Food and Art in Budapest

We spent three days in Budapest. We quickly came to appreciate the benefit of traveling with Julie and Alex, who not only knew the language, but also where to go and what to see. We hopped on the subway system quite frequently, and it was amazingly effective to be able to have traveling companions who actually knew where to go and how to get there.

Subway in Budapest

For example, Julie and Alex led us to all of the greatest, cheapest food in town, like the food at Nagyi Palacsintazoja-Grandma's Crepes.

 

They served both sweet and savory crepes, for around $1 each. We ate here a couple of times and my favorite was the one on the left--Chestnut flavored.

Our favorite tour guides also knew where the best pastry shops were,

as well as the best pastries to try.

 They led us into temptation

and into cheese markets.

 They even helped indulge someone's gusto for gelato.

I learned Hungarians are really into paprika, and that paprika is a pepper. Nope. I didn't know that before. See how traveling broadens your knowledge? Paprika, in various forms, was for sale everywhere.

 Here is another great restaurant we tried.

 It was an all you can eat type, with every type of food imaginable,

including the important ones.

The restaurant even had these cute little eggs you could pick out

and have cooked up for yourself.

One of the days we were in Budapest, we went to an indoor food market/flea market.

I had goose for breakfast that morning.

Of course, no journey is fun without lots of gelato along the way. Somehow in our travels, we went from 1 scoop to 2 scoops, and finally to 3. It's probably fortunate for me that all good things must end--I'd have no problem getting to 40 scoops if given enough time.

I also loved the art of Europe, and Budapest was no exception.

From the beautiful religious creations

to the honoring of history

it was everywhere.

For example, we passed this treasure tucked under a bridge, on our way to a bathroom.

Some of the art was whimsical:  Caution: too much gelato turns hips into ledges.

Rats! The gelato shop is out of Mozart gelato again!

Let's not forget the whole "Food IS Art" movement.

Perhaps none of the art is more compelling or stirring than the Holocaust memorials.

This Holocaust memorial is "Shoes on the Danube Promenade". Honoring the Jews killed by Arrow Cross militiamen during World War II, it contains about 60 period-appropriate shoes, cast in bronze, and attached to the stone beneath them.

Jewish citizens were forced to line the river's edge, taking off their shoes. They were then shot, their bodies falling into the Danube and washing away.

 Shoes were a valuable commodity; Jews were forced to leave them behind for others to take.

You can see small candles and flowers left in the shoes as tributes from people who have come to remember. Amazing!