Budapest Local Customs

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Name days in Hungary differently from english-speaking countries are widely celebrated and very popular. A flower and tiny gifts are given as a present to the women mainly, the men get bottle of wine from everybody, the colleagues, the family, and from friends.
Birthday is popular too, but its celebrating is generaly a matter of the family.

The Roman Catholic Church provides the name of one of his Saints to the Baptized who should be his/her ideal and his/her patron in the matters with God. This is the main forename, in Hungary called "Christian name", given to a child at the baptism or "christening".
I got my christian name from Saint Ladislaus, in Hungarian (Szent) Laszlo, who was the 5th christian King of Hungary in the 11st Century.

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Located here in the Castle District just steps away from the Dali Cafe is the statue of Andras Hadik on a horse. It is said that rubbing the balls of the horse will bring you luck and it is the reason why while the rest of the horse has a green patina the "balls" are super shinny.

I personally didn't rub them and did see anyone else around me rubbing them either, but someone's been rubbing them. LOL

Hungary has a varied and wonderful selection of pastries to please any sweet tooth. Just take a walk around any neighborhood and you will definitely find a shop selling all these wonderful treats.

Here is a list of some of the wonderful treats you will find at any of these shops which can be enjoyed any time of the day.

Dobos torta (Dobos cake) - sponge layered with rich chocolate cream and coated with crunchy caramel

Eszeteházy torta - cake layered with walnut cream

Krémes - light vanilla craem filled between two layers of crunchy puff pastries

Rigó Jancsi - chocolate sponge filled with light chocolate mousse and coated with chocolate

Rákóczi Túrós - cottage cheese cake

Strudels (Rétes), a flaky pastry with various fillings like cottage cheese, apple, poppy-seed and cherries

Kürtõs kalács is a hollow, cylinder shaped pastry coated with castor sugar, cinnamon or walnut, this particular treat is sold at festivals and outdoor events.

Hungarian goulash is considered the most famous of Hungarian meals. It is said that everyone has their own version or way of cooking it by adding or omitting some ingredients, but they all call their recipe "authentic gulyás".

The main ingredients to this wonderful dish is beef which is cooked with onions, Hungarian paprika powder, tomatoes and some green pepper. Some will add some potatos and/or noodles. When a goulash is well cooked properly it should have a somewhat thick consistency which may resemble a sauce and is usually eatan as main dish.

Rákóczi út is the long way to Keleti palayudvar that I baptized Nikórette út: every 50m you run into an ashtray, some full of cigarettes, some other empty, but ALL sponsorized by a famous stop-smoking gum...

For some reason many toilets in Hungry and back to front with the drainage part at the very front. Instead of dropping straight down the back part is like a tray. I was very curious as to why this is and thought that it might be made that way so you can exam your stool samples to check and see if all is healthy. When I asked a Hungarian friend she told me Hungarians are obsessed with the 'waste' they produce! Maybe that's just her office colleagues, but the toilet design certainly does help this fascination as it is right there staring back at you!

Budapest has a lot of Thermal baths.
A lot of local and of course tourists come and enjoy the water for relaxation , medical purposes and even to just meet friends or enjoy a chess game.

The most famous thermal baths in Budapest are :
Gellert Bath - located on Gellert hill very close to the Gellert hotel.
Szechenyi Bath - located on city park , behind heroes square.

If you need to go to the toilet while traveling in Budapest there are some chemical or public toilets.

Most of them are very clean and you will have to pay 50-150 forint.

Of course if you are in a hotel , a restaurant or a shopping mall you will not have to pay for entering the toilet.