Budapest – Day Two

We went to the central market this morning which was quite close to our hotel.

The construction was impressive and looked like an old building that had been renovated in recent times.

We are going back there tomorrow for a culinary tour with Taste Hungary to experience the Hungarian cuisine so more on the market tomorrow.

We then walked across the Independence bridge which is the most attractive of the bridges notwithstanding the many padlocks that adorn its structure.

We then went back to the hotel to meet out guide for the Etyek Wine Country tour where we visit three small wine producers and sampled three of their wines plus dinner at the last one.

The tour comprised 11 people, 4 from the USA, 3 from Peru/USA and two others from the UK. I was the only male so it was a bit like going to a Pilates class (you will understand if you have been to a Pilates class).

The first vineyard was called Anomie (employing the owner, his wife and one staff member) and produced 25,000 bottles a year, most of which were sold to restaurants in Budapest.

The Etyek region is known for its white wines with the red Hungarian varieties being produced further south, although most vineyards seem also to produce Palinka, the Hungarian version of Grappa (about 45%).

The second vineyard, Vizi, was a two man band of father and son in law who produced 8,000 bottles of wine a year.

The vineyard was surrounded by many other small producers who generally sold their produce to restaurants in Budapest.

The last vineyard, Debreczeni-Ferenczy, produced 75,000 bottles and had vineyards in the Etyek region and further south in the country so producing both red and white wines. We enjoyed a 3 course meal with matched white and red wines with each course that was extremely enjoyable.

By the time that we had drunk 11 glasses of wine/palinka we were friends with all of our group and speaking fluently in Spanish to the lady from Peru.

Tomorrow we are going for our Taste Hungary food tour.