Apres-ski Magyar style

The dreaded Palinka - clear, deadly and unsuspected

Beware the urban avalanche

We have been enjoying a new experience - the urban avalanche - its a silent attacker and is amusing to watch the look on someone's face as a massive dump of snow lands on the street in front of them, setting off car alarms and generally causing chaos.

That said, I have not had the pleasure of being in the middle of one but they seem to be becoming more frequent as the weather warms up and the snow caps on all the buildings start their shift back down slopes and onto the unsuspecting passer-by

Hungarian version of the Wurzels - very heavily fuelled by Palinka

Didn't really understand what they were singing about but they seemed to be enjoying themselves (and the palinka)

Traditional costumes in the Mangalica festival

Heroes Square in the snow

The smell of sizzling pork and smell of palinka filled the air

at the 2010 National Mangalica festival in the setting of the Vajdahunyad Vara (Castle) in Varosliget, up behind Heroes Square.

 

Lots to eat, pigs and piglets to see and lots of national arts and culture

Given where we were, it would have been rude not to have at least have tried some Mangalica just to see if if lived up to all the hype and it was very much worth trekking up to the top of the city in the snow.

Not sure that the Exiles one will be quite the same but probably just as much Palinka will be drunk and mangalica will be eaten

Hungary is not very famous for its skiing but we managed to find somewhere

to get some skiing practice before we head to France at the end of the month - although, it was more like being off-piste on a slope than the kind of slopes I suspect we will be on in France!

Visegrad is the old capital of Hungary as well as being the location of the only ski slope within easy distance of Budapest and thanks to Steven and Helena, who are very intrepid skiers, we were able to get some additional practice (as well as assure them that we could actually carve it up a little bit).

Unfortunately, due to the blizzard conditions we were skiing in, it was not really possible to see the castle but as it is all on the cycle path out of the city, I suspect we will make a trek out at some stage when it is slightly warmer.

Visegrad

Raday Utca in the snow

Heavy snows this weekend...

meant that the hire car we had for the day had got slightly covered in less than 8 hours and there is no sign of the winter disappearing anytime soon!

Needless to say, i was left to clear the car whilst someone else took photos and laughed!

The inventiveness of the Magyar

Interesting video that has been developed by the Budapest Business Region to show the inventiveness of Hungarians and some of the world changing inventions that have come out of Hungary (and the Rubik's Cube)

Video link