Covid-19 related news of Hungary and us, the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team

As we have shared in our previous blog posts, Hungary has started a gradual reopening inside of the country after the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic and the number of cases have started decreasing and the vaccination program has been going quite well. Here is what is open now after a long lockdown since last November.

Regarding international travelling: the borders of the country are not fully open yet for anyone (therefore we are still not running our daily free Budapest walking tours, but as soon as we reopen, you will be able to see info about it on our website and Facebook page as well!). However, Hungary has established a couple of agreements with some countries: we mutually accept each others immunity certificates with Slovenia, Croatia, Bahrain, Romania and Turkey at the moment. It means that Hungarians can travel to these countries and come home without having to quarantine themselves and people from the mentioned countries can travel to Hungary without having to go to quarantine after they enter our country.

Domestic travelling inside of the country is getting awake after a long lockdown. Those Hungarians that are vaccinated and got their immunity certificates already (about 4.3 million people out of the population of about 10 million people) can visit hotels as well. They say that hotels and other kind of accommodations on the Hungarian countryside are getting quite a lot of bookings and are preparing for a very busy summer season.

We are eagerly preparing for the reopening of the borders and can not wait to have you here again, Dear Travelers! It has been too long since we could show you around our great capital city and tell you all the stories about our history, culture, cuisine and much more on our free walking tours in Budapest!

Covid-19 related news of Hungary and the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team

As we have shared in our previous blog article, a gradual reopening started in our country after the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak and the number of new cases started dropping plus the number of people who got their first Covid-19 vaccine reached 3.5 million (this was the number they set for the gradual reopening).

Terraces of cafés, bars, restaurants could reopen last Saturday, on the 24th of April 2021, after a long break, they have been closed since last November… We made a few pictures last Sunday at our free tour meeting point in Budapest, on the Erzsébet square, where there are a few open-air bars and a club, too (the photo on top of this article also belongs here).

 

We are soon going to reach 4 million vaccinated Hungarian people and then they are going to ease some other restrictions, too. Let’s see what is going to happen when we reach the number 4 million: gyms, pools, libraries, zoos, museums, hotels, accommodations can reopen, too, but only those people can visit them who are already vaccinated against Covid-19 and have their immunity cards with them. They send these plastic cards to people who already got their first dose of the vaccine.

We are still not running our daily Free Budapest Walking Tours, but hopefully the gradual opening can go on and we can soon start guiding you around in our beautiful capital city. We are keeping you updated on our website and Facebook page as well!

When we reopen there will be small change to our General Budapest Walk: we are dividing it into two parts, since the famous Chain bridge has been closed for renovation works until the end of 2023 and if we took another bridge from Pest to Buda that would take too long. This is why we are going to have a separate General Pest Walk and General Buda Castle Walk with different meeting point. We are keeping you updated with this topic as well!

Take care, hope to see your smiling faces soon! 🙂

Coronavirus news of Hungary

Since our last blog article about the Covid-19 situation in Hungary ( see it on the following link: https://www.triptobudapest.hu/latest-covid-19-related-news/

there has been a couple of things happening.

• We reached a “special” number again: there are about 3.25 million Hungarian people that got at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccination
• The government said, when there are 3,5 million people vaccinated in Hungary, there can be slight changes to our Covid-19 restrictions, like open air terraces of restaurants and cafés can reopen after a long closure. This will probably happen next week.
• On the 19th of April 2021 kindergartens and schools will be reopened, but only for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders; 5th, 6th and 7th graders and high school students stay with digital/online education at home (the plan is that they will return to school only on the 10th of May)
• Border closure, 10pm-5am curfew remains, we still have to wear masks everywhere and are required to keep distance from others.

We still do not run our daily Free Budapest Walking Tours in the capital, unfortunately. We will keep you updated about the Covid-19 situation here on our blog, website and Facebook page as well: Free Budapest Walking Tours Facebook Page

The 2nd spring of the pandemic is here…

2021 marks the 2nd year of the Covid-19 pandemic… However, life is going on, nature is getting awake and another spring has arrived to Budapest, and to the Buda Castle District, to the Árpád Tóth Promenade: its cherry trees are beautiful just like every spring! Wish we could be showing them to you live on our daily free walking tours in Budapest that also visit one of the most popular (tourist) spots in the whole city, the Buda Castle Area which is also part of the UNESCO world heritage sights, built in the 12 hundreds.

Here is a digital teaser:

 

 

 

 

 

The Easter Holidays

Easter (or also called Pascha in Aramaic, Greek and Latin) is a Christian festival and holiday which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is described in the New Testament of the holy Bible, it occurred on the third day after Christ’s burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary. It is the highest point, the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, and it is preceded by Lent which is a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penitence.

Hungary took the Roman Catholic religion around the year 1000 and it is still the main religion in our country. About two thirds of the 10 million Hungarian people are Roman Catholic officially, so Easter is one of the  biggest (religious) holidays here.

Easter Traditions and dishes in Hungary

Two of the most important traditions are the following:

1. Girls and women make gorgeous hand-painted, colorful Easter eggs that they give to boys and men
2. On Easter Monday boys and men water or besprinkle women with buckets of fresh water, or nowadays especially in bigger cities with perfume, so that girls and women do not wilt

Picture from atempo. sk

Now, let’s see what Hungarians eat during the Easter Holidays!

• Cooked Easter Ham with boiled Eggs and Horseradish cream

Picture from mindmegette. hu

• Kalács: is a sweet kind of bread (very similar to brioche) which is usually baked in a braided form, and we eat it at other times of the year, too, but traditionally it is considered an Easter food. Nowadays kalács is made from dough and is enriched with milk and eggs.

Picture from streetkitchen. hu

Covid-19 related news of Hungary

As we have shared in our previous blog posts, Hungary is still bearing the weight of the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Many restrictions are still on (read more about them here: https://www.triptobudapest.hu/latest-news-info-about-freetourcommunity-com/ )

At the moment there are about 2.3 million Hungarian people that are vaccinated with the first dose and about 900 thousand who got the second dose, too. You can also browse more news about Hungary here: http://abouthungary.hu/

Due to the pandemic, at the moment we are still not operating our daily free walking tours in Budapest until further notice.

The Trip to Budapest Free Walking Tours Team wishes you health and Happy Easter Holidays!

Covid-19 related news of Hungary

As we have shared in our previous blog articles, Hungary is fighting against the 3rd wave of the coronavirus pandemic at the moment. Sadly, today is the second day when the number of the victims is around 250 people ( all together since the outbreak of the epidemic it is about 19 000 Hungarians that passed away because of Covid-19 ).

There are about 1.7 million Hungarian people who got vaccinated with the first dose of the 5 vaccines that we are using and there are about 495 000 people who got the second jab as well. Read the latest official news here:

http://abouthungary.hu/news-in-brief/coronavirus-heres-the-latest/

Since there are still a lot of restrictions in power, we do not run our daily free tours in Budapest until further notice. Thank you for your understanding.

News of Budapest – closure & renovation of the Chain bridge

As we have mentioned in one of our previous blog posts, the first and most iconic bridge of the Hungarian capital on the river Danube, the Chain bridge is being renovated starting from this month. They closed the pedestrian part already on the 17th of March; cars and buses can still run on it, but it is going to be shut down completely in a little while. The renovation works will last until about the end of the year 2023. This is the reason why we will have to divide our General Budapest Walk into two parts: we will have a General Pest Walk and a General Buda walk in the selection of our free walking tours in Budapest. More details later when the reopening of the country comes close enough…

In the foreground: The Chain bridge spanning between Buda (left) and Pest (right)

Now, let’s see a couple of details about our beloved Chain bridge!

It is literally a ‘chain bridge’, which is a historic form of suspension bridges: they used chains or eye bars instead of wire ropes to hold the bridge deck.

The Chain bridge sits on the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of the Hungarian capital. It was designed by the English engineer called William Tierney Clark and built by the Scottish engineer Adam Clark. It was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in our country, opened in 1849. It is a 172 years old this year!

The bridge’s full name is Széchenyi Chain bridge. It also has the name of István Széchenyi, the Hungarian politician and nobleman who initiated and supported its construction. At the time of its construction, the bridge was regarded part of the modern world’s engineering wonders.

It meant an enormous significance in the country’s economic, social and cultural life, just like the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and the US. The Chain bridge became a symbol of national awakening, advancement, and the linkage between East and West.

You will be able to hear more about and see this wonder on our free tours later on when we are back on track again… 🙂

www.triptobudapest.hu/tours/