Sunday morning in… Budapest
Museums, hot springs, cream cakes – and a mummified hand – make this quite a city, says Adrian Phillips
Budapest is a city well set for Sunday mornings. For a start, most places are open, which wouldn’t be true everywhere in the world. Things have moved a long way since the fall of the Iron Curtain, and this is now a cosmopolitan capital with a sophisticated service industry that recognises the value of catering to weekend visitors. Museums and galleries close on Mondays rather than Sundays, so you’re assured a dose of culture should you want it. Cafés and hotels offer Sunday brunches that hit the mark, and there are frequently festival events in the city squares, from performances of traditional music to celebrations of local products like sausages or wine.
But, more than that, Budapest simply has a shape and character suited to that Sunday morning mood. Few sights require an effort to reach them, and the journeys in between are pleasures in themselves, whether you’re crossing the magnificent Chain Bridge, passing street performers on Vaci Street or strolling up grand Andrassy Avenue for some boating in City Park. Joggers will find green spaces aplenty, while thermal baths promise a more laid-back introduction to the day. However you like your Sunday morning – early or late, active or lazy – there’s something here for you.
NAUGHTY BUT NICE
Hungarians have a notoriously sweet tooth, a hangover from the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when patissiers in Budapest and Vienna conjured many of the classic cakes and pastries that remain on the menus today. The most famous is the dobos cake, a beltbusting creation by master chef Jozsef Dobos in 1885 that features five layers of white sponge filled with chocolate cream and topped with caramel. A good place to wrap yourself around a slice is Gerbeaud (Vorosmarty ter; 0036 1 429 9000; gerbeaud.hu; open 9am-9pm), the grand dame of the city’s cafés with an interior of pink marble that dates to the early 1900s. Alternatively, try the nearby Szamos Café (Kossuth Lajos ter 10; 0036 1 269 0216; szamos.hu; open 9am-7pm), one in a family chain of patisseries that is particularly known for its marzipan. This branch has a fascinating Chocolate Museum upstairs, too.
NOW WALK IT OFF
There’s no shortage of lovely walks, each with its own distinct character. If you’ve the appetite for an early rise, Sunday morning is a good time to beat the bulk of the sightseers to the Castle District, and enjoy the medieval flavour of its cobbled streets and pastel-coloured burghers’ houses. Built high above the Danube, the fortified walls offer some of the city’s best views; the funicular railway runs from 7.30am. For more flurry and colour, take in the city centre (Belvaros) as its shops, cafés and street performers warm up, perhaps strolling the pedestrian artery of Váci Street from the Great Market Hall to the imposing Vorosmarty Square. Alternatively, follow an arrow-straight route along Andrassy Avenue. This broad, elegant street was modelled on the Champs-Élysées, and it includes the magnificent State Opera House and the House of Terror (notorious former headquarters of the secret police) among the sights along its two-mile journey out to Heroes’ Square and City Park.
BEFORE THE VIRUS OUTBREAK, we had planned to take baby Sid for his first foreign holiday in April last year to Paris. In May, we had also planned a two-week holiday in Ibiza, but again that had to be put on hold.
I HAVE VISITED ROME ABOUT 10 TIMES, but I saw it completely differently when I was working out there. The same was true of Barcelona. In fact, I think this programme [Big Weekends] has taught me how to be a better tourist. Rome is my favourite city.
I AM A PASSIONATE AMATEUR HISTORIAN, so Rome is gold for me. It is the gift that just keeps on giving. Everything gets held up for about 10 years whenever they try to build a new metro station because they’ve something else to excavate. And it is so romantic. You give Britain an alley and they put dustbins in it, but in Rome they stick a restaurant in it. I only listen to opera when I am in Rome. It just seems to make sense there.
MY EARLIEST MEMORY OF TRAVELLING ABROAD IS TO SPAIN with my mother, auntie and grandmother. The men in the family didn’t go – they would say something like “if it didn’t swim up the Thames we aren’t going to eat it”, and they didn’t trust anything with garlic in it.
I’M NOT VERY GOOD AT ADVENTUROUS HOLIDAYS as I am old. I think the most adventurous thing I’ve done so far was wandering around the market in Jaipur with fellow chef John Torode. He had never been to India before and, even though he’s a tough Aussie, he was, quite frankly, scared just by the mass of people. Until he realised everyone was friendly.
It was the only time I felt the earth was trying to kill me. It was so ridiculously cold.
I THINK SWITZERLAND IS UNDERRATED. Because I go to Italy quite a bit, we sometimes drive there, passing through Switzerland en route. Some of those lakes with little villages next to them are breathtaking, with great food.
I AM NOT A FAN OF NORMANDY. Some of the worst food I have ever been
served was when we had a holiday there two years ago. I got food poisoning from eating an oyster.
THE SPLENDIDO MARE IN PORTOFINO charges like a wounded rhino, but it is my wife’s favourite place. We went there after we had been dating a few months and went back as part of our honeymoon. Portofino is just magical. I think one of my best-ever culinary experiences was in a restaurant there, called Ristorante Puny, just after my wife and I had started dating, eating bits of toast with unsalted softened butter and anchovies, washed down by a huge beautiful goblet of crisp dry white wine. It was divine.
THE BLUE BAR IN THE BERKELEY HOTEL, LONDON is a good place to head to for a drink. It manages to combine sophistication with a smart and friendly tone.
VILLA OR HOTEL? I am constantly
weighing up the merits of both. A villa gives you privacy, which is something I need. I don’t feel comfortable sitting by a pool with other British people who may just gawk and take photographs of me. However, the more remote a villa is, the more you miss out on restaurants and local bars.
THE AIRPORT IS MY TRAVEL BUGBEAR. All that hassle with security – I sometimes think they forget we paid to be there! When I was young, airports were quite a nice place to be – people put nice clothes on to fly – but now it is like a bus station. It is horrendous.
FOR A PERFECT HOLIDAY, I NEED MY WIFE. She is just the best company. She is really into her food and is happy to do anything; she is just a happy soul. I have enjoyed bad holidays just because I’m with her. We laugh at it.
I PARTICULARLY LIKE LUNCHES IN THE SUNSHINE. If you lunch
properly, it is the most civilised meal, especially under a parasol with a nice bottle of wine.
MY FAVOURITE AIRLINE is British Airways. It works. I travel business and I fly business personally. If I have to fly economy, there is no way I am flying more than two and a half hours. I am just not doing long-haul economy flights. I did it once to the Caribbean and never again. I would rather drive to destinations in Europe. For the past two years, my wife and I have taken a month off to drive to Italy. That was far more relaxing than economy travel.
I HAVEN’T BEEN TO MANY CITIES IN THE EAST OF EUROPE. My wife wants to go and see penguins in Antarctica, so we might go there as well in the future.
Big Weekends with Gregg Wallace is on Fridays at 9pm on Channel 5