Sites to avoid visiting Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary and one of the most ancient capitals in Eastern Europe. It is a city full of historic buildings, palaces and beautiful parks. The city has made a positive spin on aesthetics over the past decade. Nowadays it is one of the most visited cities in Eastern Europe. There are many attractions that encourage us to walk the streets of this beautiful city, but you should also consider other important aspects while discovering Budapest. Here we will provide you with some tips to avoid any mishap you could have while visiting this city.
First, keep in mind that, although Hungary belongs to the European Union since 2004, its currency remains to be the Forint, so do not forget to change your Euros to Forints if you don’t want to have any inconveniences.
If you want to sample the local cuisine, get away from the restaurants that list their menus in English; there you’ll never try real Hungarian food and surely you are going to pay so much more than you are supposed to. My advice is to head to a local restaurant, where the prices are clearly indicated at the front door. If you find inns where locals occupy most of its tables, don’t even hesitate, this is the right place. Order gulyas leves or somloi galuska, which are two delicious Hungarian specialties. Restaurants located in the proximity of the Castle, generally charge too much.
Try to avoid visiting the district VII of the city. There you’ll find several slums located in the city center on the banks of the Danube. On the other side, district VIII deserves our special attention; here you will find historical buildings, museums and palaces of great interest, but try not to go further than Korut Josef (Grand Boulevard).
The Budapest Opera is not as spectacular as the one in Vienna; I recommend you not to waste a lot of time visiting it. On the other hand, the Budapest Parliament is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The Fishermans Bastion and St. Stephens Basilica are also worth visiting.
Don’t go by taxi from the airport to the city; they are expensive and take advantage of the unsuspecting tourists. There is a line of the highly efficient public transportation that will take you to the city center.
In Budapest there are many underground tunnels built during the communist era. Avoid them, they are dark, abandoned and you could even meet a delinquent waiting his chance to get you.
Nevertheless, Budapest is one of the most beautiful capitals in Europe; its people are friendly and it is definitely worth visiting. Enjoy your stay in Hungary and make sure to send us a postcard or comment here if you want to add some advice to the list.
Salermico
If you are planning to spend a few days in the city, book apartments in Budapest as soon as possible. Prices are very affordable, you have a wide range of options to choose from and even special offers. I recommend this option if you want to save money.
Genfest 2012 in Budapest
Created by Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, the Genfest is a youth meeting of all cultures, ethnicities and religious beliefs they want to show the world that a universal brotherhood and a united world are possible options. From the 60s to the present day the Genfest has emerged as a meeting place for sharing activities, projects or continue with initiatives already underway, such as the “Africa Project”, or “Skip a Meal” projects that want to show their support of the Horn of Africa.
This years edition, the 10th, is held between August 31 and September 2 in Budapest (Hungary) under the title “Lets bridge”. With this title the organizers intended to convey the desire to build bridges between different cultures, meeting points to create unity. Different topics will be addressed ranging from economics and politics to art or different religions, building bridges between different cultures and realities of the participants in the event.
The program also provides Genfest an extensive program of activities, including a concert, choreography, a flashmob on the famous Chain Bridge, or speeches to exchange experiences. It also will launch the first stage of the United World Project, a project that provides for the establishment permanent observatory fraternity practices recognized by the UN. Many of these events will be broadcasted live on the Internet, and they can be followed through different social networks.
Thus, for three days the city Budapest and its famous bridges will become the scene of party unity and tolerance, holding meetings, and shows of samples prepared by more than 3,000 volunteers from around the world who are working nonstop for months to organize the event to make sure everything goes well.
The Genfest 2012 will be held in Budapest between August 31 and September 2, and expects this time to gather some 12,500 people of all nationalities.
Marta Mir
If you do not want to miss this event book soon one of the apartments in Budapest and join the party of unity.
Bonusz in Budapest: Festival of Electronic Music
The effects of electronic music are probably different than those of other musical genres. Although the rhythm is repetitive, songs random and a constant mix of rhythm, voice and interpretation electronic music reaches the senses deeper than any other musical genre. Furthermore, the constant drug use at festivals, raves and underground parties leads to a more intense experience that opens our imagination, desire and body at parties come close to rituals in certain moments, one could call them technological. The inicial interest in electronic muisic derived from the experimentation with several effects and devices that generated frequencies for over 50 years. Eletronic music entered our daily life as an established music genre with many different forms and possibilities to dance and listen to with technology that continues to advance and new possibilities to create effects through computers.
Maybe it was the psychodelic master Timothy Leary who with his talks about LSD and its effect on the body who it itself represents an electronic machinery claimed that drug use will broaden the limits of our minds and with these new bodies through which we carry electronic impulses we reach new levels of imagination and reality which meant a possible evolution through the stimulants of LSD.
Leary caused such inspiration in the German community creator of thel Krautrock, amongst whom the electro’s fathers, Kraftwerk, it would be essential for us to understand that experience of mental and sensory expansion had to be done with effects and electronic devices: synthesizers.
Kraftwerk’s career till today needn’t be mentioned now, but it is to understand that resolution of the electronic effect in the sound has been changing with the different tools and devices that are used today, both for electronic music generation as in its reproduction. This way, electronic music festivals are pilgrimage events, of a subculture that without even realizing, is already a great part of the system. So much that there is already very few it can be offered and which it could re-assimilate as a chance or aspect towards the mainstream side. The festival corporation is present all around as we know, and it is not but from this corporation that one can better understand the music today and conglomeration it causes, as well as its reactions. Our links with PCs are today so close that thinking of moving away from electronic music and its possibilities is crazy. We are closer and closer of a future which, as Blade Runner said, implies an electronic Hill and artificial life, perhaps music is our insertion path in a future which is already happening, against our wills, and from our senses.
To live electronic music, come to Budapest and be part of this festival that is the best event of the year. For further info, visit this page: http://www.bonuszfesztival.hu/2011/
Alexa Ray
Find apartments in Budapest and be a part of this event, which brings you the best of todays electronic music. Highly recommended.
Translated by: Maria
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La Cicciolina: From Budapest to Rome
There is a before and after Cicciolina, both in pornography and in Italian politics. But first we should ask what strange twist of fate causes women born in Hungary to be some of the most beautiful on the planet. Its no joke. Hungarian women have a very particular grace and beauty that has made them perhaps the most desirable women in the world. Some of the most attractive porn actresses working today come from this country.
But to tell this story, we must go back in time. The history of pornography in Hungary dates from the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Until then, both production and distribution of pornography was illegal in communist Hungary. However the laws were changed with the arrival of “democracy” and these more permissive laws soon allowed this country to come to the forefront of the industry. Foreign directors were quick to take advantage of Hungary’s permissive laws, its low production costs and its large numbers of attractive actresses.
However, the history of La Cicciolina dates from long before the Wall fell, and although her story is mainly connected to Italian culture and government, it is worth noting that she is from Budapest. In the 60s she worked as a model in Hungary, and it wasn’t until the early 70s that she began to develop her career in Italy. In the 80s she starred in her first hardcore film and her fame grew even more. After this, she entered politics and, in 1987, was elected to the Italian parliament with more than twenty thousand votes. Her prime aims were to combat the nuclear threat and world hunger.
Among the most memorable moments of her time in parliament was the occasion she offered to have sex with Saddam Hussein in exchange for him releasing prisoners during the Gulf War. After failing to be elected again in 1991, she became one of the founders of the Partito dellAmore, along with the porn actress, Moana Pozzi. Her further attempts to take an active part in politics failed, as did her offer to Osama bin Laden to have sex with him in exchange for an end to violence in the Middle East.
Although the successes of Cicciolina’s political career may have been negligible, her presence in the Italian parliament undoubtedly had an impact on European society. The fact that she found enough support to be able to crossover from the “underground” world of porn to the international political arena opened many people’s eyes to the true market size of pornography and its deep integration in contemporary culture. In pornography’s revelatory power of display, in its rawness, and in its blatant use of sexual intercourse as a means of production and capital, it explodes all society’s ideals, whether moral, political or religious about what sex means in our culture. La Cicciolina represented the impulse of downtrodden women everywhere to take control for themselves and wield some of the power in an industry, religion and world ruled by men.
Alexa Ray
There can be nothing better than renting apartments in Budapest and exploring this city, which, as well as being beautiful, is also the home of some of the best porn stars working today.
Translated by: Ben Palmer
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