All Saints’ Day in Hungary: Every Grave Glows in Candlelight
It’s November 1, and instead of carving pumpkins or answering the doorbell to small vampires, Andrew and I are in Sümeg, where the hills are turning gold and the air smells faintly of woodsmoke. This weekend we’ve swapped Halloween chaos for candlelight calm....
Halloween in Hungary 2025: From Barely There to Big Deal
When Pumpkins Arrived in Budapest When Andrew and I first moved to Hungary eight years ago, Halloween barely registered on the cultural calendar. You might find a small display of plastic bats in a supermarket or a lonely pumpkin or two at the market, but that was...
Hungary Property Law Hits Balaton: New 2% Fee for Buyers
We’ve just come out of a long weekend of remembrance for the 1956 Revolution, and I ended it with something more joyful – celebrating my mother’s 80th birthday at DNB Budapest, surrounded by family and the kind of food that makes you grateful to live here. The...
EU Entry/Exit System Hungary 2025: From Stamps to Scans
Sunday Morning: New Borders, Familiar Confusion It’s Sunday morning, and the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) officially begins. I just came back from Rome yesterday, and even there, you couldn’t miss it – posters, screens, and warnings everywhere across Europe....
I’m Anikó Woods, a Canadian-Hungarian who’s been knee-deep in life here since 2017 - bureaucracy, culture, and everything in between.