As I type this article I am sitting in Mc Donald’s Budapest, close to Keleti station, charging my netbook and drinking an espresso. Oh and most importantly, using the free net which works awesome.

This weekend we came to Budapest. After a sleepless night (ok, Alex said we managed to sleep for about 1 1/2 h) , we left Arad at 5:30 a.m. and arrived in Budapest at 9 a.m. (about 10 minutes delay). We arrived at Dominik Panzio about 30 minutes later and checked in.

The good? It was warm in the room and in the panzio. The bad? They gave us a twin room, not a double room. We fixed this by switching rooms with our friend.

The bad about the new room? The ladies toilets were either flooded or I couldn’t close the door , while Alex almost locked himself in the men’s toilet. Lovely, eh?

At least we had free linen, free towel and free wi-fi …in the lobby, which worked awesome in the morning and horrible anytime which wasn’t morning.

After calling home to let my parents know we are ok, we left to visit the city and, of course, the Christmas Market.

To get to the Christmas Market, we took M2 from Keleti to Deak F. Ter and then took the Elisabeth square exit. Make a left, then another left and there’s the market. The first thing I loved about it was the string of spices, which of course made their way into my shopping bag.

Then, the many hand made things were absolutely amazing. We also got some soap for home (of course, hand made). You can choose a gift for absolutely any type of person because there are many many things to buy: wooden toys, leather wallets, leather bracelets, silver jewelry, Christmas ornaments and many many more.

I was very glad to find Hard Rock Cafe on a corner street right among the wooden stalls. But about this experience…in another post.

We also tasted the mulled wine but not at the market (on Castle Hill, while looking at the Parliament building across Danube).

Overall, this seemed like a real Christmas market. The food, the spices, the gifts, the music, the people…it’s what you want to see at the Christmas Market. And although there was music, it wasn’t annoying Christmas music.

(c) photos Alex and Cris P.

Note: in 2020, the Budapest Advent and Christmas Fair on Vörösmarty Square is, unfortunately, cancelled.