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And if you’re on the lookout for something new this time of year here’s a stack of Christmas Chimney Cake crackers.

Now our chums at Cassidy Travel know Hungary isn’t just for Christmas and they’re the gift that keeps on giving.

With their last-minute Christmas Gift city break to the city by the Danube the answer for those scrambling for presents.

And a two-night package on February 16 and staying at the 4* Royal Park Boutique Hotel.

With the stay and flights from Dublin coming in at a festive fun price of from €135pps.

And you’ll be located in Budapest city centre with the St. Stephen’s Basilica.

And its parliament on the shores of the Danube only five metro rides away.

Let us eat cakes

But make sure that you validate your ticket so you don’t get stung for an on-spot fee.

Which will kill your vibe after your pampering at the outdoor baths.

And goulash and Chimney Cake at the Great Market Hall.

Now your Chimney Cake if you’ve never been to Hungary (and you should) is a moreish pastry that everyone eats in cafes and we daresay at home.

Kürtőskalács as its called in the Magyars’ famously difficult language is, we’re told, easy to make.

Working it off: Hungarian open-air baths

And a special touch is to use empty beer cans wrapped in kitchen foil to wrap the cake around.

And then roll it in cinnamon sugar for a caramelised coating.

We can trust you, of course, to empty the beer cans responsibly and that you’ll try to make them Saproni or Dreher.

Now we’ve shamelessly sifted the Best of Hungary site for the recipe.

Chimney cake is smokin’

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix with the salt. Heat the milk until lukewarm, add the sugar and yeast, then cover and let it rise for 8-12 minutes.

Add the yeast mixture, egg, and melted butter to the flour and knead it into a flexible dough. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 1 hour until the dough doubles in size.

Place the rested dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to the thickness of your finger. Cut it lengthwise into 2 cm wide strips.

Sprinkle your fairy dust: On your Chimney Cake

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Wrap the empty beer can in kitchen foil and grease the foil using some oil. Take a strip of dough and roll it tightly onto the greased can. Brush the dough with oil then roll it in cinnamon sugar.

Place the chimney cake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

We’re sure Santy will thank you after he slides down the sooty chimney to find the Chimney cake laid out for him at the bottom.

Four days spent in the heart of Hungary on our loveholidays and InterContinental Hotel fact-finding mission and the verdict… Budapest you’ll be the ruin of me.

We are back where we started our first night, Szimpla Kert ruin bar, and if the mood tonight is yoga mat sleepy then so are we.

On account of our red eye back to Edinburgh.

Szimpla Kert is the granddaddy of romkocsmas, or ‘simple gardens’.

Repurposed shabby chic spaces and cellars rescued after the Cold War.

Alley cats

Szimpla is more of an alleyway of social life and interaction.

Bars, concert spaces, eateries, art spaces, a library, a farmers and bicycle flea market.

Although on quieter days at the start of the week, its core business, the serving of drinks, does demand patience of a tourist.

Which means my little wine drinker is directed to The Wine Bar snug because none of the other dozen bars sell rosé.

A sign above the bar reads ‘Back in ten minutes’ which we learn is a ‘Hungarian ten minutes’, akin to Caribbean island time.

Not that we’d deny the barkeeps their quiet time seeing first hand the throngs who pass through on weekend nights.

When we catch an ambient singer and a standards foot-stomper banging out Adele and Florence Welch on International Women’s Day.

The hideaways

For first-timers of whom we count ourselves in the number the search for new adopted Hungarian beers stretches beyond Szimpla.

To a ruin bar whose front challengingly is described as being hidden behind foliage.

Now if your billet is on the Danube front you’ll be asked to build up a thirst with a half-hour walk to Potkulcs.

But to make your time work for you perhaps visit the House of Terror, the fascists and communists’ torture hub, on your way.

On a balmy night you may want to sup your Soproni IPA which comes in cheaper than the Szimpla hot spot.

But we’d recommend you to enjoy the interior and the clutter of artefacts and graffiti art inside… and the local characters.

You snooze you loos

For a ruin bar meets Paris cafe culture and it is a cafe serving breakfasts or brunches by day, we follow the Danube.

Left of our InterCon hotel. and hang another left to the Csendes Letterem.

Where we nibble on olives and tortilla chips and fill our bellies and bladders before, of course, nature calls.

Now it is part of the adventure and the mischief of ruin bar owners to funk up their loo doors and interiors.

And the Csendes Letterem proudly boasts of its success in stumping customers who end up asking where the rest rooms are?

And of course it doesn’t take much to dupe me but I’m game.

Even if Budapest you’ll be the ruin of me.

Meet you on the ut

No place like foam: Three fingers of foam

We’ve been spending four days in the Hungarian capital with loveholidays, staying in the Danube front InterContinental (£1,099 for two).

I’ve been keeping you updated between goulash, Soproni IPA, hot chocolate and Chimney Cake, history and baths on our progress.

And I’ll put it all together in a review when I shake off the red eye but meantime.

MEET YOU ON THE UT

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A stack of Christmas Chimney Cake crackers