By Michele Goncalves

I am currently in Budapest on a business trip, and despite having been here two years ago, this trip is different and better. Why, you may ask? It is bet-ter because the timing of my visit coincides with

many different events and festivals taking place. This has allowed me to appreciate this enchanting city from a whole new perspective.

For instance, the first weekend of our arrival there happened to be a huge wine festival that was held on the grounds of the former royal pal-ace. Many impressive vendors offering sam-ples attended, making the whole scene very chic and elegant. It also allowed me to learn that Hungary has a fairly large wine region located near the lovely Lake Balaton (about two hours away), which I understand is well worth a visit.

As for my second weekend, the town was buzzing with so many different things going on it was hard to decide what to do! There was a chocolate festival in one of the parks on the outskirts of town, a national horse racing event at Hero’s Square, opening night at the opera house, and a huge street fair stretching several miles where pedestrians take over the streets to celebrate “Auto Free” day in the European Union.

My colleague and I walked all across the city to par-take in every one of these events. Besides getting incred-ible exercise, we were also able to explore parts of the city we had never been to before. It was just wonderful. Not to mention, there was a vibe and air of excitement going on in the city that was contagious and added to the joy of the whole experience.

After seeing the dramatic difference festivals can make to a city’s personality and spirit, I am going to make it a point in the future to do a bit of research online to find out about festivals and events before finalising vaca-tion plans. I would highly recommend you consider doing the same if you have any flexibility in the timing of your trip. It could really make your next adventure even more special.

As always, I wish you all the happiest of travels!

Timing your travels around a festival can make an old destination even more interesting and special.

Discover Prague’s Art

Joerg Koch/getty Images

Festival Fun

By Shing Lin Yoong The Culture Map

Cobbled streets leading to bridges and castles, and marvellous baroque architecture easily

makes this capital city one of the most romantic cities in Europe.

Along with my friend Harriet, we checked into our very lovely hotel, the Lindner Prague Castle, which is without surprise, very near to Prague Castle. You can wander freely through the streets, courtyard

and gardens of the castle and watch the changing of the guards, but if you wish to go inside there is a fee of CZK 250 or 350 (S$7.30 or S$10.20), depending on how many buildings or places you want to visit inside. Inside the courtyard lies St. Vitus Cathedral, a magnificent feast of Gothic architecture that displays some of the finest examples of stained glass windows.

If you love art, Prague is a per-fect place to discover it. Although difficult to compete with its Euro-pean counterparts—London, Paris and Berlin, it is still a leading cap-

ital for art, especially by drawing attention to lesser known artists in the Artbanka Museum of Young Art. For bigger names head to the National Gallery to view work by the glorious Gustav Klimt and his protégé Egon Shiele.

For literary lovers, Prague is syn-onymous with Franz Kafka, the mind behind such novels ‘The Cas-tle’ and ‘The Trial’ and perhaps the most famous novella ever writ-ten ‘The Metamorphosis’. If you haven’t read the latter, the open-ing line will beg you to read fur-ther: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect”. Amaz-ing isn’t it?! His city of birth pays homage to him through the Franz Kafka Museum, there you will learn about his life, and have access to his letters, diaries, photographs.

From any direction, with it’s col-ourful buildings painted in shades of blue, pink, green and yellow pas-tel and highly detailed structures, you are certain to find beauty on any corner. Prague is a city for the romantics.

Website: www.theculturemap.com

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Epoch Times.St. Vitus Cathedral, located in the Prague Castle premises, is a feast of Gothic architecture.

The scenic Old Town Square of Prague, with the Jan Hus Memorial in the background. The square features various architectural styles including the Gothic Týn Church and Baroque St. Nicholas Church.

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Timing your travels around a festival can significantly shape your experience.

food & travelEpoch TimEs july 4 – 17, 2014 31

The ConsummaTe Traveller