Hungarian Rhapsody
Culture, Travel  By KATHRYN BRANCH| September 20, 2011, 6:26 pm
Original article HERE
Photo by Monika Höfler
A rich film tradition and low production costs have long brought stars to Budapest, among them Jeremy Irons, 63, pictured here on the shores of the Danube River. Irons made “Nijinski,” his first movie in the capital, in 1980, and returned to make “M. Butterfly,” “Being Julia” and Showtime’s “The Borgias.” When not on set, Irons explores the city’s “wonderful crumbling faded beauty” on his motorcycle. “It’s very hard to find the soul of a city,” he says, but he suggests starting at the Dohany Street Synagogue (011-36-1-413-5500), the Hungarian State Opera (right; opera.hu) and the Western Railway Station (Terez korut at Nyugati ter), designed by the Eiffel Company of Paris. Irons also recommends Cafe Kor (011-36-1-311-0053; cafekor.com), Pomo D’Oro (011-36-1-302-6473; pomodorobudapest.com) and Nobu (noburestaurants.com/budapest), inside the Kempinski Hotel (011-36-1-429-3777; kempinski.com), where he usually stays.
