Category: Places

Budapest to Vienna via Bratislava, Slovakia

Although I forgot to program fine weather into the holodeck for this trip, I had a marvellous time travelling by road from Budapest to Vienna, with a stop-off in Bratislava in Slovakia.

While there are no border crossings for passport checking and the like, one does need to have a sticker for the particular country’s highways on which one wants to travel – so there are what look like toll booths with kiosks from which such stickers may be purchased. This is the one going from Hungary to Slovakia…

…and then on to Bratislava (and apologies about the rain-blurred images…)

This part of the world certainly likes statues of military guys with no heads… Note to self: at some point, find out what that is all about!

The view overlooking the mighty Danube is impressive, even in the rain…

…and then down into the old town…

This (below) is the same fountain as you will see in an early photo a little later…

Bratislava is known for its quirky street art – and it seems Napoleon had a hard night…

…and misplaced his shoes…

This little guy is world-famous… Meet Cumil, the sewage worker…

This is where my driver and I stopped and had a delicious lunch…

…and then across the way to the patisserie…

This (below) is the photo of the fountain to which I alluded earlier…

A woman I find fascinating – Sisi, aka Empress Elisabeth of Austria…

This door is magnificent!

…then on to Austria…

…and buying another sticker – they are available both single journey and annual passes.

Welcome to the outskirts of Vienna…

…where if it doesn’t move, it is tagged (although thankfully, the street artists are very respectful of historic buildings)

…the beautiful River Danube…

…and finally…… THIS is the view from the apartment I have leased for a month!

Welcome to the world-famous Vienna Opera House…

…and as the sun sets, the lights come on, and it appears even more magical…

What a delightful day!

Goodnight, my Friends… Sweet dreams…

~ Bella

Hungarian Etyek Wine Country Tour

Until this trip, I had no idea Hungary had wineries – let alone over one hundred of them just in this region only thirty minutes from Budapest! …and if you think that is a lot, consider that once there were over 1,000 wineries in Etyek.

Crossing the beautiful River Danube once more (you will be familiar with many of these sights from my other posts)…

…and this (below) shows the statue on top of the Citadella…

…we head out of town only about thirty minutes to our first of three stops…

By the way, this bridge looks upside down, don’t you think? 🙂

…and we enter the Etyek region where grapes have been grown since Roman times.

Although the snow in Budapest melted days ago, up here there are still the remains of the major snowfall we had last week…

…and this is our first stop – and yes, it looks just like a house with a lot of vines in the back yard – primarily because that’s what it is…

…and the red-coloured building next door – another house with lots of vines in the back yard…

…but this house has been converted into a tasting area for this winery that has about three hectares of vines, if I remember correctly, that are scattered in various places through the area.

The winery is run by a husband and wife team – and they both also hold down full-time jobs – and they have a young family! She is a teacher and he sells wine-making equipment for a large company.

The wines we tasted in each of the three places were all very ‘clean’ and ‘fresh’… I guess another word that comes to mind is that most of them tasted very ‘pure’ – like mountain spring water – but with a kick! 🙂 I bought a bottle of this one to bring back with me.

Also, all the wines we tasted bar one were all blends… They were all delicious!

Oh, and our tour was conducted by City and Wine, and they could not have been more lovely. Initially, I had booked on another day but since I was the only person booked, Eszter contacted me and asked me if I would like to change to go with a group – and so I ended up with a most delightful small group consisting of Eszter, our wonderful guide, Joseph, two young men from Finland, and two young women from … the Scottish Highlands!!! Remember where I spent a glorious week or so over New Year’s in Scotland? That’s where they live! (well, not in Ardoe House, but in Aberdeen).

After a fabulous tasting – and fascinating conversation about the impact of WWII on the area, we head off…

No, it doesn’t all look like this… Little by little they are laying paved roads, etc…

…and on the way, we drive by the Korda Filmpark. Named after Sir Alexander Korda, this site is fast becoming one of the busiest film studios in the world.

Korda has one of the biggest sound-stages in the world with an area of 6,000 square metres and an interior set buildable height of 20 metres.

While (below) they may not look like much from this side, the Filmpark has ten HECTARES of backlot sets, including (thanks to Wikipedia for this next bit):

New York/Brooklyn Set

Built for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the backlot includes a full Brooklyn street block with four-story facades on sides, a movie theater, bank, restaurant, repair shop, freight loading docks and fire escapes. The length of the main street is 120 meters which runs into 60 meter long side streets at each end. The width of the paved road is 14.5 meters, with 3-4 meter sidewalks on each side. The large backlot area makes it possible to extend the set on all sides. The street façade can be modified to suit production’s needs.

Renaissance Set

The backlot was designed by Francois Seguin & Jonathan McKinstry for The Borgias TV series . It portrays numerous regions of historical Italy, from The Vatican to Florence. The more than 1 hectare renaissance city has various styled buildings and gates, courtyards, alleys, interiors, prison cell, a piazza and Vatican façade.

Medieval Village Set

Built for the World Without End miniseries, the 12,000 square meter set is situated in a natural environment next to a lake and forest. The set portrays a village from the 13-14th century with various houses, fortress wall, central square and ambulatory. Most of the houses include interiors.

…and we continue on to collect our Finnish friends…

…who (below) have been to – you guessed it, yet another house – only this one houses one of Hungary’s most famous chocolate makers! They did a chocolate tasting… Note to Self: how on earth did I miss that one?! 🙂

…and to our next stop…

They even made freshly churned garlic butter for us… Yum!

…and note the size of this cellar – that is the entire cellar for this winery!

…and again off and on our way… although by now we were all much more jovial and strangely louder… 🙂 The Hungarians certainly believe in giving value for ‘tasting’ – make it more like ‘drinking’, since no glass was ever just poured with only a tasting-sized amount. So, now about six or seven glasses of wine later…

…we continue on…

…to our third and final winery, where we had more ‘tasting’ and a delicious dinner…

…and about twenty minutes later we are again crossing the River Danube and back to home sweet home to my magnificent hotel… which I discovered was the Nazi headquarters in Hungary during WWII.

It was a glorious afternoon – and thank you to all my new friends who made it even better!

~ Bella

Urania time machine…

Entering through these reasonably ‘normal’ looking doors of the Urania – pronounced oo-RAY-ne-yah – of this theatre / cinema, one has no idea they are actually a time machine, transplanting one back to the late nineteenth century…

…even the previews were of old movies, and of theatrical productions…

Oh, and the movie I saw was “The Shape of Water” – an astonishingly crafted piece of work!

I headed back to my lovely hotel, and was greeted by each of the staff, and even the musicians all nodded hello to me – I felt like a celebrity!

…and then discovered that the maitre’d (who reminds me of Carson in ‘Downton Abbey’) had organised the staff to move furniture for me – seriously! He had noticed that I was never truly comfortable on the chairs – and the tables with sofas were all set for multiple people. So, he arranged for a table for one to be set at a sofa – just for me!

…and in the elevator going up to my room, there was a man in the elevator with a bunch of roses – and he gave me one! He said very shyly, “your smile deserves a rose”.

I kissed him on the cheek as I exited the elevator and he blushed a bright red…

What a delightful day!

~ Bella

PS: It is Sunday as I am finishing and uploading this post, and after a big day yesterday, I decided to stay in and read, watch some documentaries on my laptop… and so ordered room service.

The man on the other end took my order and then said, “do you have any sparkling water in your room?” – turns out, they all now know I love to have sparkling water with dinner..!

“No, I don’t,” I replied laughing. “I will send you some,” responded the man on the other end of the phone.

Did I mention I love it here? 🙂

PPS: When the lovely waiter brought my lunch, he asked if I was going to be down in the restaurant later this evening. I said I wasn’t sure, and he replied that the maitre’d had asked him to inquire so that they could make sure they reserved “my table” for me…

Needless to say, I will be going downstairs later…

Bliss!

My first “ruin pub” (romkocsma) experience in Budapest

There is a first time for everything – and today was my first ‘ruin pub’ experience in Budapest, and also my first visit to the magnificently beautiful cinema here!

The day started with me going off exploring… OK, so I wasn’t able to go far, but one doesn’t need to here. There are cool venues, oddities, sculptures, almost everywhere one looks…

…and THIS, my friends, is a ‘ruin pub’…

What is a ruin pub/bar?

Once the site of the Nazi Jewish ghetto, the historic Jewish Quarter of Budapest became dilapidated after WWII. Even as recently as the early 2000’s, there were still a number of abandoned buildings scattered through the district – when some enterprising people decided they would make excellent sites for bars and pubs!

…and here is where I am sooooo happy I have begin experimenting with 360-degree photos! Here is what it looks like as a flat image…

…and this is your chance to kinda-sorta see what I saw [just use your mouse/fingers to move around the 360-degree space]

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Brunch of champions…

…and then off to find the cinema… and just wait until you see the cinema!!! Oh – my – goodness!!!

~ Bella

Budapest Citadella and Historic Central Cafe

[Simply use your mouse or fingers to move around this 360 image]

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Overlooking the beautiful River Danube, the Citadella (the English translation of the Hungarian word for citadel) is perched on the top of Gellért Hill in Budapest. My first intention was to stop in at the restaurant part way up the hill for lunch, but the owner (at least he seemed like the owner) was very abrupt when telling me that they didn’t open for another 20 minutes, so I decided to give that a miss, and head to the top of the Hill.

The views from up here are amazing – and I have sooooo overused that word during my stay here, but it fits so perfectly!

By the way, it is sobering to compare the photo below to the magnificent bridge over which I have travelled so many times during my visit…

This below gives a whole new meaning to losing one’s head… or the song, “I……. ain’t got no boooooody…”

Their mulled wine was the PERFECT thing to cast off the cold… (and as I write this, the snow has now melted away already, and we are into two-digit temperatures…)

…then back down to ground level for lunch (no, I didn’t partake in any of the other goodies above)… My destination – the historic Central Cafe. Founded in 1887, it is one of the oldest surviving continually operating restaurants and cafes in Budpest (and my hotel in which I am staying is another!)

Walking through the doors, one is greeted not only by lovely wait staff, but by the sounds of early 1900s jazz and swing…

…and then a five minute walk back to ‘my place’…

Not a bad way to spend a few hours…

~ Bella

Budapest Fisherman’s Bastion and Castle Hill

I have only been in Budapest a week and already I have decided it is my second-favourite place on the planet! This morning I ventured out and up to Budapest’s magnificent Castle Hill and the amazing Fisherman’s Bastion and have quickly put the photos into a video for you, as opposed to the usual… It seemed fitting for this place… (suggest you view full-screen and with speakers on)

Here are some quick facts from Fisherman’s Bastion website:

Built from 1895 to 1902
Looks like the logo of Walt Disney films, only nicer and older
Open all year round, day and night
Entrance fee: free balconies combined with fee paying top turrets
7 turrets to represent the 7 Hungarian tribes who founded the present day country in 895
Cafe on the terrace of the Fisherman’s Bastion Budapest
Chapel inside the Fisherman’s Bastion Budapest (open from March 2013)
Protected by the guild of the fishermen during the Middle Ages, hence the name

I couldn’t say it any better than TripAdvisor:

“Lovingly restored after being reduced to rubble during World War II, this picturesque area is located in the heart of medieval Budapest, which is characterized by cobblestone streets, narrow alleys and lovely squares surrounded by baroque and classical buildings.”

Simply stunningly amazingly beautiful…

~ Bella

PS: here are the photos themselves if you would like to scroll through:

Snow in the English Riviera?

You will have seen my posts of the beautiful marina in Torquay across the road from where I was living, bathed in glorious sunshine… Or views from the lovely Grand Hotel where I would often sit and work, overlooking Torbay harbour…

Well… It has been ten years since Torquay in South Devon, England saw snow… but right now they are being covered in the stuff! With more blizzards forecast… and a huge thank you to my dear friend Marcus Throup who took these photos for me.

I wish I was there to witness it! It may be snowing here where I am in Budapest at present, but that’s nothing new. Snow in Torquay? That pretty much doesn’t happen.

…and you would normally be able to easily see the Grand Hotel when standing on this spot – not today!

…and just along the road a little way, Plymouth was also white…

A – M – A – Z- I – N – G !

~ Bella

Budapest is magnificently beautiful…

After sleeping most of yesterday (and I still feel like I need another week of rest to finally be better – but am well on the way to recovery), today I went exploring through Budapest and was astounded at how incredibly magnificent it is! I wasn’t expecting anything this beautiful…

…and there will be minimal ‘commentary’ for a while until my body and brain gets some rest and catches up with my spirit… I think they are still somewhere back on mainland England…

Oh, look… Someone has wrapped up a building to give to someone as a present…

I love that there are so many well-dressed women here… Oh, and if it looks like people are rugged up – with good reason – today was minus-five Celcius.

London has the London Eye – Torquay wanted to call theirs the ‘Torqu-eye’ (but the powers that be said no), and this one is called… wait for it… The Budapest Eye! Go figure…

OK, mystery solved. Elvis isn’t dead. He simply moved to Budapest and is alive and well.

A restaurant from the late 1800s? This is my kinda place – so this is where I curled up for lunch…

There is something creepy about these lantern holders…

This place reminds me a great deal of the Votive Church in Vienna…

OK, re the statue below… that I almost missed! Thanks to Atlas Obscura (that I LOVE!), I learned that this is a statue of Peter Falk’s, ‘Colombo’! To learn why, you’ll have to look that up and investigate for yourself… 🙂

Btw, this (below) is the train station… As magnificent as it is, New York’s Central Station now has a rival for first place in my book…

…and it’s always nice to stay in a place that promotes “Happy Gum” – whatever that is…

Just highlights today of my scouting tour…

Am here for a couple of weeks so will spend some quality time exploring a few specific places on my bucket list… (a Bucket List that now has [drum roll…..] OVER 1000 ITEMS on it, and about half of which I have already achieved!)

Sending love and smiles to all…

~ Bella

Zurich is delightful!

After sleeping in and working from bed until noon (that did me the world of good!), I decided to venture out and explore…

It was an overcast day, around 1°C / 33°F, but crisp and lovely. My hotel is right in the middle of the city, across the road from the Limmat River that runs right through the centre…

Yes, they are fur-covered seats at the pizza parlour…

…and for a main street, this one is quite deserted… Look right…………

……look left……………………..

The people are extremely friendly – although there don’t seem to be many people here! 🙂

…and go figure – I decide to have a ‘local’ lunch and the restaurant I walk into is Middle-Eastern!

…but it was delicious if ghastly expensive – the average normal meal here is between $30-$40 USD. Even just cheese and tomato on toast at a cafe is $12. Anyway, as I said, it was deeeeeelicious.

Oh, that reminds me – Switzerland is not part of the EU and still retains its own currency of the Swiss Franc – that I always thought was funny… Franc (as in French) is the currency – German is the language…

So, if you plan on visiting – and I would recommend it – make sure you bring some Swiss Francs and brush up on your German.

Well, back home now to get a lot of work done – will do a little more exploring tomorrow…

~~~~~~~

Back again… Still not feeling 100% so decided to stick close to home (hotel) but wanted to experience a Swiss restaurant and figured I should do one of the very best (and told the credit card to take a deep breath…)

This is the Chagall room – and yes, there are original paintings lining the walls…

Walking back to the hotel and looking for a particular blue leather jacket I spied in a window yesterday (that I have since found and adopted), I thought I might find somewhere to buy a bottle of wine to enjoy later in my room… I found this lovely-looking wine shop, however it was closed – but wait… the man walking to the door? The owner! Perfect timing!

…and am now curled up working in my ‘local’ – just around the corner from the hotel – the waitress is named Francesca and this is a lovely spot to hang out…

While there is so much to see and do in Zurich, me thinks it will have to wait for another visit.

Tomorrow is my final day here, leaving Friday to take the train through the Alps to Budapest and think I will rest up tomorrow.

Sending love and smiles to all…

~ Bella

Sunny day exploring Cornwall…

St Michael’s Mount, the extraordinary Minack Theatre, Lands End and more… These are the highlights from yet another glorious day exploring…

Starting in our lovely manor as the sun was beaming in the beautiful bay window, Karen and I met up and the headed off…

…and in case we were peckish, we had some Rudolph jerky on which to nibble…

Arriving in Marazion to horses on the road and on the beach – I love it!

St Michael’s Mount at high tide is an island, and at low tide is a tiny outcrop of land. There has been one form of monastery or other on the site since the 8th century.

Its Cornish name is Karrek Loos yn Koos, literally meaning ‘the grey rock in a wood’.

At high tide, the man-made causeway is completely under water.

Next stop, the Minack Theatre…

The Minack Theatre (or Gwaryjy Minack in Cornish), gives one the feeling of being in an exotic location in Italy or similar…

According to Wikipedia: “The theatre was the brainchild of Rowena Cade, who moved to Cornwall after the First World War and built a house for herself and her mother on land at Minack Point for £100.[3] Her sister was the feminist dystopian author Katharine Burdekin and her partner lived with them from the 1920s. In 1929, a local village group of players had staged Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a nearby meadow at Crean, repeating the production the next year. They decided that their next production would be The Tempest and Miss Cade offered the garden of her house as a suitable location, as it was beside the sea. Miss Cade and her gardener, Billy Rawlings, made a terrace and rough seating, hauling materials down from the house or up via the winding path from the beach below. In 1932, The Tempest was performed with the sea as a dramatic backdrop, to great success. Miss Cade resolved to improve the theatre, working over the course of the winter months each year throughout her life (with the help of Billy Rawlings and Charles Angove) so that others might perform each summer.”

Hmmmmmm, yes – my thinks that is stating the obvious! 🙂

…and here is when the alien space ship finally came down to collect us…

From there, it was meandering over to Land’s End…

…and along the way being stopped by traffic geese…

…and then suddenly I felt as though I had been transported to a cheap American theme park… Welcome to Land’s End.

Needless to say, we didn’t stay long and instead headed off in search of somewhere lovely for lunch…

…and the dip in the roof is unfortunately not an optical illusion…

Anywhere that has fresh yellow roses and books is a winner with me!

After a lovely lunch and live music (smooth, cool jazz feel) that I could have listened to for hours and hours, we headed toward home base…

…grabbed a cab and went into Falmouth for wine, food, wine and more wine…

No, this is not a huge chimney for the building – well, not exactly… read on…

This building used to be Customs House…

…right next to the Harbour Master’s office, complete with lookout bay window…

This is Jack – local celebrity…

He orders his drinks at the bar…

This is our trusty bartender with Karen’s chocolate Baileys…

Back to Jack – he has a calendar, raising money for the air ambulance. When I adopt my next fluffy, me thinks we will do something similar for a local cause…

Then we arrived back to the manor and, being the only residents, duly sat in the bar consuming a nightcap (or two) and singing a range of songs, much to the amusement of the bartender!

The following morning (Monday) we set out to head back to Torquay, with a minor detour… Karen needed to run an errand along the way so while she was taking care of that, I headed off to do some more exploring…