Taxi !! ... It's OK, I'll take the bus...

Now, we are in Budapest. Not in fact, but in our heads...

        So, we are at the flat (look at our other article ;) ), and we have to join the Dennis Gabor College, or the airport, or some students to have a big big party downtown : how can we move in the city?

        Fortunately, we are in a big city with many public transports : bus, subway, streetcar, taxis and so on... And people says they are as cheap as they are fast and practical. Of course, in Angers, it's difficult to verify it but I can promess you we will check it when we will be on the place !

But as an example, I can show a part of the entier transport network (Source caboodle.hu) :

And also the all subway plan (source visiterbudapest.com) :

        And to finish, I couldn't close this article before talking about the Budapest card. For less than 30 € (about 9.000 HUF), we can use freely, for 72 hours, all the public transport, we have entries for 7 museums and for one bath, reductions in some restaurants, and 2 guided visits in Buda and in Pest. I know, it's not only about transports but I think it's interesting for tourists (and for us too !!).

The student life

placesonline.com

          The student life in Budapest is one of the most animated capital of the eastern Europe.

The particularity of Budapest are the Kerts:
former buildings transformed into bars and nightclubs, on several floors.

•  Szimpla
• instant
• Holdudvar
• Potkulc
• Durer
• ...

nightclubs

• morisson 2
• Piaf
• ...

          Unfortunately we cant verify and checks others address as long as in frances. It is the first overview of whom is possible to do at Budapest.

links:

Budapest’s Kerts

outgoing at night

Essential places to visit

Thermal baths

Thermal baths are a something very famous in Budapest since a very long time ago thanks to the thermal springs on the underground of the city that provides benefits for the health. We say that this water can cure rheumatism, asthma and the hangover after a long night. Baths have also a social aspect, people plays chess during long hours are the prove of it. 

The thermal bat was developed since the Ottoman occupation. Turks have left their rich spa culture to the people of Budapest, you can still get an overview of this beautiful legacy by visiting Rudas Baths

budapestvoyage.fr/, Gellért bath

The Parliament

The Parliament is crowned with many turrets. Two large Gothic towers surround the dome 96 meters in height. The Hungarian parliament contains 691 rooms, 29 stairs and 10 courtyards. You can see above the windows statues of Hungarian as well as those of the kings of Hungary and Transylvania general.

planetecampus.com

The great indoor market

The Grand Central Market ("Nagycsarnok" in Hungarian), on Fővám tér in the 9th district, is the largest indoor market in Budapest. It was designed and built by Samu Pecz on the model of Gustav Eiffel in 1900.

A large number of stores offer a huge variety of vegetables, fruit, cheese and meat. The roof was restored to the distinctive Zsolnay tiling. 

Most stores at the first floor offers popular souvenirs such as paprika and caviar. On the 2nd floor you can find the typical items, such as pictures, dolls, glasses, tablecloths, chess boards and clothes made in Hungarian style.

budgetplaces.com

 

4 axes to develop...

        During our trip, we have to study the culture of the city/country, the different activities of young people in town, the habits and non-written rules of this society, and a company.

Aymeric:
        For the culture, I'd like to learn about the Castle of Buda and the Hapsburg dynasty, so I'll try to catch the more information I can about this.

Gabriel:
     Baths are an institution in Hungary! Renowned for their benefits as well as for their relaxing powers, baths are considered by Hungarian doctors as a response to a therapeutic need. Often arranged in a sumptuous setting, they are fed by natural hot springs already discovered in Roman times. The Turks then have embellished with pools.
Although the baths are a well-established culture, the tradition disappears since the economic crisis. If Hungarians has for a long time visited the baths, there are many who can't afford it anymore ...

Bastien:
I'm going to write an article about the students associations in Dennis Gabor.

Good plans

          Budapest is divided into two parts : Buda and Pest, separate by the Danube.

The Chain Bridge is the most famous bridge and the emblem of the capital.

On the Buda side :

• The Buda Castle,
• The cliff of the Mount Gellert,
• The walk which goes along the Danube : the Duna-Korzo,
• The Fishermen Citadel

On the Pest side :

• The Parliament
• The Hungarian National Opera
• Le Great Market
• The Basilica Saint Etienne
• The Hungarian National Museum
• The Heroes' Square

Link :
What can you do in Budapest

What can you visit in Budapest

The trip

We're three students in Information Technology (IT) who will go to Budapest from the 4th of February to the 10th of May (more or less).


The goal of this trip is to follow a course semester, thanks to the Erasmus program, in a foreign university, the Dennis Gabor college (Gábor Dénes Főiskola in Hungarian). This university was founded in 1992 as a private educational institution. It provides training courses in I.T. and Bachelor of science. Since 1992, this school has graduated 11,000 students.


The name of this school is a tribute of Dennis Gabor (1900 - 1979) who was a Hungarian electrical engineer and physician famous for inventing holography. He received the Nobel prize in 1979.

wikipedia.org

Gastronomy

The Hungarian gastronomy is one of the richest of Western Europe. The main ingredient is the paprika (soft or strong). Hungarians eats a lot of meat, mostly pork and chicken but many vegetables. In accompagnment, the main ingredients are potatoes, gnocchi and cabbages.

Main dishes

The goulash: It is one of the most popular meal of the country. It's a kind of ragout with meat, potatoes, tomatoes and a lot of paprika.

wikipedia.com

Lecsó: This a kind of Hungrian ratatouille. It's prepared with tomatoes, paprika and rice sometime.

  

egerszeginfo.hu

Desserts

The Dobos torta: The "Dobos cake" is probably one of the most famous Hungarian desserts. It's a chocolate cake with a caramelized top. It was invented by the worldwide famous Hungarian pastry cook József Dobos.

 

esztercake.blogspot.com

Somlói galuska: The somlói galuska is a little round cake with marmalade and grapes cover by a thick layer of chocolate sauce and cream

zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com

Budapest

The city

We are looking forward to discovering Hungary. It's a country caught between two worlds: the eastern and the western side of Europe. It's a devastated country which fells in 1945 under the totalitarism soviet control that pulled away this country away from the international scene. The renew was not before 1989 and let see the country opening to the outside of the world, with the accession to the European Union.

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a good example of this story. Beside the Danube, it was founded at the end of the 19th century from the fusion of three cites: Pest, Buda and Óbuda. Today Budapest accommodate 20% of the Hungry, it's represents 1 728 000 of inhabitants.

The accommodation

After a long research, we've found an apartment of 60 m² in the 7th district of Budapest with he website http://www.cote-est.net/long_terme/nefelejcsutca40.html

The rental cost is 450€/month (that represents 135,000 Ft/month).
This flat is at 30 min of Dennis Gabor College by bus.

Tips : how to go to Budapest ?

Okay, you know we go to Budapest in a couple of weeks. I will explain now how you can go to Budapest and how expensive it is.

First possibility : the car !

        We thought about it one time, and we agreed to say it would be the most fun way to travel. Imagine : 1800 kilometers, drive through France (it's necessary...), but after, a part of Germany, and all Austria ! How many beautiful cities and landscapes we could have seen even before we arrived in Budapest ?
        Unfortunately, that was not possible for this time... We are three, so we need to take a car which can do about 2000 kilometers with enough space for 3 persons and bagages for 3 months... We haven't got a car which can support the travel. If we took one of ours, it would be us who couldn't support the trip...
        But in terms of expenses, it wouldn't be so bad : we would have to pay less money per person than we pay actually. And you can use and abuse of your car for all the duration of your trip.

Second possibility : train or bus

        We could also take the train or the bus, but we were not very motivated by this option : it's long, it's uncomfortable sometimes, it's very very long... As the car you'll say. Yes, but in the car, you can put the radio you want (or your own music), you can decide to stop, you can decide to stay somewhere if you want, you can change your itinerary and take all the time you wish to visit or just admire the landscape. So we didn't studied this option, because it wasn't what we would do.

And so, what have we selected?

        We will take the plane. Of course, it isn't as fun as a giant road-trip across Europe and we will not see so much landscapes, but it's fast (2h) and not too expensive (a little bit more than 100 € for the go)...

We'll see for the return what we're gonna choose, we don't have decided yet.