Lover of Wine – Travel along on our adventures – DAVID & JANEEN

We joined up with our friends Gloria and Jerry and walked over to the hop on – hop off giraffe bus and headed out for the day. This 2-hour bus ride had something like 23 different stops but we only hopped off a couple of times. Commentary covers the sites and some Hungarian history and cuisine,     so it is a lovely way to meet Budapest on a sunny June day.

Our first stop was the covered market, because a hat and mementos had to be purchased along with a food snack or two.  Vendors were selling all kinds of foods – meet stands,     nuts  and   gifts of all kinds.  Janeen and Gloria were on the hunt for a new hat    for Gloria and they both got new a new purse.    Architecture that stands out are the 18^th and 19^th century buildings, but there are plenty of 1000-1600 examples as well.   This building had a lovely mosaic at the top and appeared to have been recently restored.  Our entire route was scented by the blooming Linden trees that Janeen had to find out about.     Having traveled full circle, we found a late afternoon table for a snack and bottle of rose  before returning to the Corinthia Hotel to set our appetites for Italian hospitality and Hungarian recipes as well at Comme Chez Soi.  This Italian flavored restaurant is listed as #1 in Trip Advisor and we had a lovely time!

After dinner, we boarded a boat for an evening tour along the Danube which was lovely.

Tomorrow we check out of our Hotel and board the River Cruise!

Today, after a coffee at the corner Starbucks, we purchased the hop on – hop off bus tickets for 2 days.  Just as the bus arrived it started to rain!  Fortunately most of the bus is covered   so wasn’t a problem but did make taking pictures more difficult.  The bus goes through both Pest (where we are staying) and Buda the area across the river.  Crossing the river we got a nice shot of the Castle  and a bit better once we were heading up the hill to the overlook   We see all of this again tomorrow and again once our River Cruise formally starts.  Once back on the Pest side, we hopped and had lunch at a nice little spot – and watched it rain on and off about 4 times while sitting inside!  .  After lunch, and picking up a bottle of the local wine, we got back to our hotel and waited for the arrival of our friends Jerry and Gloria.  Fortunately the Air France strike didn’t impact their plans and they arrived around 5 and off we went to the New York Cafe for a light dinner.  

Tomorrow we will do the hop on bus again hitting more sites – and the weather appears to be great – sunshine and high in the upper 70s!

We left Venice early Saturday morning via water taxi on our way to the airport and Budapest.    When we got to the airport, they put us on an earlier flight to Rome where we had a 3 hour layover until our flight to Budapest.     Once we got to the hotel, the beautifully restored Corinthia Hotel is one of the grandest luxury hotels in Budapest.  An impressive landmark building with an imposing Neo-classical façade and soaring glass atrium.  Our room on the 4th floor is everything we could want.  After getting settled in, we went down to the bar for a beverage and light snack – seems it is football time (soccer) and the bar is all decked out to celebrate the event.

Sunday, we slept in and walked to the New York Cafe for breakfast to start the day.  Stepping foot in the New York Café means taking a step back in time: magnificence and sophistication welcome visitors, enveloping them with the charm of the Belle Époque. .  Beautifully  restored this place was a major focus in the 20’s and 30’s.  After this we walked around ending up walking by the Zsinagoga Synagogue known as The Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue, this is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the largest in the world.

After this we walked to the St. Stephen’s Basilica – built in the mid 1800’s and dominates the area.  .  After a cup of coffee, we ventured out and found the Opera House where we had a light lunch and toured the building.  The Hungarian State Opera House is a neo-Renaissance opera house originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, it was built in the 19th century using virtually only Hungarian materials. The tour included a visit to the Royal Box, the main floor area and various hallways and bars around the building.

Once back to our hotel, we rested and got ready to go to dinner at a pop up restaurant called Meet & Eat.

  This is operated by Suzie and her parents using locally obtained produce, meets and wines to serve a great meal.  Held in an apartment on the 6th floor it is quite an unusual location – no signage and you have to have the building code to get in.  A group of 14 people – some from Italy, Germany, England, Vermont,Minnesota and of course California.  This was a three course meal paired with local wines starting with a soup  paired with a nice Rose followed by Duck  The duck was so good everyone had seconds!  This was followed by dessert     Conversations went from various cultural discussions, food ideas, where people were from and their jobs to what they were doing in Budapest and how they ended up at this Pop up restaurant.  I was a bit uncertain at first but it was a lovely evening and would do it again given the opportunity.

Tomorrow new adventures in Budapest and hopefully the arrival of our friends Gloria and Jerry.

 

Fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, spices and lots of wonderful things to see. It may not be the biggest market we have ever been through but it certainly was a treat. Whole swordfish,    lots of squid, sea bass and just about any local fish         you can think of was available.

After this we walked along the main shopping street finding several shops to browse and even a couple to purchase one or two things. After crossing over the Grand Canal on the Rialto Bridge,we head towards the Ca’d’Oro for a morning visit.

 

Ca’ d’Oro, correctly Palazzo Santa Sofia, is a palace on the Grand Canal and we can see it from our hotel room. One of the older palaces in the city, it is known as Ca’ d’Oro (“golden house”) due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. The palace was built between 1428 and 1430 for       the Contarini family, who provided Venice with eight Doges between 1043 and 1676. Following the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, the palace changed ownership several times. One 19th century owner, the ballet dancer Marie Taglioni, removed (in what today can be considered an act of vandalism) the Gothic stairway from the inner courtyard and also destroyed the ornate balconies overlooking the court.

In 1894, the palace was acquired by its last owner, baron Giorgio Franchetti; who,throughout his lifetime,  amassed an important art collection and personally oversaw its extensive restoration, including the reconstruction of the stairway and the Cosmatesque courtyard with ancient marbles. In 1916, Franchetti bequeathed the Ca’ d’Oro to the Italian State. It is now open to the public as a gallery: Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro.

After touring the Ca’ d’Oro, we had a light lunch and continued our stroll towards the Jewish Ghetto. At one point, Janeen went off shopping so I found Serenissima for a beverage ,eventually sitting for a couple of hours (she joined me between jaunts out to shop) .

    

Aperol spritzers and G&T finished, we continued on our way finally crossing back over the Grand Canal on the Ponte degi Scalzi bridge         and returned to the hotel, found a garden to have a light meal and then to our room  to start packing for the next leg of our adventure – Budapest!

 

Herb Garden Docent interest kicked in, and Janeen wanted to see the Palazzo museum with emphasis on perfume ,Palazzo Mocenigo.    The display covering the four perfume “families” woody, floral, oriental, and fresh (like lemon)had scent and product examples and also covered an interactive display explaining the different distillation methods used for each type of source. One room also displayed a perfume organ used for blending perfumes and distilling apparatus . 

Surrounding the display room were cabinets containing a superb collection of perfume bottles over centuries, especially the Venician glass ones acquired by one family. The display in the lobby will be auctioned off in October. Venice monopolized the eastern perfume and scent trade during its reign of all things eastern. This week also included lace makers exhibiting their craft and historic samples , including Burano   

Mecenigo family portraits framed in gilt ,rooms full of ornate furnishings and Murano glass chandeliers and household tableware set on embellished cloth were on the upstairs floor.        

With rain threatening, we headed for the restaurant Antiche Carampane for an earlier seating of our lunch reservation.     We were unable to eat there last night because Georgio Armani was hosting a private party to celebrate a new opening. David put us in the hands of the staff for house specialties: starting with cone shaped paper with little tiny flash fried shrimps   followed by smoked scallops appetizer,  squid ink baby squid in house made tagatelle   ,   Primo, then Sea Bass grilled ,   Segundo, paired with a northern Italian Fruili white wine,   followed by cheese,   espresso with biscuits and grappa (longest list of grappa selections I have ever seen.)

Although we spent the full 2 hours over lunch, we were close to our room and made it back in “sprinkles” before the skies opened into thunderstorms causing a brief power outage (lost our net jazz music, but that was all we ‘suffered’) Lazy rainy afternoon, a real luxury for drought tired soCal residents.

  This   Gondolier is anxious to get out of the rain – not much business.