Some Current News

The program of “Year of the Renaissance 2008” was presented in Budapest
The organizers of this event starting on the 22nd January announced that guests will be welcomed by some 150 programs including a number of exhibitions, scientific conferences and gastronomy events throughout the country.
This program series is presented for the 550th anniversary of the crowning of Hunyadi Mátyás.

Another star in Hungary
Pécs will be welcoming the Spanish tenor Placido Domingo in the summer of 2008 when the opera star will be giving concerts in Baranya county’s capital.
Placido Domingo accepted the invitation because he has heard favorable reports of José Carreras’ concert that was viewed by 6000 spectators at the end of August 2007. The artist has already performed five times in Hungary, as a beginner 30 years ago in Tosca and more recently two years ago at the Puskás Ferenc Stadium

Budapest Calendar Of Events

Following you will find a wide variety of interesting things to do in the Hungarian capital from now till January 08.

16th Budapest International Wine and Champagne Festival 5th – 18th September 2007
The Wine Festival is one of Central Europe’s most prestigious and popular trade events, where every year tens of thousands of visitors experience wine tasting in cultured surroundings and get to know the wine makers and the arts and traditions associated with viniculture.

PLUS International Maraton
30th September 2007
The biggest international marathon in Hungary will be held for the 22nd time. The first event was organized in 1984, but even then it was already an international event, attracting runners from 18 countries.

B.Ö.F. – Budapest Autumn Festival
12th-21st October, 2007
Its aim is to present to the public of Budapest important progressive artists and achievements in all branches of the arts in the present and over the past decade. The series of events sets itself the task of making new art known and recognized in Hungary. For more information please visit http://www.festivalcity.hu/.

Picasso, Klee, Kandinszkij. Masterpieces of the Swiss Rupf collection
19 October 2007 – 6 January 2008
The collection of Hermann Rupf and his wife is considered one of the most important private collections of classic modern art today. For more information please visit http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/.

Budapest Christmas24th November to 29th December, 2007
Vörösmarty Square
This year “Budapest Christmas” is being held for the ninth time, with events getting under way on Saturday 24th November, 2007. The main attraction will be the traditional Christmas Market on Vörösmarty Square in the heart of Pest. This well established event – one of the largest of its type in Europe – has become an indispensable part of the build-up to the festive season. It is the capital’s largest public event outside the main tourist season, and is enduringly popular with locals and visitors alike. Indeed, many visitors make the trip to Budapest specifically to come to the Market.

Esterházy Treasures
Art treasures of five hundred years from the treasury of the Esterházy family – 15th-19th centuries
This exhibition features many pieces from the marvelous private art collection of a fabulously rich aristocratic family. This collection is characterized by a unique richness and versatility of genre. Organizers present and explain the individual works of art with the aim of “guiding visitors through” the history of these treasures from the beginning to the 20th century.
This exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts and the Eisenstadt Esterházy Private Collection.

Budapest Pálinka Festival 2007/II.
05/10/2007. - 07/10/2007. City Hall Park
The objective of the Budapest Pálinka Festival is to draw attention to the unique values of pálinka and to the fact that it is part of the Hungarian culture, a ‘Hungaricum’. Pálinka carries the aroma of the fruit, the taste and the professionalism of its maker in itself. During drinking clear fruity characteristics, flowery and spicy smells and balanced long lasting fruity flavors can be conjured up.
For more information please visit http://www.budapestipalinkafesztival.hu/.

Budapesti Történeti Múzeum – Vármúzeum (Castle Museum)
Budavári Palota “E” building
Open: May 15 – Sept 15, Daily from 10am to 6pm
Sept 16 – Oct 31, daily from 10am to 6pm – closed on Tuesdays
Nov 1 – Feb 28, daily from 10am to 4pm – closed on Tuesdays
March 1 – May 15, Daily 10am to 6pm – closed on Tuesdays

Regular Exhibitions:
You may find information at the main desk of the Castle Museum.

Periodical Exhibitions:
Szélfútta kert – A török fajanszművesség emlékei Magyarországon
Földszinti kiállítótér (Ground floor exhibition room)
From 5 Sept to 5 Dec 07

Erzsébet királyné és a budai királyi palota
Metszettár (Queen Elizabeth and the Buda Castle collection of pictures)
From 8 July to 30 Sept 07

KABARÉ 100
I. emelet (First floor)
From 18 May to 18 Sept 07

Történelmünk korszakalkotója (The creator of our history) – Batthyány Lajos miniszterelnök (Lajos Batthyany prime minister)
Földszinti kiállítótér (Ground floor exhibition room)
From 12 April to 30 Oct 07

Színház az egész világ (The whole world is a theatre)
A Budapesti Történeti Múzeum színháztörténeti kiállítása
Millenniumi Földalatti állomásain (at the stops of the Millennium Underground)

Programs and weekend activities:
Kulturális Örökség Napjai (Cultural Heritage Days)
15 – 16 Sept 07. For more information please visit www.oroksegnapok.hu/

Family Programs:
Guided family tours at the medieval king’s castle and walks in the king’s garden
Sept 29 to Oct 30

Concert Programs:
Konya Istvan – Budavari Lantestek (Buda Castle Mandolin evenings)

Nyiregyháza & Sóstó Fürdő (Salt Lake Baths)

My 70 year old auntie is coming to Australia for the 4th time! Marika lives in Nyirtelek, a small village that I adoringly remember from my childhood and she is the strongest person I have ever known. She is the eldest sister of my mother and she has been through what most people would consider, emotional hell!

She buried her mother and father, 3 brothers and cared for her alcoholic, diabetic husband for many years before he past away as well. Then add family feuding over insignificant belongings and some realty to the mix with the hardships of country living. She still plows the fields for others all throughout spring, summer and autumn to supplement her ridiculous pension. And through it all she remains a high spirited energetic woman who also adore her children and loves to laugh! My hat off to you Marika nénnye!:)

Nyiregyháza, the capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county is a lovely town about 10kms from Nyirtelek. About 6kms from the city centre you will find the lushest oak forest, the 2nd largest zoo in Hungary and the famous Sóstó Fürdő (Salt lake Baths) established in the 18th century.

My friends living in Hungary say that that north-east part of the country receives the least amount of money from the government. It has a large population of Roma people who are still not always welcomed by the communities. Roads are not the best and unemployment is quite high but despite all that I think it has lovely landscapes, beautiful, friendly people and a quaint charm about it!

If you are visiting Hungary, do not miss out on seeing that part of the country where you will also find the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Tokaj, that produces the famous Tokaji Aszú (sweet fortified wine) among many other gems!

Property In Hungary

Being Hungarian, I always had a dream of owning a property in Hungary. First time I started thinking about it is about 15 years ago and then later in '98 when I was on a holiday. At that time a gorgeous approx. 50m2, 4th floor apartment with balcony, overlooking the street in Pest would cost around 4Million Forint, now the same apartment would cost about 5 times as much! Yes I am banging my head against the wall for not purchasing then, but my circumstances just didn't allow it.

After my last trip to Hungary with my husband and daughter, I decided to look into the property market again. Prices are going up so quickly ever since the country became part of the European Union in 2004. You can now easily spend 20 - 30Million Forint on an apartment anywhere in Budapest.

Because the prices are so crazy in the capital, I decided to look at other parts of the country like the Lake Balaton region. Here you can still purchase a property for around 10Million Forint.

Hungary is a country that has Old World charm with contemporary lifestyles and it is forever evolving. It is full of culture, history, wonderfully diverse landscapes, hot spring baths and I could go on. You are never short of things to do and see like festivals all throughout the year, exciting nightlife, museums, concerts.

There are a couple very helpful sites on the Hungarian property market like ingatlan.net and Otthon Centrum - http://www.oc.hu/ in particular. Otthon Centrum is also quite quick to respond to your enquieries.

Finding a good property has the same criteria as in all countries. Good location, having all amenimeties, schools and universities in the vicinity, good public transport etc.

Now a tip if you are thinking of buying property for investment: People in Hungary still like to live where they work. Here in Australia people will travel great distances to get to work. I know quite a few people that travel 2-4 hours every day for this reason.

There is a lot of foreign investment in Hungary since the abolishment of communism in 1990. The Irish in particular have bought up property at very cheap prices at that time and are now profiting very handsomely! But I beleive it is not too late for any of us! If anyone has bought property in Hungary in the last couple of years, please let us know. I would love to hear how the transaction went and if you had any complications. If you are a non Hungarian, did you have any problems with language barriers or did most professional people spoke English? Hope to hear from you soon! :)))

The Books Have Arrived!

Just a quick note to let you all know that the books I have ordered from Libri.hu have arrived safely and in great condition! So I finally gave them to my parents' with great anticipation, I think they were a hit! What a wonderful gift a book is. :))

My Hungarian Holiday

I have rarely met anyone who had bad things to say about Hungary or Hungarian people. The only critisizm might be is about the deteriorating condition of some buildings in Budapest. It is true that some of the outer suburbs still need a lot of attention, however the "Paris of the East" is still glorious day or night, summer or winter!

Isn't travelling the most wonderful thing in the world - other than getting married to the person you adore and giving birth to healthy, gorgeous children?! Yes, the experience is something that we take to our grave and that nobody or nothing can take away from us.

I'm just riding on a bus to work where part of my job is to upload Eastern European travel packages to our website, http://www.firstclass.com.au/. So at present I have the next best thing to actually travelling, is to write and daydream about it!:)

Last time I travelled to Hungary was in January 2006 with my husband Derek, our 14 months old baby girl and was 4 months pregnant with my baby boy. It was the coldest winter I had ever experienced. Some days it was -18degree celsius and due to snow storms and roads freezing over we had to shuffle our trip itenirary around quite a bit. So from Budapest we drove first to Pécs instead of visiting my relatives in Nyirtelek. Well the drive was quite scary not because of Derek's driving skills - he did really well on the left hand side - but because of people not really keeping to any speed limits!

So at Pécs we visited my best friend Andrea who just moved back to Hungary after migrating to Australia in the early 80's. Andi was living with her beautiful grandmother at the time but since purchased the most gorgeous apartment in the heart of Pécs. For those of you that don't know Pécs, it is Hungary's capital of the Arts and has also been selected as European Capital of Culture in 2010. The city centre also has an early Christian necropolis that is World Heritage listed. Pécs always offers something artistically special like the critically acclaimed yearly national theater festival (POSZT). The city is constantly buzzing with live bands, open air theatres, ballets, markets and wine festivals. Even in the harshest of winters where snow covered the rooftops of monumental buildings, and churches, the city had a lovely cosy feel to it.

Sorry everyone I will continue very very soon as my little ones just woke up, have to run!

Learn to Sing with Elly Rab

My relationship with Elly (who is naturally a Hungarian lady) started about 14 years ago when I decided to take singing lessons in pursuit of a musical career! Well I didn't become an opera singer nor a musical theater subrette, but I gained a wonderful friend who at times felt like my second mother. Elly's many other students and I use to do a lot of charity and end-of-year performances where we all had different vocal and movement talents. It was always fun, beautiful and received very well.
Elly herself used to be a beautiful soprano and a featured singer with the Ziegfeld Follies. Trained in Europe, Elly has a unique teaching style and will always bring the best out in all her students. She has time honoured techniques that suit all types of singing styles and genres. With over 20 years experience, she caters for all students from the beginner to the advanced performer.
Elly Rab Academy of Singing is located at Suite 403, 4th Floor, 250 Pitt St. Sydney 2000. Tel: 02 9264 5042 OR 0416 559 945.
If you are thinking about having some singing lessons, not necessarily to become the next Luciano Pavarotti or Maria Callas, but just to do something special for yourself, than please call Elly and start today! She is a diamond!