Dinner in a perfect summer setting

July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 4 Comments

Eating dinner along the waterside is the ideal setting for at the end of a sunny day. Wouldn’t you agree? Last weekend we went out for dinner with some friends in that exact setting. I’ll admit that when going to a brasserie I’m always in doubt of the quality I’ll be getting on my plate, but Brasserie Montreal definitely served us some good quality! Brasserie Montreal is located at a fishpond right outside of the city center of Mechelen and I did enjoy our setting for the night overlooking the fairly big pond.

Having a view is nice, but more important is what you get on your plate… They had outdone themselves and I didn’t expect to see such refined dishes. As an appetizer we got a soused herring with cucumber and black olive which already helped to get more appetite (if that is possible as my appetite is always pretty big). From this point on it only went crescendo.

The starters for the night were for me pickled herring with jonagold apple, beetroot and dill. My table guests took Buffalo mozzarella with tomato varieties, a goat cheese salad with bbq pineapple and Granny Smith and some King crab with courgette, tomato and kaffir. A true treat for the eyes.

This got followed with for me a classical Belgian Blue Chateau Briand (I was craving for some red meat) with béarnaise and freshly fries. The ladies at the table took a Gilt-head bream and BBQ salmon “label rouge” with some green asparagus, kohlrabi and beech mushroom.

We combined this with a 2007 Spanish red Herencia del Padri from Priorat made by Bernard Magrez. The herbal like taste and stronger body of the wine went really well with the Chateau Briand (my modest opinion)

The best is yet to come as the dessert can either ruin the whole meal or make it an even better success… in our case luckily the second one 🙂

Not that we didn’t see any good dessert on the menu, but as we saw the chef (Toon) could be very creative with the previous plates we decided to let him free-wheel for dessert and be creative (with what he has in his fridge of course). This resulted in two njammy desserts: the first dessert was a fresh red fruit dessert with a white chocolate cream, flower bouillon (yes flower, this is not a typo). FYI all the herbs and flowers used in the dishes are all grown in their own garden!! The second dessert was chocolate inspired with mascarpone.

I really like being surprised and to find out my prejudgment was totally wrong!! Once again it got proven to never judge a book by its cover. I really enjoyed my dinner at Brasserie Montreal and as cherry on the cake I had some great table guests! I’ll definitely be back 🙂

Brasserie Montreal

Website: http://www.brasseriemontreal.be/

Address: Duivenstraat 56, 2800 Mechelen

Phone n°: +32 (0) 15 20 40 77

Discovering more of the unknown

July 23, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

We could not come to the Pajottenland and not visit at least one brewery and learn more about the most famous regional products aka Lambic beers like Geuze or Kriek (cherry beer). Visiting only one brewery knowing we came from far would have been sad… that’s why we visited 2 breweries 😉

We visited 3 fonteinen and Boon that on size are very different as Boon is maybe 6 times bigger (at least) than 3 fonteinen . But when it comes to passion they are just alike, both owners have THE sparkle in their eyes when they can talk about Lambic beers and on top of that they are both great guys! If you want to learn what there is to learn on making Lambic beers, they are definitely the guys to contact!

Something important to know before I continue talking about the breweries is the difference between making of regular beer and Lambic beers. A very big difference can already be found in the fermentation process! Lambic beers have something called a spontaneous fermentation, because they make use of “wild” or “natural” yeast that comes basically from the air around us… did you know there are 86 kinds of wild yeasts in the air? Well there are! So you can imagine how long it must take before a Lambic beer can be made. Normally this takes between 3 and 8 months. An essential ingredient in beer is hop. Hop is actually used against the acidification of the beer. For Lambic beers the brewers will only be using “old” hop (2-3 years old) because if they would use young hop the beer would be to bitter and the beer won’t last as long (for ageing). So depending on the amount of Old hop the brewer use the Lambic beers will be sourer or bitterer. (Sourness is typical for the Lambic beers). The last thing you should know about the lambic beer making is that after cooling down the beer is put in old oak wine barrels to ferment for a few more years which gives yet another typical taste to Lambic beers.

What makes Geuze extra special is that to make Geuze the brewer will be mixing (or blending) young and old lambic beer. The reason for this is because the young lambics are not fully fermented, the blended (so after mixing) beer contains fermentable sugars, which allow a second fermentation to occur. This is also the reason why the Geuze bottles are always closed with the same cork as a champagne bottle as the ,in our case beer, will keep fermenting in the bottle.

Ok, now I’ve explained a few important “must know” facts from Lambic beer I can tell you more about the two breweries we’ve visited. I’ll start with Armand de Belder’s story aka the man and passion behind the 3 fonteinen Brewery. For some Flemish people the name 3 fonteinen might ring a bell as this is one of the favorite beers of the Belgian celeb chef Jeroen Meus (Restaurant Luzine) who used it in a few recipes that I think almost every Flemish family already make around the Christmas period 🙂 (Guilty as charged). Anyhow what is important to know about this brewery is that they initially (the current owner’s parents)used to be “geuzenstekers”, which is the name for a brewery that will mix young and old Lambic beer from other breweries (so they don’t make their own beer from scratch). Back in the day the only used to make beer to serve in their own restaurant, but as. It was not until 1999 that Armand and his brother (after taking over business) started making their own Lambic beer from scratch which they then blended with “Lambic” from other breweries. 2009 was a catastrophic year for the 3 fonteinen brewery as due to a defect in the warehouse thermostat 5000 bottles of beer exploded and beer to fill over 80000 bottles was ruined. I’m sure I don’t have to draw a picture of the financial disaster this caused. But Armand it a fighter and didn’t thrown in the towel yet, he continued blending beers (without his own Lambic) and as of this year he slowly started making his own Lambic beer again. A truly remarkable story!

The second brewery, Boon, we visited has a totally different story. This brewery was originally founded around 1860 and mostly produced “Kriek” or better known as cherry beer in English. In 1978 the very small brewery got taken over by the current owners aka Boon family that made it one of the biggest breweries in the region and since 1989 has a partnership with Palm Breweries which made them an even bigger player on the beer market around the world. I must say it is quite impressive walking through this brewery and seeing the process how a Lambic beer gets made from scratch and I’m not even talking about the incredible and enormous barrel chambers where the Lambic rests…

What to do when you don’t want to break down the original factory but still want to enlarge your company? That’s write just build over it and keep the original inside in its original state :-). Unless that’s how Frank Boon did it with his factory.

I did indeed enjoy to hear all about their breweries, but at some point standing still and listening gave a dry throat 🙂 luckily we were in breweries so moooooooore than enough to solve that problem.

The biggest difference between the beers of the 2 breweries to me is the sourness as the beers made by Boon are easier to drink and for a wider public. This doesn’t mean I didn’t like the 3 fonteinen beers because I did like them, especially the cherry beer as this one of the few ones where you can actually taste the actual cherries. I’m just saying that you’d serve a Lambic bier/Geuze to somebody who didn’t every drink this type of beer before you’d better start with Boon as 3 fonteinen is more for the ones used of drinking this type of beer. This is my impression of the beers, it is like the French say “les goûts et les couleurs, ça ne se discute pas”. One of my personal favorites was th eGeuze “Mariage Parfait” from Boon.

One thing is for sure that both beers are made with passion and I’ve also learned there is a lot of mutual respect amongst the Lambic brewers!

You guys should really visit this beautiful region and taste its products! Enjoy

Discovering the unknown

July 17, 2013July 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

We all travel the whole world and have seen destinations that take 24hours to get there… but what we tend to forget is that our own country or maybe even the area where we live has so much to offer and so many things to discover. In my case I’m talking about Belgium, but I think it counts for everybody all over the world. Not that it is wrong to travel the world, but from time to time instead of planning a city trip or a weekend abroad just pick a closeby destination in your own country. So that’s what I did last weekend in company of a few gastronomical friends like William Wouters & Ingrid (pazzo), Andy de Brouwer (Les Eleveurs) and Aristide Spies (3^rd best sommelier of the world) to name a few. Together we discovered a green area just outside Brussels aka “Pajottenland” that until last weekend was a place I only knew by name.

The initial plan was to discover the gently rolling hills using scooters, but as most people didn’t feel like it the plan got changed and we started our day with a tour in a prairie schooner aka horse and carriage. I had the feeling I was somewhere in France… it might have been the weather and the fact I was speaking French with Aristide, but it did feel like France. Have look at the below pictures and I’m sure you’ll agree?

During our carriage ride I had to think of my mom, it was when we stopped at the windmill used in a Belgian Television series from when she was young “Captain Zeppos”.I’m sure if she would have been there she would have been very excited to see it :-). It was great to hear the mill keeper talk with so much passion about his windmill works and how it is build. I don’t know if you guys ever visited a wind mill, but I was very impressed of how they are designed knowing they are from over 600 years ago. We also had our portion of workout for the day as we had to help to turn the Mill in the good wind direction and it is heavier than one thinks! If you ever get the chance I would definitely visit an old wind mill.

Zeppos Mill (1)

Zeppos Mill (2)

From all that working out and being on the carriage our throats started to get dried out… Lucky for me I was visiting the “Pajottenland” with world renowned sommeliers and they took care of the beverage part 🙂

It all started with a nice aperitif right under the “Witse” tree. FYI “Witse” is another Belgian TV series (crime) I have to admit is started to feel like a tour at the Belgian version of Universal city 🙂

Anyhow the first drink to make our throats less dry was the2000 Poème Cuvée by Glinaros. It might surprise you, but this was/ is a Greek sparkling wine and I didn’t expect it to be this good. The taste had (to me) something dark chocolaty to it and it reminded me a bit of Delamotte champagne , but maybe saying this is like swearing in a church…

Witse tree (1)

We continued our aperitif or better wine tasting at “Het wijnatelier”. At ‘het wijnatelier’ they have a very interesting motto “wine is culture. One does not drink culture. Culture is something you experience. The same goes for wine.” is cultuur. Anyhow if you ever want to have a nice wine tasting I think “Het wijnatelier” is definitely a good location for it! Already for the fact that it is located in a very beautiful building which used to be the old butchery of the current owner’s parents or I even think grandparents. I was really in love with the interior!! On top of that you also get some very nice not always very well-known wines. As you might have guessed after knowing what we had as first taster, the theme of the wine tasting was Greek wines 🙂 that got accompanied with the appropriate appetizers.

Wijnatelier (3)

We almost tasted the whole gamma wines from the Glivanos (sorry website only in Greek)estate. (Besides the rosé). Overall nice wines that tasted very fresh and waaaay better than the Retsina I used to remember from years ago when I was in Greece. I was surprised of the good quality of the Greek wines. Although for me they missed something (not sure what though)… Maybe it is just the fact they weren’t Italian ;-). No no, just kidding. This tasting did open my eyes and my intrest in getting to know more Greek wines. Anyhow there is only one way to find out for you is tasting them at a wonderful place called “Het wijnatelier”. (It had a good vibe)

In my next blogpost I’ll tell you about THE most famous product from the Pajottenland!

To be continued….

The gastronomical Odyssey continuous

July 15, 2013November 29, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

It had been a while so I figured it was time again for another edition of my “Gastronomical Odyssey “that combines the things I love most friends and gastronomical food ( and drinks). This time it brought us (me and my usual partners in crime) to restaurant ‘De Schone van Boskoop’. I could really give a million reasons for choosing ‘De Schone van Boskoop’… Like it already being a fix value in the gastronomical world for 20 years or that is nostalgic to come here as I came here a few times with my parents when I was younger, but also because I really like chef and owner Wouter Keersmaekers who does his ‘job’ with so much passion that when you hear him talk about food it is like hearing a poem… and on top of that he’s just a great guy! Or because I said so in one of my previous blogposts ‘a pupil in the footsteps of his master’.

The motto Wouter Keersmaekers uses at ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ is one I cherish a lot ‘keep it simple’ which doesn’t necessarily have to mean boring… it just means only mixing a few ingredients and having respect for the products you use (and honestly those usually taste best!). A great example of this would be Wouter’s homemade veal sausage with truffle and springs Savoy cabbage mash he served at “Taste of Antwerp”. Simple and yet very refined and only using few ingredients.

One thing I already decided before I came to ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ and that was I would take beer pairing with our menu instead of the usual wine. The main reason because a while ago Wouter was telling me about his new beer cellar, which made me very curious to discover it. (the beer list they have is a very nice one).

I’m also very happy the weather gods were good to us and we could eat outside.

At gastronomical restaurants like ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ I rarely choose ‘à la carte’ dishes as prefer discovering new dishes and eat things I would never pick myself and the best way to do it is choosing one of the tasting menu’s. It is Wouter Keersmaekers himself who comes to each table to explain the menus and suggestions, the only problem about this is that you want to have the menu with all the extra suggestions on top of that making it maybe a 15 course menu 🙂 🙂 (sorry I just love food). Anyhow after a minute of discussion with my table guests we choose to take the ’terroir’ aka “from the field” menu.

Every dish we received that night was a really pleasure for the eye and the taste buds! Via my blog I can only offer you the pleasure for the eye, the taste you’ll have to go and try it yourself 🙂

The gastronomical spoiling started with some ‘amuses’: starting with a calf brain croquette (I know what you’re thinking, but it was better than it sounds…. this is btw a great example why I take a tasting menu as I doubt I would ever order it myself) and fresh herring with amongst other beetroot and horseradish. Continuing with Sea robin (aka snapper, altough for some reason I doubting if we didn’t have barbin instead) with a flan made from broad bean and marinated tomatoes (they were really good!). Our ‘amuses’ got served with a Hopus

Our actual menu started off with Italian veal tarter (a classical dish from Piemonte) topped with Australian truffles. Yes Australian! You honestly didn’t taste they were from Australia. Served with a ‘Chimay Triple‘

It got followed by smoked Scheldt lobster with the last asparagus from the season and a sauce made from milk and bacon. I this might have been one of my preferred dishes of the night. Served with a ‘La chouffe’

Our 3^rd dish of the evening was 3 types of lamb meat all prepared in a different way. First there was the ‘hamburger’ made with the cheek meat, secondly the neck which was slowly cooked and came with a kind of gravy and the third piece was the crispy belly. A dish that fitted perfectly with the Rochefort 8 they served with it

Another dish I will be remembering a while was the dessert ‘vacherin’ with red fruit. Served with ‘Oude Kriek’ which is cherry beer (pretty sour) made at a very small artisan brewery (Hanssens).

The second dessert was a “boskoop” compote with curry, a special combination but not wrong at all 🙂

The crown on the whole evening were the refreshments that came with the coffee… the mind was weak (very weak) I just love ‘canele de bordeaux’ and ‘petite madeleines’… I wouldn’t mind eating a few right now 😉

It got proven to me once again what separates a regular cook from a big chef and why after 20 years they are still and established value! (A big chef with a great team behind him)

Great job guys! Thanks Carlos, Gilles and Stijn for being my partners in crime once again!

Zia Livia’s homemade Gnocchi

July 8, 2013August 23, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

I’m sure you have already heard me talking about my beloved zia Livia from Trieste? In case you didn’t she basically is a person that has a very central place in my heart. Next month she’ll become 80, but she has more energy than all of us together (REALLY) and when you see her you’d think she’s around 60 instead of 80. Anyhow for me she is the absolute best cook in the world as she first of all always makes all my favorite dishes and secondly because she makes everything fresh from scratch and gets her ingredients from farmers close to where she lives (so basically the best you’ve ever eaten). Two weeks ago I was visiting her again and man did she spoil me again (food wise that is). Today I want to share with you one of her recipes or better her recipe for making Gnocchi di patate which she serves with a “sugo di carne”, but you guys can serve it with regular tomato sauce or bolognaise or whichever sauce you want. Originally the Umbrian “patata rossa” is used to make gnocchi, but if you don’t find them it is important to use very floury potatoes.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

1 kg potatoes (floury)
250g flour
1 egg
Salt
30 g farm butter

Getting started:

Leave the potatoes unpeeled and cook them like you would normally cook them to make mashed potatoes. You can see when there are almost ready when the ‘skin’ starts to rip.
Peel the potatoes

Puree the potatoes using a food mill

Add a pinch of salt and butter to the potatoes and start kneading, add the egg once the potatoes are a bit cooler (not ice cold of course) and slowly add the flour. Keep kneading until you have a firm dough ball.

Cut off a piece and make a kind of “sausage” out of it (see pic below)

Cut the “sausage” in small equal (keep doing this until dough is done)

My aunt now finish them but rolling them over the backside of a cheese grater, but you can also use a for or just leave them like they are (the difference would just be that the ‘incisions will be able to absorb a little bit more sauce)

Boil salted water and put the ‘gnocchi in the water (one by one) once the water starts boiling.

When the ‘gnocchi’ start floating it means they are ready for serving.

Drain them

Put them in a bowl and add the sauce of your choice. Zia Livia adds her heavenly “sugo di carne”

Buon appetito

A beauty called Budapest story continues

July 4, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Who says Budapest (or Hungary), says thermal baths… they are just inseparable. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to try one of the many famous bath houses in Budapest, or better it was just too hot outside. With an outside temperature of 36°C at 11a.m. the last thing I think about is going into an even hotter bath :-). It is true that most of these bath houses also have a regular (cold) swimming pool, but it just wouldn’t be the same… but now I at least have already 1 excuse to go back to Budapest (another reason you’ll find out later in this post).

The most famous bath house for me was the Széchenyi thermal bath as it got used in lots of Hollywood productions I even think in one ‘The Simpsons’ episode (but not 100% sure)). You might also know it as they mostly use the image of the people playing chess while sitting in the water. The real reason it is famous is because it is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is between 74 °C and 77 °C. And every type of bath has a different medicinal effect.

A few other well-known therminal bath houses are Gellért (most expensive one) , Király and Rudas. There are obviously many more, but these are just the most famous ones. Lots of these bath houses are actually part of the heritage from the time the Turks ruled over Hungary…. but read all about the history on this wikipage. It must be said that the therminal bath are located in some very beautiful buildings!

All the visiting and walking obviously made me very hungry and believe it or not, but Budapest has a lot to offer on gastronomical level (something I really didn’t expect). A dish you just have to eat while you stay in Budapest (or Hungary) is Hungarian Goulash, I think there is no more typical dish (besides Foie gras and fish soup for some reason). I only had it once for dinner, I don’t know if it was the best Goulash (served with sour cream and a pickle) in town, but good enough for the first night in Budapest :-). I had it in a back street restaurant called M restaurant. No fancy place, just honest food and friendly service all one need on the first evening…. If you would go there I do recommend the Chocolate dessert with a bit of chili in it.

There are a few other restaurants we tried I want to share with you. The first one is restaurant Baldaszti (part of the Baldaszti group) which is located Andrássy útca, which apparently is one of the fanciest streets in Budapest (the fancy shops did make a bell ring 🙂 ). Anyhow we had a lovely lunch and It was actually here I discovered that Hungarian food is more than Goulash and they also make refined food combined with very friendly service. I took the asparagus variation, nettle, coconut espuma and an at 64° poached egg. My fiancée chose the marinated salmon with a fennel tabouleh salad. Some really great food and an ideal lunch! We both combined this with some lovely rosé wines (the sun makes me want to drink rosé) and I was again very happy to see so many Hungarian wines on the wine list!! In case you want to know we had the 2012 BÁRDOS ÉS FIA Rosé Cuvée and the 2012 SAUSKA Rosé. They were both good, but the Bárdos had that little something extra… Afterwards we also had a heavenly dessert aka sweet cottage cheese souffle with strawberries (those hungarians are masters in making dessert!)

Baldaszti (2)

Baldaszti salmon fennel salad

The second restaurant is one we did with my fiancée’s uncle and is located a few steps from the Széchenyi bath house. This restaurant was called “Robinson”. I liked it as is right at a little “pond” and on a hot day a little breeze always feels nice. On top of that they also served some nice food, more classical dishes, but this doesn’t make them less good of course :-). Even though it was hot me and my fiancée’s uncle went for the” borjú paprikás tojásos galuska” aka Veal stew with egg dumplings and a garden salad… and my fiancée just took a salad. And again we had some killer desserts. I finished with the carrot cake (which I love) and my fiancée with the New York cheese cake, raspberry sorbet.

In case you like top gastronomy a visit to restaurant Onyx, unfortunately I wasn’t able to try this restaurants (reason 2 to go back Budapest). But a very reliable source (Bram and Ingrid from pazzo) told me this is a restaurant worth trying. They have 1 Michelin star and the chef was finalist of the Bocuse d’or contest.

The last I want to share with you is Big fish. Big fish is as the name might already reveal a fish restaurant. On the wall they have a huge black board which is actually the menu or better the list of fish you can order, the list goes from salmon to sea bass… everything is prepared in the simplest way (on the grill) leaving you the real taste of the fish without any heavy sauces and all… I’ll be honest I when I saw fish and freshly made chips on the menu I was really craving for it (I know what a barbarian). My fiancée want for a lighter meal and took grilled salmon with a garden salad… A popular dish I saw on many tables were the Blue Mussels . The profiterol dessert also looked tempting, but my woman didn’t share 🙂

To make a long story short, Budapest is a city that has a lot to offer and I’m sure everybody will find something of its liking. I am very convinced I will be back in Budapest, not sure when, but I’ll be back (said in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator way 🙂 )

BTW in case you were wondering, I stayed at the Novotel Budapest Centrum, which was located really central to get everywhere and few steps from all public transport. (Behind corner the New York Café).

Oh sorry forgot to mention, for the food and market lovers, a walk in the Great Market Hall is nice 🙂

Now I’ll stop talking although there is much more to tell… but exploring it yourself will be nicer 😉

A beauty called Budapest

July 2, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Just came home from a very nice holiday. My holiday was divided into 2 parts, the first and main part was to my beloved Zia Livia (that you might remember from some previous blog posts) and for some reason she always seems to think I never eat and feels the need to almost stuff me like a turkey :-)… So basically just the way I like it 😉

The second part of my holiday brought me (and my fiancée of course) to Budapest. This is the second time I travel to Eastern Europe and it is the second time I get enchanted! (Last year I had to go to Prague for work). I got first of all enchanted because the city is really beautiful, but secondly because I had a completely wrong image in my head from Eastern Europe…and I honestly think lots of people have this wrong image. In my head I pictured old buildings, everybody still driving a Trabant and I won’t even mention the eating habits I had in mind 🙂 I KNOW, so wrong!! Just like last year in Prague, this year in Budapest was an eye opener how modern this city is and how well it combines it with all the richness and breathtaking heritage from the past centuries and how they still keep improving!

If I would have to compare Budapest with other cities; I would compare it with a mix of Vienna and Paris… I even believe they even call it the Paris from the East. (I would choose Budapest over Paris without any doubt!)

This might also be the first time that I have no idea which words I can use to express the beauty of this city, but I’ll try my best to find them. I think the best way to start is with a picture that for me represents the greatness and beauty of Budapest (and for me one of the most impressive buildings in the world.

Believe me when you have that building right in front of you it is even more incredible. Budapest of course has lots more beautiful buildings like the Buda palace (Royal palace), Saint Stephen’s Basilica, Museum of Applied Arts or the bridges over the Danube.

The strangest thing I saw Budapest was King Stephen I’s right hand is housed in the reliquary in the Saint Stephen’s Basilica. The hand still it in very good shape, considering it is from the 10^th century, but it is kind of creepy (for some reason it makes me think of “THING” from the Addams family, sorry I know this might be inappropriate).

In case the hand might be too much for you, there is a great wine bar right next to the Basilica aka Divino (thanks again to Bram and Ingrid from Pazzo for the tip!!). This wine bar is both bar and shop where if wanted you can also have little bite. What I like about all the restaurants and bars I visited in Budapest is that 90% of the wine (or products in general) they serve is Hungarian!! Talking about pride for local products, I love it!! (If Belgians would only be as proud of their products). As it was very sunny our choice went to rosé, but I’m pretty sure everybody will find its choice at Divino’s

Like on many previous city trips my fiancée and me decided to take the “hop on, hop off” bus to get a general view of the city. For me this is really the best way to plan your next days in a city you haven’t visited before… I know it is hard to get over the fact that in this case you’ll look like the Über tourist, but what the hell nobody knows you there anyway!!! AND in the prices there is also a boattrip on the Danube included…

Of course like every big city, Budapest also has its “problems”, but I have the impression they have it under control and they didn’t really bother me too much (like the homeless people on the streets).

Thanks to my fiancée ‘s uncle (who lives in Budapest), we got to see something that I’m pretty sure if he wouldn’t have brought us we wouldn’t have visited. He took us up the János Hill to have a 360° view over the city and its surroundings from the highest point of Budapest (526m) on the Elizabeth kilátó (aka Belvedere Tower). It might take you a while to get there if you walk up there just like us, but it is worth it… first of all as you get to walk in a forest en secondly the view from up there is breathtaking and it is only than that you get to see how big and especially how green Budapest it (check pictures below). No worries, for those who don’t feel like walking up, there also motorized ways to get up there ;-).( public transport) I do recommend taking the chairlift back down.