A Trip to Europe

My husband and I just got back a couple of days ago from a short trip to Europe. We had an absolutely incredible time — travel really does inspire and lift your spirits!)) I just have to share all this beauty, and there's even some culinary content at the end of the post!))

We visited Budapest — what a stunning city! The architecture is incredible, the bridges are magnificent! Here's the view of the city from Gellért Hill.

And here's the main pedestrian street with a view of St. Stephen's Basilica. We climbed all the way to the top of the basilica — the views were breathtaking!

The Hungarian Parliament Building — an absolutely gorgeous structure!

We stopped in Bratislava for just a couple of hours and managed to see the old town.

Then we headed to Vienna, Austria — all these cities are conveniently close to one another. Here's the main cathedral in Gothic style.

We checked out the famous Hundertwasser House.

And also a huge number of palaces, parks, museums, and so on — too many to list!))

We also made it to the famous Vienna Opera House.

We listened to a Mozart concert. The sound quality was incredible and the atmosphere was absolutely magical!

And of course — ta-da! As a food blogger, I simply had to visit the legendary Café Sacher at the hotel of the same name, where they serve the original version of the most famous cake in the world (at least, that's what Wikipedia says)).

The cake is called Sachertorte, or "Zakher" in Russian transliteration.

There was a line of about 15–20 people in front of the café, so touching this legend required a bit of a wait. We got lucky though — we only needed a table for two, and one opened up pretty quickly, so we only waited about 7 minutes.

Here I am studying the menu — though it's pretty obvious what I was going to order!))

Our order. My husband went with the classic apple strudel. A small glass of water is traditionally served alongside the coffee — and by the way, the coffee was absolutely delicious, even though I'm not its biggest fan.

Me in happy anticipation!))

The cake turned out to be delicious, though my own Sachertorte recipe is every bit as good!)) My version is a little more moist and rich — the original is slightly "drier," or rather more crumbly in texture, though overall they're really quite similar. The same layer of apricot jam inside, the exterior coated in chocolate with the signature medal on top, and a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream on the side for contrast. The strudel, on the other hand, didn't particularly impress me — tasty, but a bit too soggy for my taste.

A closer look at the Sacher cake — the Sachertorte itself.

The café itself is beautiful and full of atmosphere — it breathes the spirit of history and romance!

And of course, history!