Budapest - Figaro, Turkish Baths & Synagogue

Figaro the opera, Turkish baths and Synagogue epitomize the exotic mixture of various cultures in the capital of the kingdom that once majestically spread from the Ukraine to the Adriatic.

Hungarians themselves , with their distinctly different ancestry and language, are a European curiosity of sorts. In the course of their volatile history they managed to absorb many foreign influences to end up branded 'Italians of the North'. Wine-loving folk with a strong musical heritage, passionate about food and their national identity, their brand of joie de vivre is a bit of the ponderous and even somewhat phlegmatic Finno-Ugric kind, unlike the sunny French disposition or the studied imperial elegance of the Austrians.

Le Nozze Di Figaro at the Budapest Opera;

dinner at Mofarguru - the restaurant with Europe's largest menu - finished with a surprise dessert;

1000 Years Of Hungarian History exhibition at the National Museum;

going Jewish (well, just trying on yarmulkeh) in Budapest's synagogue (Europe's largest) with the interior so lavish you'll think you're in a palace;

ridiculously overpriced yet) delicious cakes at the over-the-top New York Coffee House with enough gold decorations to pay off the debt of a small African country; the restaurant and the lobby of the adjacent hotel are just as mind-numbing;

men-only Turkish thermal baths built in 1561 and full of hot mineral water and, well, naked dudes;

lazying around in the Varosliget Park;

Hungarian Millenium Fountain and the Országház Building;

daytime and nighttime walks through Budapest;

ridiculously overpriced yet delicious wild berries parfait on Vaci Utca in Budapest;

the Budapest Gay Pride overspill parties

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• Austro-Hungary - In The Wake Of A Bygone Realm
• Free Port Trieste, Miramare Palace & Nudist Beaches
  
• Graz - The Northernmost Italian Renaissance City
• Slovenia - Triglav, Ljubljana, Bled and the Adriatic
  
• Hungarian Countryside - Wine, Hot Springs & Palaces

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Budapest - Szentendre - Siófok - Keszthely - Hévíz - Ptuj - Nova Cerkev - Celje - Predjama - Trieste - Duino - Izola - Gorizia - Bovec - Bled - Ljubljana - Maribor - Graz - Sopron - Fertöd -Törökbálint - Budapest