Budapest
In the heart of Hungary lies Budapest, a city divided by the majestic Danube River. Budapest separated by the Danube River to Buda and Pest sides, has beautiful attractions such as Bridges, Gellert Hill and thermal baths. Budapest is the city I studied in for a semester during Master’s, so most of my experiences in Hungary belong to this city. The interesting fact about Buda and Best sides is that they are different and not merely divided by a river. The Buda side is relatively tranquil and mostly residing locals, while the Pest side has many places for tourists and more apartments to rent to foreigners such as students. I chose to live in Buda side and despite the language barrier, living in a local area allowed me to immerse myself in Hungarian culture. Doing this had many benefits, first, tourist areas in all the cities I went to had more fraud in comparison to their residential area, second, I couldn’t communicate in English so had to learn and talk in Hungarian, third, instead of living in an apartment I lived in a two storey house in a clean calm beautiful area. However for choosing the place to live each person has their own preferences, for example, for me as a student not having nightlife was not an issue.
Photos of this gallery belong to Christmas time. The photo of me, holding a cup, belongs to the time I was enjoying the Christmas market and its atmosphere with friends in the city centre.
One of my favorite memories is stumbling upon the Gingerbread City at Bálna. They had displayed ginger cookie houses, bridges, etc. resembling a tiny city containing Budapest structures. Bálna or Budapest Whale is a modern shopping mall resembling a majestic whale by the Danube River.
The painting of a table is an art piece in a museum’s painting gallery. For me, it is filled with Hungarian-European Christmas traditions. The cake on the green plate is Beigli. Beigli is a rolled-up crust with filling, whereas walnut and poppy seed fillings are traditional ones as far as I’ve learned. I believe many traditional Hungarian sweets contain poppy seeds, and I liked it.
As the sun sets and the city lights up, Budapest takes on a whole new charm.
Budapest has lovely hills giving you splendid views of the city.
These photos are randomly taken during my stay in Budapest. I like my underground station photo, because of the design of the station and its perspective (the chairs’ design is not noticeable here because of website photo quality reduction), and because of the silent atmosphere, those two people waiting and the clock in the middle of the photo. I think although people can travel faster and longer distances with electrical transport in comparison to old times, as cities are rapidly growing, still people are spending so much time to reach their destinations.
The building with loads of spikes is the Hungarian Parliament Building. I would like to mention that you can find many spiky buildings in European architecture while Iranian architecture tends to have round and semispherical roofs. I love that architecture used to be defined by weather, nature and culture, unlike contemporary buildings that are similar and boring.
The photo of an empty street with trees on the sides and Bungalows down the road was the lovely path I was walking home from University.
These photos belong to Budapest‘s National Museum, except the one including me standing in a white hall which belongs to the Museum of Applied Arts. If you open the left image of the ceiling, you can see how intrigued I am by the ceiling paintings of the Museum’s entrance!
Matthias church is full of intricate artistry and I enjoyed visiting every single part of it, including the stairs.
‘Halottak Napja’, ‘the Day of the Dead’ or ‘the Day of Remembrance’, All Soul’s Day and All Saints’ Day are two popular holidays in Hungary. In these days people honour the dead saints and visit their family members who have passed away.
In these photos, you see that people light candles on interred people in cemeteries. Some believe that flames can warm bleak souls, while others believe that the candle can help souls find their return to their graves as they are free on this day. I find it interesting that in Iran there is a similar tradition, we light candles and share dates and other foods to show our respect for our loved ones who are not among us anymore. In Iran this day is called “Cheragh Barat” and similarly it is believed that the deads’ souls are free on this day. Going to Kerepesi Cemetery on All Saints’ Day felt like seeing the same tradition as my country, although I was seeing different people and things my soul was experiencing the same feeling. The architecture of this cemetery was amazing and artistic.
The flag with a cut circle in the middle represents the time Russia left Hungary, so it is a symbol of revolution and independence from the Soviet Union.
This is not Halloween, this is Pumpkin Festival that people design their pumpkins and gather in Hero’s Square to celebrate. People standing beside white boxes are collecting dedications for the poor.
I really enjoy history museums, although it has nothing to do with my profession and I know just a bit about history. That is because thinking about how lifestyle has changed over time and imagining how people used to live and make things is exciting to me. The Budapest National Museum building was amazing due to its location, corridors, ancient walls, windows and etc..
Margaret Island is a nice place for running with a nice view of the river and its sides. Although it a was cold winter time as it is conspicuous by pieces of ice, when I visited this island it was a nice sunny day.
Tihany
What attracted me the most in Tihany was lavender: lavender honey, lavender sweets, lavender … and lavender itself. And as lavender is purple you can find many lovely purple souvenirs in Tihany. I found Lake Balaton’s view with loads of white sailboats, green fields and a bit scattered houses truly eye-catching, which was perfected by nice summery weather and a lovely lunch with professors and classmates. No wonder why this place is a popular tourist attraction.