Why in Budapest you should not talk about the pool, but you need to say hello to everyone?

We are going to a country where it is enough to stick a stick into the ground for a thermal spring to fill up, and it is customary to say hello everywhere and to everyone. The capital of therapeutic bathing Since the beginning of the last century, Budapest has been considered the international capital of therapeutic bathing. It is not for nothing that the Hungarians say with a smile and pride: in this city, a source of hot thermal water will gush out of the ground, even if you just stick a stick into it. There are about 130 healing springs in Budapest. Many of them supply water to the baths, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists and local residents. so that the thermal spring clogs, and it is customary to say hello everywhere and to everyone. The capital of therapeutic bathing Since the beginning of the last century, Budapest has been considered the international capital of therapeutic bathing. It is not for nothing that the Hungarians say with a smile and pride: in this city, a source of hot thermal water will gush out of the ground, even if you just stick a stick into it. There are about 130 healing springs in Budapest. Many of them supply water to the baths, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists and local residents. so that the thermal spring clogs, and it is customary to say hello everywhere and to everyone. The capital of therapeutic bathing Since the beginning of the last century, Budapest has been considered the international capital of therapeutic bathing. It is not for nothing that the Hungarians say with a smile and pride: in this city, a source of hot thermal water will gush out of the ground, even if you just stick a stick into it. There are about 130 healing springs in Budapest. Many of them supply water to the baths, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists and local residents.
Hungary itself is called the "hot spring of Europe" because there are more than 500 unique hot thermal springs in the country. Dozens of baths were built on their basis. I was lucky to live next to the most famous of them - Széchenyi, the largest in Europe. The water for this bath comes from deep underground through a well. Even in winter, it is so hot that you can take baths here even under the open sky. Such bathing heals the body, restores its resources and preserves youth.
I must warn you that if you decide to swim in the thermal springs and shout for joy: “Let's go for a swim in the pool!” - a local resident will not understand the meaning of the phrase, but the word "pool" will definitely catch it. And then get ready to catch judgmental looks on yourself, because “pool” in Hungarian has an indecent meaning. Salo, MEAT, paprika When I went to Hungary, I thought: if this is an agrarian country, then its cuisine is dominated by fruits and vegetables. Nothing like this! Hungary turned out to be a paradise for meat gourmets. Local residents eat salo much more than Russians or Ukrainians: according to statistics, more than half a kilogram per person per week.
In Hungarian grocery stores you will not find some of the products we are used to. For example, buckwheat. It is considered bird food here and is sold in pet stores.
Authentic Hungarian dishes - goulash, lecho, stuffed peppers, goose liver, Dobos cake and Esterhazy cake. But if we have goulash - these are pieces of meat with gravy, then the Hungarians have a thick soup with pieces of lamb or pork, with vegetables, seasoned with paprika. This seasoning is considered almost an official symbol among them - Hungary became the first European country where merchants brought paprika for the first time. Soon the locals began to produce it, taking a leading position in the world market. Not surprisingly, all classic Hungarian culinary dishes contain paprika, and you can buy it in any store, not only as a seasoning, but also as a gift from a trip abroad. Paprika is sold in markets and stores in different forms - natural, dried and in powder form.
An interesting fact: local farmers have learned to grow a breed of curly pigs Mangalitsa, whose meat does not contain cholesterol. They make a very tasty sausage of the same name and magnificent bacon with spices and spices, which literally melts in your mouth. A ruin pub is like a museum In addition to the usual restaurants, there are unusual ruin pubs in Hungary. The fashion for them began already in our century, when some houses in certain areas of Budapest stood idle. And it occurred to someone to rent or buy them out and, without repairing anything, set up a catering point. Here you will not find leather sofas, beautiful wallpapers. Gilding and pathos in the ruin pubs are replaced by autographs from people from all over the world and an indescribable atmosphere in which both new and old, something national and something cosmopolitan merge together. Therefore, even if you are not a fan of ALCOHOL, a walk through the most interesting ruin pubs of the capital will not leave you indifferent. After all, only here in Budapest, in a drinking establishment, you can find a disco ball in the shape of a pig, a bar counter in the form of an old shell and much more.
Remember: the Russian tradition of clinking glasses is considered bad luck here. Hungarians do not like to talk about the personal, about politics, but they are willing to chat about the culture of their country, wines. Don't forget to say hello One has only to go to any public place and you will understand that Hungarians are friendly and benevolent people. They say hello here everywhere and everything, even if you are unfamiliar. It looks unusual when you enter a coffee shop for the first time, and you are greeted not only by the staff of the establishment, but also by the locals who come to have breakfast. It brings a smile and leaves a good impression of them.
And in Hungary, family, traditions and way of life are highly valued. If you decide to build a business together with a Hungarian, keep in mind that for all their slowness in solving cases, they will not spend their personal time on work, clearly separating working hours and leisure time. Any Hungarian would prefer to devote his time to children as soon as the opportunity arises, and at that moment he is unlikely to be worried about even the most urgent business matters.
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Keep in mind: in Hungary, at the entrance to a store, cafe, museum, theater, it is customary to say hello and goodbye. Therefore, I recommend stocking up with a pocket phrasebook for the duration of the trip. Although almost all the staff speaks English, and the older generation speaks Russian.

| Artur MEKHTIEV,. | Photo from open Internet sources.

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