As I say goodbye to Prague,  I am more than ready to say hello to Budapest, pronounced ‘boo-da-pesht’ as my tour guide, Peter would say, “We are not pests.”

With an eight hour bus ride under our belt, we are ready to stretch our legs and take a tour around Peter’s hometown. The castle, Hero’s square, the thermal baths, the opera house and an evening cruise around the Danube are just some of the fun activities we got to venture out to see and do. Budapest is a bit more spread out than Prague, so I was glad to have on my walking shoes especially as we made our way up the hills and to the top of the breathtaking views of the castle. Along the way we saw several statues, perhaps one on every block. I even got to take a photo with Ronald Reagan as we made our way through the park. According to Peter,  the government makes an effort to fill this historic town with statues, erecting new and old ones  as they see fit, so the tourists and locals always have something to eye.

With all that walking, we definitely worked up an appetite. But Peter wasn’t going to let us satiate our appetites that easily by simply going to a restaurant. Instead, we got to partake in an authentic Hungarian Cooking Class led by Chef Parade.

For many, this cooking class was one of the highlights of the trip. In fact, one of the best ways to explore a new city is through the stomach.

On the menu was a three-course Hungarian menu:

Soup: Sour cherry soup
Appetizer: Summer beets and dumplings with a cottage cheese, hummus dip
Main: Chicken paprikash and Mushroom paprikash with ‘nokedli’
Dessert: Sweet cottage cheese dumplings

We broke into groups and each of us, in our group of three or four, manned our stations. I took part on creating the mushroom parprikash sauce. Slicing and dicing tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and peppers was right up my alley. But once we combined all the ingredients into the big melting pot, I had to hand over the big wooden spoons to the gentlemen. Simmering the vegetables took quite a bit of time and stirring together the wet and dry ingredients took muscle power. The main ingredient in all Hungarian dishes was sweet and savory paprika. I can’t say that I enjoyed a bite of Hungarian food without the paprika. Hungarians love their paprika and now I can see why!

Following our cooking workshop, we finally got to sit down, raise our glass and enjoy a paprika-infused feast together.

Wow, just wow (!)