Travel Russia Today

When in Budapest, a great place to visit (and shop – which I love!) is just a 30-minute drive from the city center: the town of Szentendre, where many artists work and live. The town is adorable, and there is a ton of interesting stuff to see and do there.

One of the most interesting things about shopping in Szentendre is that many times you can buy straight from the artist. So as I was strolling around (I was looking to buy a purse), I happen to see an artist carving a box that would be for sale later. Fascinated by how easy that was for him, I went into his shop to check out some of his work.

He had a lot of interesting wood work. Some of it was his, some were not. I had already selected some of his work to buy when I caught myself eyeing this very cute Christmas-themed music box. As I debated whether to buy it or not (the box was not his personal work), the artist offered to carve whatever I wanted on the box. I just loved the idea, and had him carve my name, my husband’s name, the town name and the year. It took him no longer than a minute to do it (I barely had time to take a picture!).

And before I knew it, I had such a personal Christmas box! Oh, and by the way, I also ended up finding a great purse!