate of Béla Bartók, Kodály invented a method of music tuition still in use today. His

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apartment is now a museum containing original personal effects, with an archive accessed by special appointment only.

Lesser-known, more exotic museums await further up. At No.103, the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts displays the stunning, 4,000-strong collection gathered by this adventurous Hungarian explorer. Hopp made several trips around the world in the late 1800s, amassing objects from India, China and the Far East.

After he died in this villa in 1919, it was converted into a public museum, as his will intended. The nearby György Ráth Museum at Városligeti fasor 12 runs in partnership, displaying the Chinese, Japanese and Indian artefacts garnered by Ráth, a contemporary of Hopp.

In similar vein, the István Zelnik South-East Asian Gold Museum at Andrássy út 110 was recently opened by the former diplomat of the same name who travelled widely in the region. Ritual and sacred objects, religious art and jewellery are neatly divided by culture and civilisation over two floors, with a tea house downstairs and library in the loft.

CHRISAND Fur Salons on Fashion Street and in the Gresham Palace.

The CHRISAND Fur Salons feature selected unique fur clothing created by designers popular all over Europe. The salon opened in the heart of Budapest in 2005. If you're looking for noble furs such as mink, trimmed mink, persian, or fox, this is the place to go. And if it's further elegance and luxury you seek, you won't be disappointed. Slip into a chinchilla fur coat to experience at most sensual delight, since chinchilla is the softest and finest fur ever. The royal lynx gives its wearer radiant effeminacy and joy, which words cannot describe. The sable fur, which is also a status symbol, represents pure and sleek elegance. The collection features subtle and extravagant models and colors alike, from the classic lines to the latest trends – all available in different sizes and lengths, according to your taste and needs. But the salon is not only for ladies – gentlemen will also find a wide selection of mink, nutria, pelt and leather coats. If you need accessories only, such as fur hats, stoles, and collars, the only place to go is CHRISAND – because you deserve it.

Fur & leather Four Season Hotel Gresham Palace 1051 Budapest, Széchenyi tér 5-6. +36 (70) 318 4324 Open every day: 10–19. www.chrisand.hu

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Past embassies and grand terrace restaurants, Andrássy út feeds into grand Heroes’ Square, centrepieced by the Archangel Gabriel atop a 36-metre-tall column. Around the base are depictions of the seven Magyar chieftains, led by Árpád, who brought the Hungarian people into the Carpathian Basin.

Another feature created for the Millennium celebrations of 1896 is a pair of facing colonnades supporting statues of prominent figures from Hungarian history.

These begin with the first king, St Stephen, and run up to 19th-century politician Lajos Kossuth. Before them is a cenotaph, dedicated to the memory of those who gave their lives for Hungarian freedom and independence.

Two stately cultural institutions face each other either side of Heroes’ Square. The Museum of Fine Arts is Hungary’s largest reliquary of international works, mainly European, many garnered from the great estates of the Esterházy and Zichy dynasties.

Most of all, you’ll find a surprising number of Spanish Masters, an excellent Venetian section and pieces

by Dürer, da Vinci and Breughel. In total, there are some 100,000 items in the permanent collection, which runs from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, to Rodin and Renoir.

Across the square, the Hall of Arts (known in Hungarian as Műcsarnok or Kunsthalle) focuses on temporary exhibitions of contemporary art and culture. This Neo-Classical edifice was created by Albert Schickedanz and Ferenc Fülöp Herzog for the Millennium celebrations of 1896.

Its grand steps have hosted events as significant as the lying in state of painter Mihály Munkácsy and the reburial ceremony of Imre Nagy.

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AVENGER HURRICANE The superlative-charged Breitling It immediately flaunts a standout 50 mm diameter.

It revolutionizes watchmaking with its ultra-sturdy and ultra-light case made in a futuristic material named BreitlightÂŽ. It surprises observers with its Manufacture Breitling movement equipped with a 24-hour militarytype display. Close-up on a Breitling built for extremes.

EMERGENCY NIGHT MISSION

BENTLEY B05 UNITIME MIDNIGHT CARBON A grand black-liveried traveller The Bentley B05 Unitime worldtime chronograph is back on the road in an all-black new livery, teamed with an original crocodile leather and rubber strap.

A 500-piece limited series with a Manufacture Breitling calibre delivering unprecedented userfriendliness.

Reinforced security The world’s first wristwatch with built-in dual frequency personal locator beacon is now issued in three special editions combining a black titanium case with orange or yellow accents, or a blue mother-of-pearl dial.

Three original and powerful looks for this high-tech survival instrument.

CASTLE DISTRICT

NAVITIMER AVITIMER 01 (46 mm) An icon in great shape The classic Navitimer appears in a larger 46 mm diameter – an XL look that enhances its presence on the wrist and accentuates the originality of its design while optimizing its readability. This largerthan-life take on the legend is now available in a 250-piece red gold limited edition with a black dial and is fitted with a choice between a leather or crocodile strap.

SUPEROCEAN 44 SPECIAL The ocean pilot Black and white aviator-type watches ensuring excellent readability are well-known instruments and divers are now being treated to their very own “ocean pilot” featuring a black steel case, black ceramic bezel and a black dial bearing large luminescent indications enabling them to plunge safely to a depth of 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The art of combining originality and efficiency.

GALACTIC 29 A Breitling ticking to women’s time Known above all for its resolutely masculine models (that also delight many women with a passion for aviation), Breitling is also brilliantly capable of interpreting this spirit in the feminine mode. Witness the Galactic 29, available in a number of distinctive versions, including one fitted with a tungsten carbide bezel.

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Andrássy út shopping guide adidas VI. Andrássy út 37. +36 1 239 1361 www.adidas.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat-Sun noon-5pm Armani VI. Andrássy út 9. +36 1 550 0300 www.fashioncompany.hu Mon-Sat 10.30am-7.30pm.

Boggi Milano VI. Andrássy út 15. www.boggi.it Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm Bonbonetti VI. Andrássy út 44. www.bonbonetti.hu Breitling VI.Andrássy út 14 www.breitling.com Burberry VI. Andrássy út 24. +36 1 302 0628 www.burberry.com Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-6pm Coccinelle VI. Andrássy út 13. www.coccinelle.com COS VI. Andrássy út 33. +36 1 231 0528 www.cosstores.com Mon-Fri 10am – 20pm Sat 10am-18pm Sun noon – 18pm Ermenegildo Zegna VI. Andrássy út 5. +36 1 266 1794 www.zegna.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-5pm Frey Wille VI. Andrássy út 43. +36 1 413 0175 www.frey-wille.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-4pm

Glamour Boutique VI. Andrássy út 35. +36 1 322 1046 Mon-Fri 10am-8pm Gold Store VI. Andrássy út 33. +36 30 324 8004 www.goldstore.hu Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-6pm Gucci VI. Andrássy út 23. +36 1 322 0971 www.gucci.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-6pm

Marco Bicego VI. Andrássy út 13. +36 1 328 0117 www.marcobicego.hu Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-2pm.

Max Mara VI. Andrássy út 21. +36 1 413 0717 www.mmbudapest.hu Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm

ROLEX VI. Andrássy út 10. + 36 1 318 9955 www.rolex.com Mon-Sat 10:30am-18:30pm Replay VI. Andrássy út 11. www.replay.it Sáfárik Luxury Salon VI. Andrássy út 10. www.safarik.hu

Michael Kors VI. Andrássy út 11. +36 1 211 3350 www.michaelcors.com Mon-Sat 10am – 19pm Sun noon – 17pm

Salamander VI. Andrássy út 37. +36 1 434 5551 www.salamander.hu Mon-Wed & Fri 10am-6pm, Thur 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-2pm

Moncler VI. Andrássy út 23. +36 1 413 2680 www.moncler.com

Silka VI. Andrássy út 9. +36 30 238 8881 www.silkafashion.com

Herendi VI. Andrássy út 16. +36 1 374 0006 www.herend.com Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm

Nespresso VI. Andrássy út 27. +36 1 322 0722 www.nespresso.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-5pm.

Stan Ahuja VI. Andrássy út 38. +36 1 354 0195 www.stanahuja.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm

Högl VI. Andrássy út 12. +36 1 267 0947 www.hoegl.com

Nubu VI. Andrássy út 13.

VI. Andrássy út 31. + 36 70 607 4903 www.nubu.hu Mon-Sat 11am-20pm

Tag Heuer VI. Andrássy út 2. +36 1 269 4199 www.tagheuer.hu Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-1pm

Omega VI. Andrássy út 20. +36 1 312 6449 Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-1pm.

Wolford VI. Andrássy út 6. +36 1 342 1576 www.wolford.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-3pm

Guess VI. Andrássy út 4. +36 1 354 0565 www.guess.com Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm

Hublot Boutique VI. Andrássy út 16. +36 1 269 0148 www.hublot.com Langiotti VI. Andrássy út 26. +36 1 332 2197 www.langiotti.com Louis Vuitton VI. Andrássy út 24. +36 1 373 0487 www.louisvuitton.com Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-6pm Manier Szalon VI. Andrássy út 18. +36 1 483 1140 www.manier.hu

Omorovicza VI. Andrássy út 2. +36 1 302 4604 www.omorovicza.com Mon-Sat 10am-6pm Polo Ralph Lauren VI. Andrássy út 10. +36 1 550 0600 www.ralphlauren.com Mon-Sat 11am – 20pm Sun noon – 18pm

Zilli VI. Andrássy út 13. +36 1 267 4448 www.zilli.fr Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm

Párizsi Nagy Áruház

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f all the elegant commercial buildings along Andrássy út, the Párizsi Nagy Áruház at No.39 is arguably the most impressive.

Built in 1882, it was reconfigured in 1909 in Art Nouveau style, its other main

door facing Paulay Ede utca with NeoRenaissance touches.

Converted by Zsigmond Sziklai from a place of recreation – originally it housed a beer hall, restaurant, billiard and games rooms – No.39 Andrássy út

reopened as the Paris Department Store in 1911. With its atrium, glass-walled lifts and glass-roofed courtyard, with a panoramic walkway, this was easily the most elegant of its kind in Hungary.

The Párizsi Nagy Áruház survived World War II but not the 1950s. First a book warehouse then a communist-era clothes store, the Divatcsarnok, the building had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s.

Renovated in the early 2000s, it was reopened as the Alexandra bookstore in 2009. Upstairs, the beautifully restored Lotz Hall was converted into a literary café, where recitals and auctions are held today.

Originally, this was the ballroom. Its artist Károly Lotz died in 1904, before the building became an elegant department store – you can also see his murals in the nearby Opera House, as well as Parliament, the Basilica and the Vigadó concert hall.

Under the same roof is a gallery and art salon, the Párisi Galéria és Müveszeti Szalon, with works by, among others, legendary ceramics dynasty Zsolnay.

“T

he most beautiful coffeehouse in the world,” has a more than 120-year history and is located inside one of the most impressive buildings on Budapest’s Nagykörút (literally the Big Ring Road, though it is usually known as the Great or Grand Boulevard), the New York Palace.

The history of this kávéház is linked inseparably with arts and literature.

The development of the extravagant, spacious interior was greatly emphasised even during its early years. It is divided into multiple adjoining spaces that are separated from each other by twisted marble columns. Its exterior statue decorations, the characteristic 14 bronze faun devil figures, praise the work of Károly Senyey and symbolize sensuality. The figure of “Asmodeus”, which proclaims the spirit of coffee and contemplation, supporting and inspiring

New York Kávéház the artists who have always drop by, is also found here.

The coffeehouse building has found itself endangered at several points throughout history and its original splendour had long faded until, in the 1990s it was left without an owner.

Eventually, the building was renovated in February 2001. Attention was devoted to ensure that the coffeehouse regained its original splendour, and in the process of renovation the old motifs, layout, exclusive appearance and style of the establishment were preserved in every way possible.

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NAPSVGAR

NANUSHKA

Thanks to its unique products, NAPSVGAR towers above other brands in the market.

Besides other clothing items and accessories, its limited-edition smartcoats will soon appear to further distinguish this luxury brand. A prototype of the unique smartcoat is currently being developed.

Nanushka was the childhood nickname of head designer Sandra Sandor. Born in Budapest, she graduated from the London College of Fashion, coming home to establish her label. Through her collection, Sandra aims to combine playful cuts and lush fabrics with elegance and comfort to create collections that exude a harmony and contrast the overwhelming noise of the big-city experience. Nanushka is fashion for the urban nomad, for those who are on the move but always at home. Though Sandra’s collections are finding new followers and the brand is aggressively expanding into new markets, it is still based in Budapest, where it recently opened its flagship store. Its unique design has received praise from over 250 design blogs from Moscow to Rio.

www.napsvgar.com

www.nanushka.hu

ANH TUAN Luu Anh Tuan, a leading Hungarian fashion designer of Vietnamese origin, started his own brand, ANH TUAN, in Budapest in 2006. He was named esigner of the Year’ at Fashion Awards Hungary in 2008. To draw ‘Young Designer inspiration for his work, the young designer travelled across Europe and the Far East, picking up on cultural crossovers. He then spent a semester at the London College of Fashion, returned to Hungary and made his first collection of women’s wear. The uniformity of ANH TUAN apparels and bags evolve from a unique use of textures and fabrics developed by the designer, his hand-made trademark.

His contrasting collections embody luxury. The designer often applies forgotten artisanal techniques that he combines with modern ones. This special combination of leather and fabrics is finished off with metal accessories.

Anh Tuan designs two collections per year, available in his Budapest showroom and in several boutiques. www.anh-tuan.com

DORA MOJZES Dora Mojzes first broke cover in 2008 with her graduation work for Budapest’s Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, which earned the prize of the National Association of Hungarian Artists. In 2009 she launched her eponymous individual brand. Soon after, her first collection made a great impact on the domestic and international markets. With her specialised collections in women’s wear, Mojzes created items to reveal her unique style and emotions, and highlight her particular vision. Her designs offer artistic self-expression and emphasise womanhood. Since initiating her own brand, Mojzes has appeared in many international publications such as ‘Vogue Italia’, ‘Zink’ and ‘Neo2’, and featured in prestigious fashion forums, and almost every acclaimed Hungarian fashion magazine. One particular turning point came when top model Tyra Banks wore her design at a photo shoot, praised by Kanye West soon afterwards in his blog. www.doramojzes.com

NUBU The NUBU brand was created in 2007 by Judit Garam, with 15 years of international fashion experience. In 2011, she was joined by two talented young designers, Adél Kovács and Anett Hajdú. NUBU’s seasonal collections show beautiful consistency: an enduringly subtle, classic urban style, discreet luxury and soft colours. Each season sees NUBU reborn in cohesion with changing trends, reflecting aspects rather then following them. Inspired by the world of product design, NUBU’s core values centre on continuous experimentation and the need for progressive innovation. Demonstrating outstanding quality, with elaborate attention to detail, NUBU offers a wide range of lines for the discerning woman – from ready-to-wear to small accessories and desirable leather handbags. NUBU is the contemporary you. www.nubu.hu

O M O ROV I C Z A B O U T I Q U E & S PA ANDRÁSSY ÚT 2.

1061 BUDAPEST +36 1 302 4604 OPENING HOURS MON – SAT 10AM – 6PM www.omorovicza.com

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JE SUIS BELLE

DORA ABODI Born in Transylvania and raised in Budapest, Dora Abodi showed early signs of interest in fashion and began to draw sketches in her grandfather’s studio at a young age. She graduated from the French Mod’ International Art and Fashion Academy in 2009 and obtained a Masters in Fashion Design at the Domus Academy Milan in 2013.

She founded her eponymous brand DORA ABODI in 2009. DORA ABODI has been featured in ‘vogue.com’, ‘Vogue UK’, ‘Vogue China’, and many other magazines. Celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Jena Malone and Tyra Banks have chosen her pieces. DORA ABODI’s signature style can be defined as baroque futurism, fusing past and future classical art and religious rituals with high technology. DORA ABODI offers exclusive quality with her demi-couture details, highest hand craftsmanship and uniquely prepared bags and shoes, all finished by the handiwork of experienced professionals devoted to quality. DORA ABODI does not use real fur, exotic leathers or any materials of uncontrolled origin. Dora divides her time between Milan and Budapest. www.doraabodi.com

Dalma Devenyi and Tibor Kiss founded their brand Je Suis Belle back in 2005. Since then it has become one of Hungary’s leading fashion houses, and an internationally recognised label. From the beginning, their concept has been to collaborate with various branches of art, especially the visual arts. Two of their core values centre on traditional techniques and on giving a contemporary frame to folk art.

Theirs is a muse profoundly interested in her surroundings, as well as in herself. She is creative, embracing talent, both witty and cool. They believe that anyone who wears their clothes shapes the world through their own personality. Their pieces reflect current social and cultural changes. Constant quality is another core value – their clothes lack unnecessary detail, and are straightforward and communicative.

Their philosophy is that fashion is not a privilege but a fundamental part of everyday life. Beyond comfort and durability, fashion is a vital tool to create the unique you. www.jesuisbelle.hu

KATA SZEGEDI Kata Szegedi is one of Hungary’s emerging young designers who first came into focus before she graduated in 2009 at the KREA Contemporary Arts Institute Budapest. That year, she became the top young designer at Fashion Awards Hungary. Her vision is one of innovative, modern designs for the cosmopolitan woman, someone self-assured, independent and proud of her image, a woman who values the expression of originality in her day-to-day life. Kata’s love of contrast is reflected throughout her work, experimenting with silhouettes, shapes, textures and colours. This playful attitude presents the powerful, feminine woman of the 21st century. Her powerful and vibrant creations are now reaching a wider audience. www.kataszegedi.com

Great selection of Italian luxury brands

H-1052 BUDAPEST V., HARIS KÖZ 4.

PHONE: +36 1 318 3812 MONDAY TO FRIDAY: 10.00 - 18.00 SATURDAY: 10.00 - 15.00 SUNDAY: CLOSED

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/CHANTALCIPO

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GUCCI Guccio Gucci opened his first leather-goods store in his native Florence in 1921.

It enjoyed considerable success. By the 1960s, with stores in Milan, Manhattan and elsewhere, Gucci had made its name as the most cherished brand in its field. www.gucci.com

BOTTEGA VENETA

BURBERRY Founded in 1856, Burberry today remains quintessentially British, with outerwear at its core. Digital luxury positioning and the optimisation of the trenchcoat across innovative mediums, trademark check and Equestrian Knight Device heritage icons, make the brand purer, more compelling and more relevant globally, across genders and generations. www.burberry.com

Discretion, quality, and craftsmanship – Bottega Veneta has been a new standard of luxury since its foundation in Vicenza in 1966. Steeped in the traditions of Italy’s master leather craftsmen and long celebrated for its extraordinary leather goods, Bottega Veneta has recently emerged as one of the world’s premier luxury brands.

The company’s motto, ‘When your initials are enough’, expresses a philosophy of individuality and confidence that now applies products ranging from women’s and men’s ready-to-wear to fine jewellery, and beyond. While Bottega Veneta continues to grow, the qualities that define it are unchanging: outstanding craftsmanship, innovative design, contemporary functionality and the highest quality materials.

Another constant is Bottega Veneta’s commitment to its ateliers, where artisans of remarkable skill combine traditional mastery with breathtaking innovation. www.bottegaveneta.com

ANDRÁSSY ÚT

LOUIS VUITTON

MICHAEL KORS

The skilled artistry that goes into creating each Louis Vuitton product guarantees impeccable quality. Louis Vuitton’s gifted artisans dedicate their attention to crafting products such as handbags, shoes, wallets, watches, sunglasses and other accessories using the most exclusive materials and state-of-the-art workmanship.

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THE ULTIMATE

KISS

3.

1.

With its new design addition to the famous Hommage à Gustav Klimt collection – a tribute to one of the world’s most famous artists – FREYWILLE invites you to discover the fascinating world of Jugendstil and Gustav Klimt anew.

The Kiss (also known as Lovers) served as inspirational source for the new FREYWILLE design – an artistic depiction of love in a pure and strong form. It reveals and reflects feelings of romance, intimacy and devotin as well as the antagonism, but also the undeniable connection between women and men. The gold-woven robe of stars that reflects the universal power of feelings, the sublimity of love and the fusion of body, mind and soul.

2.

1. Jewellery Watch HELENA 2. Bracelet Manchette APHRODITE 3. Earrings Mini-Creole

BUDAPEST Andrássy út 43. • +36 1 413 01 74 • Régiposta utca 19. • +36 1 318 76 65 Liszt Ferenc Airport – SkyCourt • +36 1 296 54 22 facebook.com/FREYWILLE • shop.FREYWILLE.COM • FREYWILLE.COM | VIENNA

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Vårosliget Budapest’s biggest pleasure park

VÁROSLIGET

T

he City Park, Városliget, is where Budapest goes to play, relax, row, skate, bathe and cycle. Set behind Heroes’ Square, its gateway, the Városliget comprises 125 hectares of greenery. A boating lake, a skating rink, a concert hall, a Transylvanian castle and the city’s showpiece spa baths, the Széchenyi, are only a few of the leisure attractions here.

On the west side of the park, a row of family-friendly attractions include the zoo, the circus and the amusement park, recently reopened with some of the old rides from yesteryear.

There’s a nostalgic feel to the Városliget, of simpler, communal pleasures that were first enjoyed here long before malls and laser zones came along.

Indeed, many of its attractions date back a century or more.

It was here in the Városliget that the Millennium celebrations of 1896 left ceremonial formalities behind. Here locals danced, dined and even tried out ballooning. Erected for the occasion, the faux-historic Vajdahunyad Castle remains to this day, housing the Museum of Agriculture and lending the immediate surroundings a somewhat fairy-tale atmosphere.

Below, couples glide by in rowing boats and, in winter, families skate in the adjoining open-air rink. A cycle path runs round the lake – most bars, restaurants and beer gardens here have places to lock your bike.

Beyond is the Petőfi Csarnok concert hall, where a flea market is held every weekend. If you keep walking east, to Hermina út, you find the Transport Museum. Rail enthusiasts will love the early locomotives on display, and the museum is large enough to accommodate a history of sailing, horse-drawn road vehicles and a section dedicated to Hungary’s first astronaut, Bertalan Farkas.

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Hermina út pens in the Városliget the length of its eastern border – to the west, nearest to the city centre, runs Dózsa György út. This stern boulevard was where the socialist-era May Day parades took place, the leaders waving to the crowds from their podium halfway along. It was here that a large statue of Stalin once stood, famously torn down during the Hungarian Uprising. This open space is now named Ötvenhatosok tere in honour of those who fell in 1956, a memorial erected on the 50th anniversary of Stalin’s dramatic fall from grace.

A life-size replica of Stalin’s boots, representing the statue’s demolition, stands in Memento Park in south Buda, where many authentic examples from the era have been gathered from around Budapest.

Near the ’56 memorial is a symbolic disc-cum-hour glass, whose sands run out over the course of the year as May 1 approaches.

Dózsa György út leads to Heroes’ Square, and back to the ice rink and boating lake. Beyond is where you’ll find the year-round attractions of the Városliget, conveniently set alongside each other: the zoo, circus and amusement park.

Before reaching them, however, you’ll notice a rather elegant whitefronted edifice, set on a quiet section of the Állatkerti körút renamed in honour of the legend behind the building: Gundel. This is Budapest’s most famous restaurant, the one where Queen Elizabeth II dines when she’s in town. Originally opened as Wampetics on the eve of the 1896 Millennium celebrations, the restaurant changed

“ERECTED IN 1896, THE FAUX-HISTORIC VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE LENDS THE SURROUNDINGS A SOMEWHAT FAIRY-TALE ATMOSPHERE.” hands in 1910. Károly Gundel not only transformed the restaurant, he revolutionised Hungarian cuisine by bringing in French influences.

His famous pancake, the Gundel palacsinta, is still found on nearly every menu in town.

Next door, Gundel opened a more family-friendly, and affordable,

restaurant, the Bagolyvár, also still in operation a century on. Sitting in its popular garden, tucking into traditional Hungarian home cooking, you’ll hear the noises of various birds and animals. Overlooking the restaurant garden is Budapest Zoo, one of the finest of its kind in the region.

It is also one of the oldest, opened in 1866. Though financial constraints forced its closure, when it re-opened in 1912, it became as renowned for its architecture as for its four-legged, finned and winged residents. The original idea was to commission renowned architects to each create a house suitable for the creatures within.

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Thus Kornél Neuschloss designed the exotic Africa House and the Elephant House, and the Eiffel company of Paris created the indoor tropical garden of the Palm House.

A progressive zoo management has recently instigated a number of child-friendly initiatives to promote awareness and encourage return visits.

Alongside, the Budapest Circus harks back to the classic days of the art form, in which Hungary has a long and famous tradition. Extraordinary shows from China and the Far East often form part of the year-round agenda.

Beside the circus, the much-loved, old-school Amusement Park closed in 2013. Six months later, it reopened as

the Holnemvolt (‘Once upon a time..’)

Park, which retains some of its vintage attractions. Opposite stands the grand façade of Budapest’s most touristfriendly spa baths, the Széchenyi.

Having recently celebrated its centenary, the Széchenyi comprises two large outdoor pools and an extensive indoor sauna complex. The venue runs year-round.

“WHEN THE ZOO REOPENED, IT WAS KNOWN AS MUCH FOR ITS ARCHITECTURE AS FOR ITS FOUR-LEGGED, FINNED AND WINGED RESIDENTS.”

District VII Jewish Quarter and busy bar hub

DISTRICT VII

B

udapest’s most happening neighbourhood, in terms of bars, boutiques and general buzz, is undoubtedly District VII. Known also as the Jewish Quarter, it consists of a relatively compact cluster of busy streets set behind the vast signature landmark of the Great

Synagogue.

The parallel streets of Wesselényi, Dob and Király, criss-crossed

by Rumbach Sebestyén, Kazinczy and, most characteristically, the elongated courtyard of the Gozsdu udvar, are constantly being regenerated with new bars, clubs and restaurants.

This is where you’ll find the bulk of Budapest’s famous ruin bars, romkocsma, typically set in dilapidated residential courtyards.

Shops – particularly focusing on fashion and interior design – also dot the urban landscape. Restaurants too, some authentically Jewish, abound, interspersed with kosher bakeries and butchers.

Much like the city around it, this quarter started to develop after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 which made Budapest a twin capital of the Habsburg Empire. That same year, the leadership rewarded Jews with legal equality, a provision that attracted entrepreneurs from Russia and southern Poland. This commercial prowess saw Budapest become the largest financial centre east of Vienna before the end of the century.

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When Budapest was at its height as an imperial capital, Jews comprised a quarter of the city’s population. They had long resided here, in Erzsébetváros, the Habsburg-era name for District VII. Half a century later, this was the Jewish Ghetto during World War II. Gradually after the war, this neighbourhood recovered. Today the Jewish community is 80,000 strong and District VII is thriving. As well as taking in the week-long summer festival held here at the end of August, visitors may glean further understanding of the history and culture of this district by one of the many walking tours offered in English.

This understanding can also be enhanced by a walk around the enormous Great Synagogue, one of the largest in the world, which dominates the busy junction of Dohány utca, Wesselényi utca and the Kiskörút.

Completed in 1859, the Great (or Dohány utca) Synagogue was conceived in North African Moorish style by Austrian architect Ludwig Förster, also responsible for its more prosaic counterpart in Miskolc. Here, twin domes rise up 43 metres high, giving the building an exotic feel. Taking five years to build, the synagogue can accommodate 3,000 people in separate men’s and women’s galleries.

Unusually for a synagogue, it contained an organ, a 5,000-pipe instrument built the same year as the building opened. Franz Liszt was one of the early organists. The synagogue gained a new organ when it was extensively renovated through the 1990s.

Behind is a small Heroes’ Temple.

Built in 1931, it was dedicated to Jewish soldiers who fell in World War I. At the same time, a Jewish Museum, with a collection of ritual objects, was attached to the main building. Connecting

DISTRICT VII

Heroes’ Temple to the synagogue, a colonnade encloses the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park. Its centrepiece is Imre Varga’s poignant representation of a weeping willow, the names of war-time victims delicately inscribed on each of its leaves.

Unusually, too, the synagogue complex also contains a cemetery.

A short walk away down Rumbach Sebestyén utca, another synagogue in Moorish style was created by renowned Viennese architect Otto Wagner and unveiled in 1872. The Rumbach utca Synagogue is open to the public but not operational as a place of worship.

With its imaginative murals and funky boutiques, Rumbach Sebestyén utca is a bright introduction to

the busier streetlife around it. Crossing it at rightangles, the pedestrianised thoroughfare of Madách Imre út is lined on both sides with popular bars and cafés – but this is nothing compared to the masses that throng Gozsdu udvar at the far end.

An interlinking, six-section courtyard that connects Király utca 13 to Dob utca 16, the Gozsdu udvar was created by the foundation set up in the name of Hungaro-Romanian politician and lawyer Manó Gozsdu. In 1854, he bought this parcel of land, first building a row of warehouses on it.

After his death in 1869, Gozsdu’s will declared his assets pass to the ‘Romanian nation in Hungary and Transylvania’ via his foundation. As well as sponsoring two generations of Romanian students

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in Budapest, the Gozsdu foundation had noted architect Győző Czigler create a series of courtyards here in 1901.

For decades, its post-war fate was entangled in cross-border bureaucracy. Nationalised in 1952, the Gozsdu udvar was claimed by the Romanian State in 1990 – a claim rejected by Hungary. Empty and abandoned, it passed into private hands in 1999.

It took another decade for the 200-metre-long passageway to come alive again, filling with bars, shops and nightspots. Today the Gozsdu udvar is arguably the busiest bar hub in Budapest, no idle boast.

Round the corner, the main bar strip of Kazinczy utca buzzes almost every night. Here you’ll find the Szimpla kert, the legendary ruin bar that set the template for a score more across the city.

Typified by ramshackle furniture, a bohemian vibe and an inspired music policy, this type of bar was characteristic of pre-gentrified District VII, with its many underused urban spaces. Today these venues are so part of the city fabric, there are ruin-bar souvenirs sold in tourist shops.

Also in Kazinczy utca is one of Budapest’s more unusual attractions. The Museum of Electrotechnics at No.21 is a wonderfully old-school institution dedicated to Hungary’s role in electrical engineering.

Motors, machines and sundry household items from the radio era are displayed in a converted, pre-war, Bauhaus-style transformer station. Every June 21, when Budapest’s museums throw open their doors into the night, the courtyard here is decked out with beautiful old neon signs, collated from across the city, illuminated for the occasion.

A few doors along the street stands another synagogue, the Orthodox one built in 1911-13 by the Löffler brothers, Sándor and Béla. Its façade displaying the beautiful stained-glass work by Miksa Róth, this is a lesser-known example of local art nouveau, Secession. Just the other side of the Nagykörút, at Dob utca 85, is another little-discovered architectural gem, the gorgeous façade of a primary school created

by Armin Hegedűs in 1906.

This darker part of District VII was the haunt of composer Rezső Seress, responsible for the infamous worldwide hit ‘Gloomy Sunday’. A pianist at the Kispipa restaurant on Akácfa utca, Seress never went to America to claim the royalties rightfully his after his heart-breaking ballad was covered by the likes of Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. A plaque marks where Seress lived at Dob utca 46b – until his selfassisted death one January Monday in 1968.

“EVERY JUNE 21, BUDAPEST’S MUSEUMS THROW OPEN THEIR DOORS, AND THIS COURTYARD FILLS WITH BEAUTIFUL OLD NEON.”

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1052 Budapest, Pรกrizsi u. 3.TEL.: +36 1 318 2156 www.facebook.com/barakaekszerhaz www.barakadiamond.hu

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NagykĂśrĂşt

Grand hotels and stage stars

NAGYKÖRÚT

B

udapest’s Great Ring Road, the Nagykörút, pens in the city centre as it winds for four kilometres through five districts of Pest. Carrying with it the world’s busiest tramline, the Nos.4/6, the körút, as locals refer to it, also runs across the Danube in two places.

Connecting Pest and Buda across Margaret Bridge in the north and Petőfi Bridge in the south, the Nagykörút allows easy and frequent access to Margaret Island, Nyugati Station, Oktogon, a number of major hotels, including the Corinthia, and the Museum of Applied Arts.

On its journey, it runs from the upscale area of Újlipótváros, through the cultural and theatre quarter of District VI, skirts the bar vortex of District VII, then heads to grittier District VIII and rapidly gentrifying District IX. Most sections are named after a Habsburg, relating to the district it serves, Teréz körút beside Terézváros, Erzsébet körút beside Erzsébetváros, and so on.

Tram Nos.4/6 begin at separate nearby transport hubs in Buda before converging near Petőfi Bridge. The first stop in Pest is Boráros tér, from where a suburban train runs to Csepel island.

Here the tramline for the Nos.4/6 crosses the No.2, making the contemporary culture complex of south Pest, the Palace of Arts and National Theatre, an easy hop away.

From Boráros tér, the Nos.4/6 cuts through District IX, passing the distinctive bottle-green roof of the Museum of Applied Arts.

The work of the most renowned architect of the Secession period, Ödön Lechner, the museum was one of earliest of its kind in the world. Another Budapest landmark created for the 1896 Millennium celebrations, the building demonstrates the designer’s attempt to create a Hungarian style as distinct from the Viennese form of Secessionism.

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Lechner, praised long after his lifetime as Budapest’s Gaudí, can be considered as the father of Hungarian Secessionism. The museum represents Lechner’s first major work without his architectural partner Gyula Pártos.

Combining Hungarian folk influences with Indian and Moorish touches, here Lechner relied heavily on the signature bright glazed tiling created by the Zsolnay factory in Pécs.

More than a century on, it remains a stunning showcase for Hungarian furniture, glassworks and textiles.

The next major junction on the Nagykörút is Blaha Lujza tér. This was where the city’s main People’s Theatre stood from 1908 – hence the name of the adjoining street that runs north, Népszínház utca. Hence, also, the name of Blaha Lujza tér, after the much-loved singer and actress who performed here. Nicknamed the National Nightingale, Lujza Blaha is buried under the most ornate mausoleum in Kerepesi Cemetery, a short tram ride up Népszínház utca.

The theatre was knocked down in 1965 to make way for the red metro line M2 that runs up to Keleti Station.

Actresses and starlets also gathered at the glamorous New York Café, the most legendary of all Budapest’s finde-siècle coffeehouses. Set just beyond Blaha Lujza tér, it was opened in 1894, shortly before the age of cinema.

Within two decades, Hollywood moguls were holding court here, hiring Hungarian talent on the promise of Hollywood stardom.

The first picture house, though, was a little further on the körút, at the Royal Hotel. Just as the New York is now a contemporary, five-star hotel, the Boscolo, so the Royal is now the five-star Corinthia Budapest. It was here, in the café, that the first film screening took place in Hungary, of a Lumière Brothers film in May 1896.

The hotel later even housed an actual cinema, the Royal Apollo.

NAGYKÖRÚT

Past nearby Oktogon stands Budapest’s second most important railway station, Nyugati. It was the Eiffel company of Paris fame who created this fabulous steam palace of iron and glass, opened in 1877.

Behind it is Budapest’s busiest mall, the WestEnd City Center, recently complemented by a relandscaped pedestrianised zone alongside.

Past Nyugati, the ring road is named after a non-Habsburg, Szent István.

Here’s where you’ll find the pretty Vígszínház, the Comedy Theatre, where many of Hungary’s great actors made their name. A Baroque confection created by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, responsible for designing dozens of theatres across central Europe before World War I, the Vígszínház stands on the Újlipótváros side of the Szent István körút.

Behind lies quiet, sought-after residential District XIII. Ahead, tram Nos.4/6 heads towards Margaret Bridge and the island of the same name.

Before you cross the river, to your left runs Falk Miksa utca, lined with galleries and auction houses, parallel to the waterfront towards Parliament.

Halfway over the Danube, the tram makes a stop directly above the leisure zone of Margaret Island.

The tram then veers left into Margit körut, towards another busy mall, the Mammut, opposite Ostrom utca.

Named after the Siege of Buda, it heads up Castle Hill, just as Holy League forces would have done in 1686.

The final stop is Széll Kálmán tér, from where buses run up to the Buda Hills.

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RESTAURANTS

Restaurant guide Alabárdos I. Országház utca 2.

Hungarian +36 1 356 0851 alabardos@t-online.hu www.alarbardos.hu Mon-Fri 7pm-11pm, Sat noon-3pm, 7pm-11pm

Buddha-Bar Restaurant Buddha-Bar Hotel V. Váci utca 34.

Asian +36 1 799 7300 info@buddhabarhotel.hu www.buddhabarhotelbudapest.com Every day noon-midnight

A Séf utcája, Buja Disznó(k) V. Hold utca 13.

Galéria 3-as és 6-os üzlet +36 70 390 7757 +36 70 377 3322 info@asefutcaja.hu info@bujadisznok.hu www.bujadisznok.hu

Comme Chez Soi Mediterranean V. Aranykéz utca 2. +36 1 318 3943, +36 70 250 9705 commechezsoi@gmail.hu www.commechezsoi.hu Mon-Sat: noon-12pm

Arany Kaviár I. Ostrom utca 15.

Russian +36 1 201 6737 reservation@aranykaviar.hu www.aranykaviar.hu Thu-Sun noon-3pm, 6pm-12pm

Costes IX. Ráday utca 4.

International +36 1 219 0696 info@costes.hu www.costes.hu Wed-Sun 6.30pm-11pm

ARAZ VII. Dohány utca 42-44.

International +36 1 815 1100 araz@araz.hu www.araz.hu Every day 7am-11pm

Costes Downtown Prestige Hotel Budapest V. Vigyázó Ferenc utca 5.

International +36 1 920 1015 reservation@costesdowntown.hu www.costesdowntown.hu/hu Jamie's Italian Budapest Every day 6.30am-11pm Italian I. Szentháromság utca 9-11.

Deák St. Kitchen +36 1 800 9212 V. Erzsébet tér 9-10. hello@jamiesitalian.hu The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest www.jamiesitalian.hu +36 1 429 5500 Every day: noon-11pm hello@deakstkitchen.com www.deakstkitchen.com Nobu Budapest Every day: noon-01pm Kempinski Hotel Corvinus V. Erzsébet tér 7-8.

ES Bisztró & Terrace Japanese/Peruvian Kempinski Hotel Corvinus +36 1 429 4242 V. Erzsébet tér 7-8. reservations@noburestaurant.hu Hungarian/Viennese www.noburestaurants.com/ +36 1 429 3990 budapest info@esbisztro.hu Every day noon-3.30pm www.kempinski.com/en/ 6pm-11.45pm budapest Every day 11.30am-11.30pm

Babel V. Piarista köz 2.

Hungarian +36 70 600 0800 info@babel-budapest.hu www.babel-budapest.hu Tues-Sat 6pm-midnight Bock Bisztró VII. Erzsébet körút 43-49.

International +36 1 321 0340 info@bockbisztro.hu www.bockbisztropest.hu Mon-Sat noon-midnight Borkonyha V. Sas utca 3.

Wine restaurant +36 1 266 0835 borkonyha@t-online.hu www.borkonyha.hu Mon-Sat noon-midnight

Fausto’s and Fausto’s Osteria VII. Dohány utca 3-5.

Italian +36 30 589 1813 ristorante@fausto.hu www.fausto.hu Mon-Sat noon-11pm Fuji II. Csatárka utca 54.

Japanese +36 1 325 7111 restaurant@fujirestaurant.hu www.fujirestaurant.hu Every day noon-11pm Gundel XIV. Gundel Károly út 4.

Hungarian +36 1 889 8100 info@gundel.hu www.gundel.hu Every day noon-midnight Halászbástya Restaurant Hungarian and International I. Budai Vár +36 1 209 9393 info@halaszbastya.eu www.halaszbastya.eu Every day: noon-12pm

Onyx V. Vörösmarty tér 7-8.

Hungarian +36 30 508 0622 onyx@onyxrestaurant.hu www.onyxrestaurant.hu Tue-Fri noon-2.30pm, 6.30pm-11pm, Sat 6.30pm-11pm Pomo D’Oro V. Arany János utca 9.

Italian +36 1 302 6473 info@pomodorobudapest.com www.pomodorobudapest.com Every day noon-midnight Rosenstein VIII. Mosonyi utca 3.

Hungarian +36 1 333 3492 rosenstein@t-online.hu www.rosenstein.hu Mon-Sat noon-11pm Salon Boscolo Budapest VII. Erzsébet körút 9.

International +36 1 886 6167 reservation@salonrestaurant.hu www.salonrestaurant.hu Tue-Sat 6pm-midnight Spoon V. Vigadó tér 3.

International +36 1 411 0933 spoon@spooncafe.hu www.spoonrestaurants.hu Every day noon-midnight St. Andrea Wine & Gourmet Bar Hungarian cuisine inspired by the world V. Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 78. +36 1 269 0130, +36 30 488 2902 info@standreaborbar.hu www.standreaborbar.hu Mo-Fri: 11am-12pm Sat: 5pm-12pm

Savour the authentic Buddha-Bar experience R E STAUR A NT & BAR & LOUNGE ASIAN FUSION CUISINE · BENTO MENUS & SUNDAY BRUNCH · SNACKS & SUSHI PLATES SIGNATURE COCKTAIL CREATIONS BUDDHA-BAR DJ MUSIC · THEMATIC PARTIES & SPECIAL EVENTS

www.buddhabarhotel.hu

H-1052 Budapest, Váci u. 34. ∙ Phone: +36 1 799 7302 ∙ restaurant@buddhabarhotel.hu Member of Mellow Mood Hotels

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RESTAURANTS

Arany Kaviár Restaurant

The maze of rooms oozes homely warmth and ornate elegance. It is the perfect spot for romantic dinners sheltered from the outside world, for important business lunches in a discreet, relaxed atmosphere and for spending undisturbed quality time with friends and family. Arany Kaviár offers three degustation menus, laying emphasis on marine and freshwater fishes as traditional Russian dishes. The wine list is often broadened with reserve items and Hungarian artisan wine specialities. In summer the enchanting inner garden awaits guests with an exclusive Champagne terrace. It’s recommended for all gastronomy fans who wish to indulge in culinary delights in an intimate ambience.

Address of restaurant: 1015 Budapest, Ostrom utca 19.

Telephone number: +36 1 201 6737 Telephone number for reservations: +36 30 685 6000, or +36 1 201 6737 E-mail address: reservation@aranykaviar.hu Website address: www.aranykaviar.hu Name of Owner-Manager: Attila Molnár Name of Owner-Executive Chef: Szása Nyíri Name of Chef: László Kanász Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 12:00–15:00 and 18:00-24:00 Type of cuisine: international cuisine Number of seating places: 48 (additional 32 can be seated on the terrace in spring&summer season) Year of Establishment: 1990

RESTAURANTS

Costes Our continuous success is credited to the fact that we have always prioritised exceptional quality and have never been satisfied with anything less than the finest. When it comes to ingredients, techniques, and our staff, we have always been true to our concept of “quality gastronomy without compromise”. In 2015, chef Eszter Pallagyi took over the Costes kitchen as Chef de Cuisine.

Address of restaurant: 1092 Budapest, Ráday u. 4.

Telephone number: +36 1 219 0696 Telephone number for reservations: +36 1 219 0696 E-mail address: info@costes.hu, reservation@costes.hu Website address: www.costes.hu Name of manager: Károly Gerendai Name of chef: Eszter Palágyi Name of executive chef: Miguel Vieira Opening hours: Wednesday-Sunday 18.30–24.00 Number of seating places: 35 Year of Establishment: 2008

Costes DownTown In June 2015 a new chapter began in Costes’s history: Costes Downtown has opened its doors in the heart of Budapest. The restaurant, located in the elegant Prestige Hotel, is accessible via a private street entrance. It is open every day of the week, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner at our usual standard of quality. Chef’s Table available!

Address of restaurant: 1051 Budapest, Vigyázó Ferenc utca 5.

Telephone number: +36 1 920 1015 Telephone number for reservations: +36 1 920 1015 E-mail address: info@costesdowntown.hu, reservation@costesdowntown.hu Website address: www.costesdowntown.hu Name of manager: Károly Gerendai Name of chef: Tiago Sabarigo Name of executive chef: Miguel Vieira Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 06.30–23.00 Number of seating places: 68 Kitchen type: International Year of Establishment: 2015

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Comme Chez Soi A romantic candlelight dinner in a truly Mediterranean small restaurant. Our show kitchen caters fresh fruits of the loom every day and also offers Italian specialities. Our pastas are cooked fresh in extra virgin olive oil and flavoured with Mediterranean spices. From pizza to Argentine sirloin.

Address of restaurant: 1052 Budapest, Aranykéz u. 2.

Telephone number: +36 1 318 3943 Telephone number for reservations: +36 70 250 9705 E-mail address: commechezsoi@gmail.hu Website address: www.commechezsoi.hu Name of manager: Róbert Singer Name of chef: Róbert Singer Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 12.00–24.00 Number of seating places: 30 Year of Establishment: 2003

Fuji Japanese Restaurant

Address of restaurant: 1025 Budapest, Csatárka utca 54.

Telephone number: +36 1 325 7111 Telephone number for reservations: +36 1 325 7111 E-mail address: restaurant@fujirestaurant.hu Website address: www.fujirestaurant.hu Name of manager: Ferenc László Name of chef: Usuda Masato Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 12.00–23.00 Number of seating places: 80 Year of Establishment: 1991

Fuji is a traditional Japanese Restaurant which has been operating since 1991. It has recently undergone a substantial transformation and renovation process that will no doubt benefit its customers.

The recently renewed architectural elements and interior furniture has become fastidious, providing high standards and quality.

Besides regular tatami rooms, customers can now enjoy some teppanyaki and sushi in an open-kitchen environment. The menu was renewed in the summer of 2013 and contains 200 types of special meals. Customers can choose from a variety of fresh seafood, organic and seasonal special food such as Sushi, Sashimi, Tempura, Nabe, Bentos, Sukiyaki, Sabu-Sabu and Wagyu-Kobe beef. Under the chef’s guidance, the restaurant represents Japanese gastronomy in Hungary better and better. The restaurant has a long-standing reputation, as its principal view will always be the customers’ opinion and their satisfaction, which will always pave the way to success. Itadakimasz! As of mid-February, 2017, we are expecting our guests with a renewed menu, novelties every day and a renewed guest space.

RESTAURANTS

e Spoon is a restaurant boat located in the central spot of BudapestHungary. is 75m engineless ne dining event and restaurant place is able to provide it’s services 365 days in the year. On the top it has two huge terraces and an additional one with glass sided walls, the winter garden. On the middle level there are two different designed restaurants, we call them the “Cafe” which is more like a real ne dining hall and the “Lounge”, which is a luxurious relaxing eating area. On each level we have a full kitchen, that makes the Spoon capable of serving every type of event and customer at different times and every season of the year. Our goal is to give high quality service to the corporate events, private parties and of course as the location of the Spoon is right on the most wanted spot of Budapest, we are a must see restaurant.

Spoon e Boat H-1052 Budapest, Vigadó tér 3. kikötő tel.: +36.1.411.09.33 fax: +36.1.411.09.46 spoon@spoonrestaurants.hu www.spoonrestaurants.hu

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St. Andrea

Wine & Gourmet Bar The St. Andrea Wine & Gourmet Bar has been dazzling guests who are in search of authentic, regional flavours with a culinary experience in the heart of the city. Now operating in the beautiful hall of Eiffel Palace for almost more than two years under the tutelage of Chef Adam Barna, the team has been creating intricately composed dishes, always with Hungarian taste in mind.

The carefully constructed interior, coupled with the professionalism that we strive to achieve in terms of service, cuisine and complementary wine couplings stemming from the St. Andrea vineyard, are what we believe in as a team.

At last but not least, we are happy to announce that our restaurant could hold on to it's 15 points and 2 chef hats in the latest edition of Gault&Millau Hungary and it was chosen as the best wine bar by Prestige Award in 2016.

We look forward to seeing you whether for wine tasting, business lunches, partner meetings or special events.

Address of restaurant: H-1055 Budapest Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 78.

Phone & Table reservation: +36 1 269 0130 | +36 30 488 2902 E-mail address: info@standreaborbar.hu Website address: www.standreaborbar.hu Name of Manager: Miklós Lizsicsár Name of Chef: Ádám Barna Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 11-23h, Saturday: 18-23h, Sunday: Closed Type of cuisine: international cuisine Capacity: 60-80 person & 20 person (separate hall)

RESTAURANTS

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Tokio Address of restaurant: 1051 Budapest, Széchenyi István tér 7-8.

Telephone number: +36 1 801 9862 Telephone number for reservations: +36 70 333 2176 E-mail address: info@tokiobudapest.com Website address: www.tokiobudapest.com Name of manager: Csizmadia Örs, Demján Balázs Name of chef: Luczy Krisztián Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 12:00-24:00, Friday-Saturday 12:00-01:00, Sunday 12:00-24:00 Number of seating places: 80 + 15 Year of Establishment: 2007

Tokio is on the Pest-side of Chain bridge, at Széchenyi István tér (formerly Roosevelt) and its environs are the heart of the business district, which transformes into a popular entertainment and clubbing quarter at night. Tokio offers a culinary experience in an exciting interior designed by talented young Hungarian artists. Tokio still presents excellent and upmarked food, but the selection has been extended to perfectly constructed cocktails, and DJ’s entertain after dark. The kitchen is run by Luczy Krisztián who works with authentic Thai chefs to serve up the most exciting flavours in the capital. Japanese specialities, great atmosphere, and the cocktail creations by the head bartender guarantee a perfect bar experience.

Furla is 100% Italian – in history and spirit.

Founded in 1927, it is the only brand in the fast-growing premium segment that gives customers an authentic Made in Italy experience with an attractive value for money.

As one of the major global players in the leather goods market, Furla stands for quality, a colourful creativity, joyfulness and a Contemporary Italian Lifestyle.

FURLA.COM

FURLA FASHION STREET 1052 Budapest, Deák Ferenc utca 23.

Opening hours: Monday-Saturday: 10:00-20:00 Sunday: 11:00-19:00

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Discover Hungary Wine, wildlife and water sports

DISCOVER HUNGARY

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here’s much more to Hungary than Budapest.

Although many of the country’s major attractions are in the capital, you’ll find castles, museums and spas aplenty a relatively short drive or train ride away.

The country’s favourite getaway and key summer destination is Lake Balaton. Set a couple of hours southwest of Budapest, it’s the nearest Hungary gets to a seaside experience, with family-friendly entertainment and shallow, safe waters for paddling, at least on the southern shore.

Hungary’s main towns all offer worthwhile attractions. The second city of Debrecen, with a major university, has recently seen serious funding come its way, resulting in the opening of the Kölcsey Központ cultural centre and a new sports stadium.

The city is also the gateway to the Hortobágy, a national park of 800 square kilometres known for its extensive birdlife and lesserknown native breeds of cattle. Tours here often include displays of horsemanship by mounted herdsmen known as csikós.

The northeast is also known as a major wine-producing region, with the town of Eger famed for its cellars and restaurants. Its castle is a must-see and is steeped in legend.

Hungary’s other main wine region is Villány, to the south, close to the Croatian border. The nearest major town is Pécs, European Capital of Culture in 2010. Attractions here include the new Zsolnay Quarter, based around the former ceramics factory of the same name. Historic landmarks from the Ottoman era dominate the mainly pedestrianised town centre.

Closer to the Serbian border, Szeged is known for its annual open-air theatre festival and fiery fish soup, a local speciality best enjoyed by the Tisza river.

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Balaton Lake Balaton is Hungary’s main tourist destination. Easily accessible by road or rail, the lake is lined north and south by dozens of resorts, some with historic attractions and most with recommendable wine cellars and restaurants. Fish soup is a local specialty, made of carp and catfi sh or local other ingredients.

The southern shore generally appeals to a younger clientele, with Siófok the main hub of summer nightlife. The north shore tends to attract the older generation, happier with fi ne wines and casual sightseeing.

The waters of Balaton are shallow, safe and fun for children.

Slides, chutes and steps line the popular bathing spots, particularly on the south shore, where volleyball and other beachside games are set up. Lake Balaton is also a major destination for cycling, sailing and fi shing – and, in winter, skating.

The best view of Lake Balaton is from the tourist attraction of Tihany Abbey on the north shore. Established in the mid 11th century, Tihany was rebuilt in Baroque style 700 years later. Its founding charter is the oldest existing document written in Hungarian. The Balaton ferry operates nearby, running to Szántód on the south shore in ten minutes. Key nearby sites include Badacsony, Keszthely and Hévíz among many places of interest.

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Hévíz Hévíz is situated in south-western Hungary, a few kilometres from Keszthely and Lake Balaton. The town is primarily famous for its unparalleled, natural, peat-bed medicinal lake, as a result of which it is the second most popular municipality in Hungary after Budapest, when it comes to the number of guest nights spent at commercial accommodation. Thanks to its special composition, the medicinal water of Hévíz is excellent for the treatment of rheumatic illnesses and motor-organ diseases.

There are regular market fairs, cultural events, concerts, and exhibitions in the town. It is worth visiting the quiet district of Egregy (once a village in its own right) for a wine tour. The route passes by one of the oldest churches in Hungary, which dates back to the 14th century and is an extraordinary sight in itself. In Egregy a row of cellars, excellent wines and food welcome visitors. The remains of a Roman Empire-era villa farm (villa urbana) are also located there. It is well worth taking a walk there after a delicious lunch or dinner.

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Szentendre A short hop north of Budapest by boat or electric suburban train (HÉV), the Danubian settlement of Szentendre is almost everyone’s choice for a day trip from the capital.

Its attractions are not immediately obvious. Souvenir shops and craft stores line cobbled streets patrolled by clip-clopping horse-drawn carriages.

But explore further and you won’t be disappointed.

Szentendre owes its charming allure to the two main groups who settled here in the last 200 years or so: Serb refugees and Hungarian artists.

The Serbs came fi rst, fleeing Ottoman rule to set up a thriving community some 20 km north of Budapest. They left not only a handful of beautiful Orthodox churches, but the atmosphere and special lay-out of Szentendre.

Irrelevant of location, these churches all face east, the streets leading up to them giving Szentendre its twisty-turny configuration unlike the more carefully planned towns in Hungary.

Soon after World War I, artists arrived here, fi nding the quaint if slightly run-down Serbian houses and churches.

Galleries were set up along with a network to support a community of artists, writers and musicians, still in place today.

After a morning of sightseeing in churches and galleries, visitors may relax at one of the many terrace cafés and restaurants on focal Fő tér or along the Danube.

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Visegrád You only have to travel a mere 45 kilometres from Budapest to visit a town that is considered to be the smallest, and at the same time among the oldest and most popular excursion destinations in Hungary, at the heart of the Danube Bend.

Visegrád has been an outstanding site of Hungarian and European history for more than 1,000 years. The town’s name is fi rst mentioned in a St Stephen-era document issued in 1009 AD (the king-saint founded the country in 1000 AD), but even the Romans built a fortress here, on the area of today’s Sibrik Hill. The famous Royal Palace is part of the European Cultural Heritage, while the enchanting forest surrounding the town belongs to one of the most beautiful National Parks in Hungary. Medieval jousting tournaments and other cultural events are regularly held in the castle, and visitors are welcomed with palace games from 8-10 July.

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Esztergom Esztergom is situated in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the River Danube. Because of its location, it is frequently referred to as the uppermost city of the Danube Bend. It is a popular tourist destination, just 50 kilometres from Budapest.

The city, the seat of the Archbishop of Esztergom, is the centre of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. Its basilica is one of the largest in Europe, and includes the country’s only fully intact Renaissance-era structure, the Bakócz Chapel.

The Christian Museum has the largest ecclesiastical collection in Hungary, and is said to be the third richest diocese museum in the world.

Esztergom is also the cradle of Hungarian aviation; the country’s most prolific aircraft designer Ernő Rubik senior (whose son would go on to design the eponymous Rubik’s Cube), worked at the city’s aircraft factory from 1936.

From the time of the democratic transformation (1989) until 2012, the city was the official seat of the Constitutional Court.

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Pannonhalma Situated in the Sokoró Hills, 19 kilometres from Győr, is the renowned Pannonhalma Benedictine Arch-Abbey, one of the country’s most outstanding historical monuments, as well as a centre of religious and art history. The primary tourist attraction, the “Thousand Year Old Abbey”, is significant both architecturally and because of the cultural history relics among its diverse exhibitions and collections.

The spectacular building complex of the Arch-Abbey was built on Saint Martin (Szent Márton) Hill. The Romanesque style undercroft and cloisters, as well as the Gothic style basilica have been expanded by Baroque and Classical style additions that defi ne its current appearance. Numerous rarities can be found in the 400,000-book collection in the 19th century library hall. A 55-metre-tall tower – one of the most famous examples of Hungarian classicism – crowns the entire building complex. The Abbey also has a notable cellar (Pannonhalmi Apátsági Pincészet), the wines of which are sold nationwide.

Wine, Sopron, passion Taschner Wine and Sparkling Wine Ltd.

S

ince the Romans, high quality grapes have been grown in the western corner of Hungary around the town of Sopron near the Eastern Alps, where the glimmering water of Lake Fertő (known as the Neusiedler See across the border in Austria) turns even the most severe winter into a mild season. Here Kurt Taschner, a well-known winemaker from the region, produces his sparkling and traditional wines.

The tradition of winemaking has been present in the half-German, half-Hungarian Taschner family for generations. The grandparents ran a small pub in the centre of town offering quality wines to thirsty costumers. Now father and son work together in the vineyards, and the next generation is eagerly interested, so the estate will definitely be passed onto good hands.

It is mainly traditional grape varieties that are grown on their 26 hectares, such as Kékfrankos, Zweigelt and Grüner Veltliner, all of which are typical to Sopron wine region, but a few rarities are found there, too.

HIDDEN TREASURES One of those rarities is the Frühroter Veltliner variety, and the Taschner family are the only winemakers in the region to bottle a single varietal vintage. The pink-coloured grapes provide a fresh, fragrant and light wine that is best drunk in the heat of the summer, either straight or as a spritzer.

The other crown jewel of the Taschner family is its sparkling wine made using the traditional method. The slightly cool climate and a chalky ground are extremely suitable for making a drink worthy of a toast.

Maturation is in line with the French tradition; the bottles spend months or even years on the riddling racks in the cellar before being labelled and reaching the consumers. Taschner’s sparkling wines are all characterised

by creamy bubbles, delicate maturing aromas, steady pearling and an excellent balance, making them ideal partners for a nice evening or a festive morning.

KÉKFRANKOS, ACE OF THE WINE REGION Sopron is the capital of Kékfrankos: this grape gives unique notes to the wines that originate here in a climate and soil like nowhere else in the world. Each vineyard has its own aromas, each winery has its own world: the range is fairly wide, from fruity reductive wines to the long-matured, rich and exciting “big” wines. In the Taschner cellar, the pure taste of Kékfrankos can easily be traced with examples of the fresh and light, as well the more mature and serious forms. So connoisseurs can endlessly argue if the heavy but reserved Kékfrankos wine from the old vines of the Scheim plot produce a better wine than the round and intensive produce of the Weidengrund vineyard.

It is an exciting game for those familiar with wine-tasting, but even beginners can taste the differences immediately.

SOPRON: AN IDEAL DESTINATION When planning a visit to Vienna, it is recommended that you also allow time to call in at Sopron as well. A romantic evening walk along the old streets of downtown, and a nice dinner accompanied by a few glasses of Sopron wine are well worth the detour.

Taschner Wine and Sparkling Wine Ltd. welcomes its guests with open arms. By tasting the exquisite vintages of it sparkling wines, its lighter whites or heavier reds, you are able to understand and appreciate the perfect combination of German accuracy with Hungarian enthusiasm in one single glass.

Taschner Bor- és Pezsgőház • 9400 Sopron, Balfi út 164. • phone: +36 (99) 506-605, mobile: +36 (20) 931-5225 • e-mail: order@taschner.hu

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Pécs Pécs, city of culture, is situated on the south-western edge of Hungary, near the Croatian border. It has always been a multiethnic city; in the course of its 2,000-year history, cultural layers have been stacked upon each other, the traditions and values of various ethnicities combined. Hungarians, Croatians and ethnic Germans live together in peace amid a rich cultural polarity to this day, thus it is not surprising that the city became one of the “European Capitals of Culture” in 2010, together with Essen and Istanbul.

The overwhelming majority of the application bid, accepted and announced as a winner in 2005, was drafted by civic organisations, therefore the “Pécs 2010 European Capital of Culture” plan truly was the programme of Pécs. It was built on four key cultural investment projects: The Pécs Conference and Concert Centre; the South Transdanubian Regional Library and Knowledge Centre; Museum Street; and the Zsolnay Cultural District. These were supplemented by the revival of public areas and parks. The “capital of culture” title also initiated a development boom in the city. New, modern hotels, a shopping centre and office buildings were all constructed at around this time.

WELLENSTEYN.HU WELLENSTEYNHUNGARY

BP. III. SZÉPVÖLGYI ÚT 43.

BP. XIII. PANNÓNIA UTCA 15.

DEBRECEN, HATVAN UTCA 17.

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Essential numbers EMERGENCY NUMBERS Ambulance Breakdown service (automobile club) Central emergency number Fire service Police

Limo-King Magyarország 104 188 112 105 107

+36 1 788 0138, +36 (20) 398 9880 +36 (20) 433 8042

StarLimo Hungary

TRANSPORT Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminals +36 1 296 9696 Flight information / Information +36 1 296 7000 Lost and found +36 1 296 5966 Airport shuttle (minibus service) +36 1 296 8555 Parking +36 1 296 3553 Reservations +36 1 577 6284 Railway stations Déli pályaudvar +36 1 371 9449 Keleti pályaudvar +36 (40) 494 949 Nyugati pályaudvar +36 1 349 8503 International information +36 1 444 4499 Car rental Avis +36 1 318 4240 Budget +36 1 214 0420 Europcar +36 1 421 8333 Fox Autorent +36 (70) 455 4000 Hertz +36 1 296 0999 Taxi Budapest Taxi +36 1 777 7777 City Taxi +36 1 211 111 Főtaxi +36 1 222 2222 Taxi 2000 +36 1 200 0000 6x6 Taxi +36 1 266 6666 Sightseeing Cityrama +36 1 302 4382 EUrama +36 1 327 6690 Program Centrum +36 1 317 7767 Limousines Limo Center Budapest +36 (20) 319 3138 Limousine Service Hungary +36 1 220 6120, +36 1 273 0076

MEDICAL SERVICES Medical attendance (24 hours) Falck SOS Hungary Dentist (24 hours) HaifaDent Night-duty chemists Déli Gyógyszertár, XII. Alkotás u. 1/B Teréz Patika, VI. Teréz krt. 41.

+36 1 240 0475 +36 (20) 263 7262 +36 1 355 4691 +36 1 311 4439

CULTURE Theatre ticket off ices Ticket Express Customer service Ticket Portal

+36 (30) 303 0999 +36 (30) 533 9933

FINANCIAL SERVICES Lost/stolen credit cards Amex Visa

+36 1 235 4349 +36 (40) 333 666

BANKS Budapest Bank CIB Bank Citibank Deutsche Bank Erste Bank FHB Bank KDB Bank K&H Bank NN Bank MKB Bank OTP Bank Raiffeisen Bank Sberbank UniCredit Bank Bureaux de change Exclusive Change Western Union

+36 1 477 7777 +36 (40) 242 242 +36 (40) 248 424 +36 1 301 3700 +36 (40) 222 222 +36 (40) 344 344 +36 (40) 532 532 +36 1 328 9000 +36 (40) 464 464 +36 1 327 8600 +36 (40) 366 666 +36 (40) 484 848 +36 (40) 414 243 +36 (40) 504 050

EMBASSIES Australia 24-hour consular service Austria VI. Benczúr utca 16.

Belgium II. Kapás utca 11–15.

China VI. Városligeti fasor 20–22.

Canada II. Ganz utca 12–14.

Denmark XII. Határ út 37 Egypt XII. Istenhegyi út 7/B France VI. Lendvay utca 27.

Germany I. Úri utca 64–66 Great Britain V. Harmincad utca 6.

Greece VI. Szegfű utca 3.

India II. Búzavirág utca 14.

Ireland V. Szabadság tér 7.

Italy XIV. Stefánia út 95.

Japan XII. Zalai út 7.

Korea VI. Andrássy út 109.

Portugal XII. Alkotás utca 53.

Romania XIV. Thököly út 72.

Russian Federation VI. Bajza utca 35.

Spain II. Kapás utca 11/B Sweden II. Kapás utca 6–12.

Switzerland XIV. Stefánia út 107.

Turkey VI. Andrássy út 123.

United States V. Szabadság tér 12.

+61 2 6261 3305 +36 1 479 7010 +36 1 457 9960 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36

1 1 1 1 1 1

413 2401 392 3360 354 2570 225 2150 374 1100 488 3500

+36 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36 +36

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

266 2888 413 2600 325 7742 301 4960 460 6200 398 3100 462 3080 201 7617 384 0271

+36 1 332 4748 +36 1 202 4006 +36 1 460 6020 +36 1 460 7040 +36 1 344 5025 +36 1 475 4400

+36 1 260 0593 +36 (80) 463 676

LUXURY BUDAPEST 2017 SHOPPING DINING SIGHTSEEING ARTS CULTURE

Publisher Thomas Botka Advertising AMS Services Kft. Erika Törsök, Krisztina Egri, Györgyi Keszthelyi Editors Robin Marshall, Vanda Vedres

Layout Gizella Gombás Photo Production Bussiness Publishing Services Circulation 10,000 copies

Published by Business Publishing Services Kft. 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14. Hungary • Phone + 36 1 398 0344 www.amedia.hu

without the express prior written permission of the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility to any party for the content of any advertisement in this publication, including any errors and omissions therein. By placing an order for an advertisement, the advertiser agrees to indemnify the publisher against any claims relating to the advertisement. All content in this publication is the property of Business Publishing Services Kft. and its suppliers or licensors or contributors, and is protected by the Hungary and International copyright laws. © 2017 Business Publishing Services Kft. All rights reserved.

ISSN 2060-940X All photos used in this publication are by Business Publishing Services, Árpád Pintér, Attila Dubniczki, Balázs Herceg, Éva Hajdu, Dóra Sajó, Míra Judit Szántó, Zsolt Szigetváry, Vexton Kft. and Shutterstock unless otherwise credited.

Luxury Budapest 2017 is a registered trademark. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, in whole or in part,

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