Travel Tip: Eger, Hungary

Last Monday I came back from a long weekend spent at my family´s hometown in Hungary, Eger and I couldn´t help but writing something about this wonderful small town.

You probably haven’t heard of it; but you are most likely to have had at least heard of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Well, Eger lies 120Km north east of Budapest, and is connected to the capital through a direct motorway.

Allow yourself to get lost while taking a walk through the picturesque historic buildings, the wine yards and the narrow alleys in the old town.

Smell the calm fresh air of this beautiful city as you try one of the renowned red wines of the region, and believe me, you will get lost in history. As you look around you will feel surrounded by all the generals, captains, and bishops who have taken over and ruled the city since its foundation in the 10^th century.

Dobó Square

The 91 years long Turkish occupation around the 17^th century shaped a part of the culture, but it was not enough to overrule it, mainly a Christian (mostly Catholic) town, Eger´s traditional values are reflected by the many Churches spread around the city. Nevertheless the occupation left its traces in what is still to see in the city today. For instance you can see a fully preserved minaret, and the Turkish bath, a touristic highlight in the region. 

You will not fail to notice the castle of Eger, seized throughout the centuries by Turkish armies bishops, kings and aristocrats.. 

By paying a very low entrance fee you will be able to admire a place where the medieval times remained still, and where you can almost smell the passion and love the residents had for this castle at the time. 

Historic Centre

As you walk through the historic centre you can also note all the Baroque and Neoclassical buildings, a style I personally really like.

I am the kind of person who tries her best to enjoy life, I allow myself the time to drink good wine, eat good food, and take long walks whenever possible. Eger is the perfect getaway to combine all of this.

The city is very well known in the country for its extensive vineyards. Due to the relatively mild temperature, various types of grapes grow in this region, making it possible to bottle very high quality wines.

Wine Shop

I am very big fan of wines in general, but I think to describe the wines of Eger, I will need a whole new post J

Macok Restaurant at the Castle

Tip: to fully enjoy Eger you will need at least 2 nights/3 days

THE BOLD, THE THRILLING, THE HIP: BERLIN

This was a great weekend, good friends of ours visited us from Berlin; we know each other from the times we still lived in Budapest..one great city to spend your early, stress-less early 20s in.  

The weekend can sometimes be very very short..or wait, let me correct myself..the weekend is always too short! It is even shorter if you spend it in good company, and it turns into fast forwarding time machine if you spend it in good company and at great places!

As we walked between skyscrapers and promenades we had a chance to talk a lot about history, politics, and economy. These topics may seem boring to some, but it does get interesting if you share your background and experiences, and learn a different side of an apparently clear story.

Much has happened over the past 100 years.

The geography of the world has changed. Some countries have been first doubled than halved in their size. Monarchies rose and fell; boundaries have been closed, reopened and then closed again.

The world faced two world wars and innumerable regional wars thereafter.

Many of our most beautiful cities have been bombed down and rebuilt again. Some succeeded in regaining their once envied glory; others hopelessly fell into a decay.

Amongst all however; there is one city in Europe reflecting the beauty and the darkness, the highs and the lows, the good and the bold of the last century: Berlin.

I remember the first time I flew to Berlin, in 2010, I asked our friends to describe the city, or at least give me an idea of what it is like. The one answer I got was: "Hip! Berlin is Hip!" . I didn´t understand what that exactly meant, and have asked to define this properly again. The definition was just the answer repeated once again: "Hip, Berlin is hip!".

I was raised up in a picturesque wine region in north-west Italy and I am used to one certain type of people, and one certain landscape. The word hip never really belonged to my vocab  as a kid/teenager. But once I landed in Tegel Airport (Berlin) 4 years ago and took the tube to the city, I knew what they meant.

Berlin is a city of artists, a city of rebels and a city which never sleeps.

East and West, North and South literally meet in Berlin. The city is a real multicultural centre; about 20 to 30% of the population is either foreigner or has foreigner origins, which really warms up the generally cold German attitudes.

According to an article in Wikipedia, over 60% of Berlin´s population has no religious affiliation, which explains (to me at least) the openness of the Berliners to almost everything.

You can walk through an elegant area and suddenly find yourself in a graffiti rundown and then again at a designer studio. The city is home to a typical eastern bloc architecture on one side, and to some beautiful old buildings on the other.

The division between east and west is clear, the scars remain, and you can almost smell them as you walk from the first Döner snack bar in the world in Kreutzberg to the beautiful Charlottenburg Palace in Charlottenburg.

You don’t need major historical literacy to feel the uneasiness the existence of checkpoint Charlie (as well as all the other checkpoints), of the Wall and of the many barbed wires surrounding it have caused.

The atmosphere today is somehow still very surreal, as if the city were stuck in an eternal moment of quietness, as if the cars and people keep moving but the air remains still, the same air the previous generations breathed in, and the next generations will breathe in.  

The city has managed to rise up again and become the prosperous home of many, but as the daily stress takes over, and as you walk down Friedrichstraße it is hard to forget the atrocities and unfairness Berlin witnessed.

Yesterday a little jail too close to an unreachable west, today home to many immigrants hoping for a better life. Tomorrow, the place our generation will make out of it.

I advice you watch “Good Bye Lenin” if you can. A movie bringing to the point the many emotional aspects the unification of Germany and the fall of the wall resulted in. 

A rebellious, moving, and meaningful movie which might help you understand Berlin: the bold, the thrilling, the hip.

Travel Pill: Vamos al Tequila

 

So here I am, showing my best Tequila drinking skills in this shameless picture of myself, in a little Mayan Restaurant somewhere close to the Uxmal archaeological zone, in Mexico.

I am not much of a „shot drinker“, I prefer the so called „Lady drinks“, but as I was round-tripping in Mexico last month, I couldn`t help but try out their drinking culture.

Being quite ignorant on the subject, I was surprised to find out how all the things I thought were true about Tequila are completely wrong. I was convinced, like probably many of you are too, that you can choose between either silver or gold tequila – the former accompanied by salt and lemon, and the latter with ginger and orange.
I made quite a big fool out of myself on my first evening out in Merida (Yucatan, Mexico) when asking the surprised waiter to bring me ginger, and some oranges to accompany my shot. I used my best Spanish skills to explain myself and I still didn´t get what I then thought to be the best tequila ever. The problem was not the language impediment. The problem was that the waiter hat absolutely no clue what I was talking about!

So my dear readers there you go. Mexicans drink their tequila pure!

You can choose between Blanco or Plata (our silver), Joven (the equivalent to our gold, with a sweeter touch, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo (oh that one flows really smoothly!)

Are you planning to fly to Mexico? Don´t forget to bring a nice bottle of Tequila to share with friends of family on a Mexican evening J

 

 

 

 

 

Budapest: The Gem of the Danube

When travelling to Europe, most people think to first visit London, Rome, Paris and Berlin. 

What they don't know is what they could be missing out on.

Situated on the banks of the river Danube, Budapest is a major European "must see". 

Blending Gothic, Neo Renaissance and Modern, Budapest offers an architectural and cultural journey only a few cities around the world have. 

I lived in Budapest for about 3 years, and go back a few times a year - it keeps calling! 

There I learnt what it means to be independant, how to manage my money (hum, yeah whatever, I will never learn that!) and there I found out what it really means to live! Trust me once you get a taste of this city, you won't be able to get enough!

Budapest is divided into two parts by the danube, namely Buda and Pest, connected by 8 bridges - each showing a different style. 

The two mostly predominant sights one has of the city are the Buda Castle (on the Buda side, of course!) and the parliament's building (on the Pest Side).

Worthy of visiting are Hero's square, the St. Stephans Basilica, the Aquincum area (the remains of the ones Roman Budapest), the Opera House, the Fishermen's Bastion, the many Baths (e.g.: the Szécsényi or the Gellért Bath), and.and..and..well there's so much to see! 

Budapest is not only home to many historical sites, it is also the home of the wild! It houses some of the best party places of the continent, and it represents the experience of a lifetime for many exchange students! There is something going on for all musical tastes, for all drinking tastes, and for all "wallet" tastes. Regardless of the day of the week, or time of the day, Budapest has always something going on, open air events are the hit of the summer, while the Ruinpubs are the everyday all year long must stop personal tipps: Szimpla Kert, Instant, Kőleves (in summer), and Ötkert (in summer) !

Some highlights you shoudln't miss are the Wine Festival every year in September (although not widely exportet, Hungary produces some of the most amazing wines you could drink, offering a great variety of Reds, for instance from Villány and Eger, and Whites from the Tokaj region), the Sziget Fesztival every Summer and the yearly Palinka Festival! 

Note: Palinka is a national drink, a fruit brandy which taste might take sometime to get used to - as it is really strong!

There is just so much more I could write about this city, but sooner or later I have to go to sleep, work is waiting for me tomorrow, or rather, it won't wait for me!

So all I have been trying to say is, next time you plan your city trip, keep in mind this gem on the Danube in Central Europe! And once you opt for Budapest make sure to "live the vibe" of the city and not just to visit it!

Good night !!

xx

Photo: The Parliament captured with my iPhone from the Buda Castle on April 20th 2014, a slighly rainy day. 

Ps: Below are a few links to motivate and help you:

http://www.budapest.com/

http://www.ucityguides.com/budapest/sights-attractions-tours.html

http://ruinpubs.com/index.php?id=ilbud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda_Castle

Denim; the never dying trend of the season(s)

Hello my lovely readers! 

Today´s post is dedicated to one of the few "it gets never too old" pieces: the Denim Jacket (and Denim in general anyway)!
I personally owe a couple; they take me flawlessly spring-to-fall and are easy to match! 
You can (almost) wear them with everything, whether pants or skirt, patterned or block, a denim jacket impeccably matches most of items in your wardrobe. 

But what is "Denim" exactly? For those who don' t know, well,  Denim is "nothing" but a hard cotton textile ;) 
You already knew that and are thinking "duh" I know what denim is?
Now, what you might not know is that Denim finds its origins in the city of Nimes in France and that the Nimes' residents initially called the fabric "Serge de Nimes", which was later shortened too "Denim". 
A lot of people often mix up Denim and Jeans (yup I also call it Jeans Jacket sometimes, but whatever, even though I sound wrong at times, people get what I mean!) - so let´s make the difference clear. Denim is a fabric, and Jeans is a garnment!

The word Jeans for instance is completely unrelated to the word Denim (as per its origins as least). The first denim-similar pants ("jeans") were seen in the Italian port city of Genoa. Genoa, in French, is called "Gênes" - see the connection? 
Well Genoa was more famous for the production of corduroy, the "predenim" material (as I call it), which the French tried to reproduce but did not succeed. Instead they created denim - or "Serge de Nimes". 

Of course the interpretation of the origin might not be 100% accurate, but I do see the pattern and sense in it.

Levi Strauss might have put into the market the jeans pants as we know them todY (initially used as work trousers), but I like to believe that without the old continent tres-chic´s nation (namely, France), maybe we would not know of this easy going street wear garnment at all. 

In the 60´s Jeans have been seen as a rebellious item (even James Dean had them on in one of his movies - "Rebel without a Cause" - an all time classic for me!), they could not be worn in theaters (even my Grandma, an elegant typical 60's lady, went all crazy on my mum whenever she had them!), and they were not part of everyone's wardrobe. Today even my Grandma owns a pair of jeans, she even owns a denim jacket!

Today this once labour class related material is being used not only for pants and jackets, but also for shoes, bags and..believe it or not...for couches as well! A talented young business man and designer named Dimitris Zoz owns THE IT Denim Atelier you should definitely pay a visit too!It is in Florence, Italy (I mean, where else?!) so it might not be close to you, but if you are in the region and can visit, believe me, his unique hand made products and trend setting designs are love at first sight!
There you might end up not only buying your next studded hot denim pants, but also a comfortable and fashionable denim furniture piece for your house! Want to know more? Open the following links and definitely take a look at when deciding what your next denim item should be and how it should look like! ;)
http://www.dimitriszoz.com/online/
http://www.dimitriszoz.com/home


As a brief footnote, here are some of my favourite pieces of the season:
From left to right, top to bottom: The top two ones are both light blue Zara denim jackets (both pictures taken from www.zara.com, where you can also directly shop them), Mango Messenger Denim Bag (picture from www.mango.es), Replay CLASSIN DENIM Jacket (from www.zalando,de), and Michael Kors Large Selma Zip Cluth (picture from http://www.neimanmarcus.com where you can also buy it!).  

And just as a note, here is my last addition to my denim collection, fresh from the store. ONLY Denim Jacket (picture from www.zalando.de)

I wish you all a lovely evening xx

NUTRITION: Organic; yay or nay? A brief personal thought

In the past few years I noticed an increase in products with a green "Bio" labels printed on them, in literally all Grocery´s stores I have visited, even at lower priced supermarkets such as Lidl or Aldi. 

At the beginning I thought this was pretty much about money-making, strategically well thought, expensively marketed products and I never really gave it a deeper thought. 

Recently though, as I started meditating more (you should definitely try meditating too! It´s such a great way to keep a positive aura, and keep the stress away from you:) ), I started to change my nutritional habits (less sugar, less trans fats, more proteins and healthy carbs) and decided to start taking care of my health. I am not "old" yet, but it is never too early to start. 

Attention to labelling increased during the past years, more and more companies now print exact labels in regards to ingredients and nutritional facts (e.g.: Carbs per 100g, Kcal etc). Regulations have been changing in Europe and North America, making it a must to list certain ingredients. 

The buyers´awareness of health has also been increasing, I see more and more people looking for healthier food around me and in stores. 
I believe I belong to this group of buyers. I want to see less chemicals in what I eat, I don´t want to eat a fully injected, pumped up apple - That´s why I, in a lot of cases but not exclusively, turn to Organic Food if possible. 

But what is organic food exactly and is it really a ? There have been lots of arguments as to whether organic food is better than non organic or not. Well, I believe it is and here are my top 3 reasons for this.

First of all, the regulations in regards to chemical usage in fertilizers is stricter, maybe you can´t completely avoid chemicals, but you can certainly choose to reduce them by carefully selecting what you eat!

Secondly, artificial food additives are a no go in organic food, this is already good enough of a point for me.

Thirdly, if you are a meat lover (I am not, but I know many who are!) you should definitely go for organic meat rather than non organic, at least in my opinion, as the animals are  grown differently and also fed differently. If you decide to kill animals to satisfy your appetite (ok, I do eventually eat meat too, trying to go down to no meat though...so this point refers to me as well) at least make sure that they are treated and killed with some remains of dignity, I think they do have sensitive souls too (even though a running chicken might not look like such a sensitive creature at first, I still try to keep my thoughts equal for all animals, no offence to anyone..). 

If you are convinced and want to take Organic to a further level, then go for small local producers of organic food, at least for some of your groceries. It might end up being slightly more expensive (if you don´t have that extra dollar, then just never mind, just go for non organic healthy stuff:) ) but at least you will be supporting the local economy in a way or the other. You might not change the world, but it is still a good deed isn´t it? 

Want to know more? Follow this link :)

http://www.organicconsumers.org/

Casually 50 - invited and clueless!

Hello my dear readers! 

I hope you are all having a blessed evening! I finally have some time to rest today. Yesterday was quite a long day! 

It started at 00:00 with a surprise Champagne toast at a relative´s house. A fabulous lady turned 50! Well the toast went by quite fast, I was in bed by 1AM. The waking up for work was a slightly harder part of the day. 

In the evening I even got invited to the birthday´s dinner, which started punctually at 6PM in a cute little italian restaurant in the German woods. A bit exhausting after work but such a great atmosphere and so much fun! 

I obviously had no clue what to buy a 50 year old woman. I wanted something casual and classy at the same time without spending too much money. 

50 is still an age quite far away from mine, and therefore I was quite unsure about what to do, but someone in the family came up with the idea of putting together a timeframed photo album with pictures of family and friends (old and new) as well as dedications from each one of us.

Yes, that was just right! I learnt that there is nothing better than a present which is intimate and personal! 

But hey, seriously, an emotional present needs to be accompanied by some substance as well, say whatever you want but regardless of age, every woman is happy to receive a "tangible and wearable" present for her birthday - I mean come on! SO here comes pt. II of the whole thing, the bling bling side of the story!

I opted for something simple and shiny: two charms from the Thomas Sabo charm club! 

Thomas Sabo has a charm for literally every occasion! Well, she loves shoes and music and guess what? Here are the two charms I chose:

Here is the link where you can find all the charms, this is also where I took the pictures from for illustrative purposes: http://shop.thomassabo.com !

Charms, necklaces, bracelets and all what comes with them are always lady-friendly and highly appreciated presents :) 

As per the outfit I had on, well, I had to think quick (yup, long day at work, and I was running late!) .. this was nothing formal and yet nothing too casual..so I decided to go for an effortless biker look, enriched by Buffalo Lace up heels and a faux leather jacket! In the below pictures I recreated the look for you :) I didn´t always find the exact same pieces I had on BUT the brands are the same, as well as the colours and the style - nothing better than a hard chick look to the end the day! 

Did you like the look? You can shop from the following brands:

Leggings: Mango

Top: Jacqueline de Yong

Faux Leather Jacket: ONLY

Necklace: ZARA

Lace up Boots: Buffalo

The pictures are illustrative and each is taken from the Brands´Website

I wish you all a lovely evening!