Budapest Pebbles » Festival

Budapest Halloween Festival: Pumpkinfest

Budapest Pebbles — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:18:11 +0000

Budapest Halloween Pumpkin Festival took place on Oct 31 on Heroes’ square (Hosok tere) – the orange pumpkin lanterns looked good at the bottom of the equestrian statues. Halloween (just like Valentine’s day) is not a native holiday in Hungary with pumpkins, zombies, witches, mummies etc. but it’s getting more and more popular mainly due to western (American) influence and pop culture.

Budapest PumpkinFest - Halloween in Hungary 2009

So the PumpkinFest was only a one hour festival from 8pm to 9pm in 2009, pumpkin lanterns were displayed, and the one with the most votes meant a kilo of chocolate for its maker. As there were quite a lot of people, it would be nice to have a bigger Halloween festival in Budapest.

Here are some user made videos of the pumpkin Halloween Fest in Budapest, Hungary focusing on the individual pumpkins on display

Budapest International Wine and Champagne Festival Sep 9-13 2009

Budapest Pebbles — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:49:37 +0000

The Budapest International Wine and Champagne Festival takes place every year around mid September in Budapest. The most visited event of the wine festival is the Wine Expo, which is held in the Buda Royal Palace on the romantic and picturesque Castle Hill.

Foreign and Hungarian wines will be presented, you can see the noble knights and ‘knightesses’ of the Wine Order (procession on Sep 12), there will be wine tastings, presentations and more.

Learn more about the detailed program and venues of the Budapest Wine Expo here.

If you are interested in buying wines in Hungary, here is a list of good quality stores:

Buying wine at Somogyi Pinceszet in Budapest (Somogyi Wine Cellar)
Buying wine at Borkapolna in Budapest (wine chapel at Heroes’ Square)
Buying wine at Bock Bistro in Budapest (Bock Bistro on the Grand Boulevard)
Buying wine at Belvarosi Borszalon in Budapest (inner city wine salon)
Buying wine at Borarium in Budapest (Winery in Mammut Shopping Mall)
Buying wine at Budapest Wine Society in Budapest

Check out the locations of the wine stores in Budapest on the map (wine shops are indicated by a ‘champagne glass’ – for lack of wine glass…)

View Budapest Shopping Map in a larger map

Budapest Jewish Summer Festival 2009: Aug 30 – Sept 06

Budapest Pebbles — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:30:17 +0000

Budapest Jewish Summer Festival is already a tradition in Budapest Hungary: the festival features several great musicians, performances – this is one of the best Jewish cultural programs you can pick in Budapest. In 2009 it is the 12th Jewish Summer Festival taking place between Aug 30 and Sept 06, so if you should be visiting Hungary in the next couple of weeks, or sometime around late August or at the beginning of September, it may be well worth checking out the Jewish festival program.

Some of the programs in 2009 (random pick):

Robert Capa exhibition in the Jewish Museum in Budapest (Dohány street 2, Budapest, right next to the Great Synagogue (1855-59))
Bea Palya Sephardic Sunday (Dohány Street Synagogue)
Cuban Sephardic Journey with Elsa Valle and the Latin Jazz Syndicate (Dohány Street Synagogue)
The Budapest Klezmer Band and the Judrom – guest : Judit Klein (Dohány Street Synagogue)
Edna Mazya: Games in the Backyard (Trafó)
Rande-jew `Lock&Key` social dating party Star guests: The Vodku music band (Symbol Budapest)
Yiddish Tango Evening with Tango Esperimento (Uránia National Movie Theatre – it is a beautiful building, mind you)

etc.

Here’s a live video recording of the Jerusalem Cantors Choir conducted by Benjamin Glickman, performing at Dohany Synagogue, Budapest (Hungary). It was from the 2008 Jewish Summer Festival (1st of September 2008),The pianist: Mrs Rita Feldman-Gelfman. Hevenu Shalom Aleychem, arrangement: S. Silbermintz

Cantor Azi Schwartz sings in the great synagogue of Budapest on Dohany street. Sim Shalom – Grant us with Peace, by Meir Finkelstein.

PS: Judafest is a smaller Budapest Jewish Festival – more info on judafest.org