Christmas Fair in Budapest

A wonderful yuletide tradition in Budapest, the Christmas Fair in Vörösmarty Square is filled with locals and tourists alike. What’s common is that most people are walking around with a mug of farrolt bor (mulled wine) in their hands. After all it does get pretty cold in Hungary during winter.

Other than local artisans selling crafts, the fairgrounds are filled with food stands selling Hungarian street food - Hungarian sausages (spiced with paprika), pork knuckles, fried potato pancakes, goose legs and even exotic ‘treats’ like rooster testicles ;-) And no, I did not try that! These food stands and the barrels of farrolt bor send wonderful aromas throughout the fairgrounds.

My absolute favorite food here is the kürtös kalács - freshly made bread (soft and doughy) rolled around what looks like a tapered rolling pin, then grilled over hot charcoals until browned and sprinkled with your choice of vanilla sugar, cinnamon, walnuts or cocoa. Absolutely delicious and absolutely out of this world!

This is quite hard to beat – below zero degree Celsius temperature and holding a gigantic piece of hot and steamy bread, crispy on the outside and with your choice of coating (mine was cinnamon) and moist and soft inside. Yum! Writing about it is making me salivate already. J