B">Summer in the city – five things to do when it is too hot to do anything...

1, Go underwater!

Budapest has fantastic spas and swimming baths, most of them are very easy to reach by public transport. This website gives you detailed information about opening times and prices. The most fun is the Palatinus on Margaret Island with many pools, a wave machine and kamikaze slide. Dagaly also has many pools, and a massive green area right along the river. Csillaghegyi is probably the least crowded because it’s water is actually cold, and it’s a bit shabby. For the most slides go to Aquaworld, far out of town but there is a free bus from Heroes’ Square.

2, Go underground!

There are plenty of caves in Budapest and a few of them are actually open for visitors. The most popular one is Pálvölgyi stalagmite cave. It’s easy to reach with public transport, take bus no. 65 from Kolossy tér. The cave is 10 C degrees all year round, so dress accordingly! Open Tuesday- Sunday 10-4 pm, tours are every hour at a quarter past.

There are also two caves to visit in the Castle district, the Labyrinth and the “Hospital in the Rock”. Both are part of the massive cave system in the castle hill itself. The Labyrinth’s exhibitions (open every day from 9.30 till 7.30 pm) have nothing to do with it’s history I am afraid, still it’s nice to have a stroll underground. You can also try quite exotic tours there: The “personal” or the lover’s labyrinth: in the former they let you find your way out from the labyrinth, in the latter two lovers are left at two different parts of the labyrinth hoping that love would guide them to each other. I haven’t tried any of this myself and with good luck and fair wind I never shall. :) The Hospital in the Rock is open Tuesday- Sunday 10-7 pm.

3, Enjoy the breeze!

Take a ride on the river! You can take a sightseeing boat like legenda in style, or take the scheduled boat to Szentendre and top it off with a mega ice cream at the Szamos Marzipan Museum.

Take the Children’s Railway! Up on the Buda Hills there is a small gauge railway operated by kids, very cute. Take tram 56 from Moszkva Tér to the terminus, then it’s a short hike up to the station. Get off at János Hegy station and after a 15 minute walk you are at the highest point of the city at Erzsébet Kilátó, and in the shade. You can also combine it with the chairlift.

4, Go somewhere where it is air conditioned:

There are plenty of air-conditioned cinemas, though most films are dubbed. You can see the English language screenings here.

Most museums are also air conditioned too!

5, Have something cold to eat or drink!

Dreher as I found out makes vegan beer, served almost everywhere! There is a small brewery right next to the Museum of Applied Arts, in a restaurant Kaltenberg. Fresh beer and if you ask they can show you their brewery.

As for ice cream the options are many, Szamos, August and Daubner all have excellent ice cream. I would highly recommend a small place at the corner of Csaba and Maros utca (at Moszkva Tér) where you can get vegan ice cream!

Yum- yumm!

 

Guest blogger Louise Infante from http://www.vegetarianmenu.net/ kindly contributes to Vegetarian Hungary by sharing her article:

Give me some seconds and I’ll give you 1 very good reason to become vegetarian.

 

 

While fish is the key dietary source of the long-chain omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, that have been shown to be important in supporting brain health, low intake of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in vegetarians won't adversely affect mood, according to a new research (Nutr J. 2010;9:26. DOI:10.1186/1475-2891-9-26).

 

 

A research team from Arizona State University conducted a cross-sectional study to check the mood of vegetarians who never eat fish with the mood of healthy omnivorous adults.

 

 

A total of 138 healthy Seventh Day Adventist adults living in Arizona and California (64 vegetarians and 79 non-vegetarians) were enrolled in the study and completed a health history questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire and two psychometric tests, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and the Profile of Mood States..

 

 

Vegetarians had significantly lower mean intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and also the omega-6 arachidonic acid; they had higher intakes of the omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid and the omega-6 linoleic acid.

 

 

"Seed oils are the richest sources of α-linolenic acid, notably those of rapeseed (canola), soybeans, walnuts, flaxseed (Linseed oil), clary sage seeds, perilla, chia, and hemp."

 

 

However, the vegetarians also reported considerably less negative emotion than omnivores in psychometric tests. Mean total psychometric scores were positively associated with the mean intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid , and inversely related to alpha-linolenic acid and linolenic acid intake.

 

 

The study team noted there is also the chance that vegetarians may make smarter dietary choices and could generally be healthier and happier.

 

 

If you want to give it a try, the following is a good example of vegetarian recipe according to Italian cuisine

 

 

Italian Spaghetti with Zucchini

 

 

Ingredients:

 * 17 oz. Spaghetti

 * 24 oz. Of thin sliced zucchini

 * 1 / 2 cup walnuts oil

 * Some basil leaves

 * 2 tablespoons of yeast flakes

 * Salt and pepper

 

 

In a large skillet heat the oil and when hot, add garlic and zucchini. Raise heat and stir often to complete their cooking. They should be golden and crispy outside and tender inside. Cook the pasta, drain and sauté in pan with zucchini, basil and yeast. Serve immediately.

 

 

Zucchini contain fewer calories and possess no fat. However they are a good source of potassium, e vitamin, ascorbic acid, folate, lutein and zeaxanthin.

 

 

Many of these nutrients are very sensitive to heat and to enjoy their benefits you should find a quick solution to cook or even eat raw in salads.

 

 

From the therapeutic standpoint, zucchini have laxative, refreshing, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and detoxifying action.

 

 

About the writer - Louise Infante writes for the http://www.vegetarianmenu.net/ blog , her personal hobby blog focused entirely on vegetarian cooking tips to help individuals live better.

Thank you Louise!

I feel really embarrassed, we just found out that our online booking form didn't work at all, you could fill it in and send it off but we never received anything! So some might have though we are not only fully booked but extremely rude as well. We are really sorry we are not fully booked (the contrary to be honest) and we are nice folks, a bit disorganized as you can imagine with two little ones at home but we answer all emails and enquiries! If you receive no answer within 48 hours, than we didn't receive your email, than please resend it to budaveg at gmail dot com. You can also skype us (login budaveg) or call on the phone +36309348045.

Instead of an online form, we uploaded the word doc booking file, which you can download fill in and send back to us. Hope you’ll find it easy to use, feedback is always welcome!

class="MsoNormal">22nd March

Today is World Water Day and accidentally our daughter’s birthday too, so we all went to the Zoo.  The Budapest Zoo had a lot of activities for kids revolving around water, mainly about how to save water for the future generations. Our two year old is not up for those activities yet, so we went to look for the baby giraffe.

 

It was cleverly standing far away from the visitors with the mum while the other giraffes were basically licking our heads to get some “zoo-snacks”: it is mainly dried alfa-alfa which you can buy at the stalls; clever solution to keep the visitors happy and the animals alive.

We also wanted to see the gorilla baby but the clever gorilla pack kept the baby hidden, but we found something else instead:

The zoo was packed with school kids and there is also a lot of construction going on, they are redoing roughly 1/3 of the zoo’s territory. Which is not bad if you have some earth mover obsessed children!

 

Brief history:

Hungary became part of the Hapsburg rule in the beginning of the 1700, after the Ottoman occupation. There were several minor uprisings against the Austrians, all crushed down eventually. A strong reform movement started in the 1820’s and it concluded in a bloodless uprising on the 15^th of March 1848. People gathered in front of the National Museum and from there they marched to the governing council and managed to push through the 12 points. The main leaders of the uprising were Sándor Petõfi, the poet and Lajos Kossuth.

The 12 points (source wikipedia)

What the Hungarian nation wants.

Let there be peace, liberty, and concord!

1. We want freedom of the press, the abolition of censorship.
2. A responsible government in Buda-Pest.
3. An annual parliamentary session in Pest.
4. Civil and religious equality before the law.
5. A Hungarian National Guard.
6. A joint sharing of tax burdens.
7. The cessation of socage [land tenure].
8. Juries and representation on an equal basis.
9. A national bank.
10. The army must swear to support the constitution, our soldiers must not be dispatched abroad, foreign soldiers must be removed from our soil.
11. The freeing of political prisoners.
12. Union [with Transylvania].

 

Since the Hapsburgs already had an uprising in Austria the Emperor agreed to the points. However, after the home revolution was suppressed with the help of the Russian Czar the Hungarian revolution was crushed down too and on the 6^th of October 1849 the 13 generals of the Hungarian Army were hanged in Arad.

 

The effect of the revolution:

 

Even though the revolution ended so brutally it had still a positive effect on the course of things and soon resulted in the so called “compromise” between Austria and Hungary in 1867. It meant that the Hungarian Constitution was restored and the emperor Franz Josef was crowned as the king of Hungary, thus the Austro-Hungarian double Monarchy was formed.

The revolution is always celebrated in big manner throughout the country and many political parties always try to turn it into their rally. In Budapest the celebrations usually take place at the National Museum, at the Parliament building and at the Petöfi statue next to the Elizabeth Bridge. People usually wear small red-white-green cockades for a few days around the 15^th of March, the majority of people though do the same at all bank holidays: they get away for a few days, many for a skiing holiday in the Alps.