Posts by author Melanie Sefton
Photo by GoGap
Kecskemét, 86 kilometers from Budapest in the center of Hungary, possesses arguably the most beautiful town center in the entire country. Almost every building on the main square is art nouveau. The finest examples are the Town Hall and the new college, which houses elementary and high schools specializing in music education and named in » Read more
One of the chief pleasures of visiting another country is sampling its special food and drink. If you visit Hungary you expect to taste the goulash (gulyás), which you may be surprised to find is a soup, not a stew you should also expect to have a shot of the national drink, unicum. Unicum is » Read more
Photo by Jun7000
You’ve heard of hotels for women only, now there are taxis which only serve the fairer sex. The Pink Taxi Company was launched in Moscow in August 2006, modeling the all-women drivers, women passengers-only format found on the streets of London and Tokyo. The launch followed a spate of violence against women taxi passengers in » Read more
Photo by The Sly Gentleman
Everyone has heard of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but few people know of Bratislava’s Junifest, which will celebrate its fourth year this June, from June 8 through June 17, 2007. This is a shame, because Slovak beer is excellent and the festival has a great program, and is very cheap. A ten-entry pass costs SKK550 (€16.25; $22) » Read more
Photo by Martin Baran
Košice, Slovakia’s second city, ranks high on our short list of underexplored European gems. Set in a valley, with the Ore mountains to the west and the Salt Hills to the east, Košice remains a delightfully unspoilt place. Slovakia’s budget airline SkyEurope flies between Košice and Bratislava, making the city both easy and cheap to » Read more
Photo by calley_nelson
Dostoevsky called St. Petersburg the “most abstract and fantastic city on earth.” The city’s power to amaze is at its best in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, built in 1714 on the granite banks of the River Neva to house Tsar Peter the Great’s bizarre collection of abnormal anatomy. Siamese twins in formaldehyde, the » Read more
A dreamy sunset at Lake Velence. Photo: Darinko
Everyone has heard of Lake Balaton. Few, however, know the pleasures of Lake Velence, Hungary’s smaller resort lake. The big exceptions to this rule? Hungarians and Poles, who rival locals in their love of the place. The lack of attention probably explains why Velence is less touristy, more peaceful, and cheaper than Balaton. It is » Read more
If you appreciate rural tourism and distinct ethnic traditions, you will certainly enjoy visiting the hilly country of northeast Hungary, the home of the Palóc people. Palóc traditions combine folk elements of Turkish and eastern origins with a Hungarian way of life. Their rather peculiar dialect of Hungarian is famous for its long vowels. Each » Read more
Kiskunmajsa in the south of Hungary. Here you can relax in 20 hectares of landscaped park, bathe in both clear and brown mineral waters, swim in the sandy-shored lake, strengthen your immune system in the sauna and jacuzzi, enjoy the four large water slides, and even play giant chess or mini golf—all for the unprincely » Read more
