Everybody had told me that Budapest is beautiful. It really is. I visited the Hungarian capital in 2013, a stopover during a road trip from Krakow to Turin with stops in Hungary, Slovenia and Trieste, an itinerary along some key places of the Habsburg Empire. Again, just like when I had visited Vienna, one of my main interests in this trip had been a cake. It’s always cake that drives me to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire! But let me start from the beginning…


When we arrived the Hungarian capital met us with a gloomy rainy weather, definitely not what I had been hoping for. Actually, I never hope for bad weather, because it makes walking around with a camera a lot more complicated. Moreover, to me it is quite hard to appreciate a new place in poor lighting conditions because I end up stressing over all the colours I’m missing out in that light. And it is a lot more challenging to take pictures in the rain, managing to effectively capture some beauty and not just monotone grey cityscapes.

Rainy days are meant for indoor activities, and in fact that’s what we did. (Here comes the cake.) One such activity was sitting at a café enjoying a really good espresso and a slice of Dobos torte, two exquisitely Austro-Hungarian treats. Dobos torte is known for being Empress Sissi’s favourite and is a divine multi-layered chocolate buttercream and sponge cake beauty which incidentally is also a national symbol of Hungary. And the coffee, well, I like coffee in all its forms but I can be picky when it comes to espresso, always looking for places that can make it as good as in Italy. One thing is for sure: in such places as Vienna or Budapest I can’t go wrong, these people know how to brew good espresso! Another activity that proved totally enjoyable regardless of the weather was riding the world’s second oldest subway.
Shopping at supermarkets to bring home foodstuffs from a different country or place — that is so me too! Really loved your description of Budapest. 🙂
Thanks! And yeah, there’s nothing better than going grocery shopping abroad!!
Ho le stesse identiche foto di Budapest e pensa che stavo per scrivere un post anch’io! Devo essere sincera, mi aspettavo un po’ di più e sarà anche il fatto che quando ci sono stata la prima volta, sono tornata con una pessima influenza intestinale che mi ha lasciato ko per giorni 🙁 Sono ritornata a novembre e con i mercatini di natale e con tutte le decorazioni natalizie aveva un altro aspetto. Però non credo ci tornerei una terza volta.
Ma pensa. Io l’impressione un po’ “meh” l’ho avuta da Praga invece. Molti sostengono che Praga sia più bella di Budapest ma io dissento. Diciamo che forse Praga avrà nel complesso più cose degne di nota, ma l’atmosfera generale non mi ha per niente catturata. Budapest mi ha decisamente colpito di più. Un ogni caso, mi piacerebbe tornare in entrambe d’inverno.
Per me è stato il contrario: ho adorato Praga e ci ritornei subito!
What a beautiful day!
It was indeed. Thanks for stopping by!
Another great post and photographs. I always head to a supermarket abroad too, it’s such a good way to get to know the real personality of a place.
Thank you! About supermarkets I have the same fascination as for airports. They’re designed so that no matter where in the world, you kind of expect what and where to find things. I love to find stranger things familiar.
Or familiar things strange 🙂
Absolutely!
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