Today we traveled to Szeged which is located about 17 kilometers from Serbia in southern Hungary. It is famous for its collection of Art Nouveau buildings which is a style we enjoy. When I punched Szeged in google it told me it was about 120 kilometers from Lake Balaton so I figured no more than 2 hours to get there.
The bridge next to our campground to downtown Szeged.
But apparently all roads in Hungary radiate from Budapest because when I punched in directions the distance from Lake Balaton to Szeged jumped to over 300 kilometers and three and a half hours. The route had us doubling back to the outskirts of Budapest swinging east and then heading south to Szeged. The direct route while almost 100 kilometers shorter google said would take almost 1 hour longer than going thru Budapest. In the end it was a fairly easy drive thru the first rain we have experienced in over three weeks.
This giant communist era waterside looms over the campground.
The campground in Szeged is from the communist era, and all of the infrastructure has a strange almost right feeling. You can see where they attempted to copy what was going on in the west, but didn’t quite get it right. The place is sprawling with two giant pools, the 7 or 8 story waterside with what looks like an air traffic control tower on top, and a bunch of concrete buildings spread around seemingly randomly, some of which are of mysterious purpose today. We enjoyed walking around. But the view of the river is nice, and the town is nearby so it fits our purpose completely.
We have shifted to Lake Balaton which is the largest lake in central Europe. The drive down had us passing thru Budapest. Apparently Budapest does not have a ring road as google had us pass thru the center of the city on pretty major roads, but it was 45 minutes of urban driving that had me on my toes.
After 45 minutes of hectic urban driving we ended up in a nice rural environment.
We arrived at a very large campsite next to the lake. Lake Balaton has about 120 miles of shoreline. During the communist era when average Hungarians could not travel Lake Balaton was the center of Hungarian tourism. It is still popular, but a lot of the spaces set up to handle the masses of Hungarians in the past are now being converted to luxury resorts, which has not gone down well with the average Hungarian.
Tihany has a ill fated lovers story that this statue represents.
We are on the northern side of the lake which is a long time wine region since the Romans arrived. We saw the vineyards coming in, but didn’t stop for wine.
In addition to wine the area is also famous for Lavender production.
After settling down we decided to head to the small town of Tihany on a promontory above the lake. The center fo the town is the abbey which was founded in 1050.
The abbey goes back to 1050.
It is a cute little town that exudes high end tourism. The prices of beer and wine sent me into shock. But the views and the cute stores kept us occupied until we saw some dark skies gathering. We debated having a drink, but the prices were too much for me, and the skies were threatening so we headed back to François and opened our best bottle of wine from Slovakia.
Cute lavender shop.
Our campground is the home to a very large population of crows. The tree above the campsite we are in is home to 10 or 15 crows which has Ton a little concerned. She asked me why so many crows were living in our tree, I told her that the crows were here first and we are in their space. She then said-well I hope they don’t poop all over François, which is a sentiment I can only agree with.
There were quite a few buildings with these cool thatch roofs.
Today we shifted to a suburb of Budapest. It was one of our shortest drives ever at 29 kilometers so we took our time getting ready- to avoid rush hour in Budapest. Ton was looking for an opportunity to do some grocery shopping so luckily just as we entered Szentendre we saw a Lidl. 45 minutes later and 21,000 Forints poorer we were on our way to the campground.
Near the center of Szentendre.
Despite our late start and shopping stop we still arrived at the campground well before noon. Szentendre is known for its porcelain, and as a bit of an artists town. While it is decent sized, Ton told me it was a three hour town. So we decided to take it easy for a while before heading into the town about 3 pm.
Definitely going for an artists vibe.
While it has always been Hungarian for a 200 year period it was the center of the Serbian minority in Hungary. A lot of the local heroes are Serbian, and a lot of the street signs are in Hungarian and Serbian.
A little alley Google sent us down.
It was a cute town with a lot of interesting shops. We were enjoying just wandering without a plan. The porcelain museum we wanted to visit was closed, but there was a lot to look at. It is on the day trip list from Budapest so there were quite a few other tourists also poking around in the shops.
The town had a nice quiet vibe to it.
As we were walking up one of the nicer streets we were suddenly confronted by a man and a women in leather vests, black pants, with copious tatoos and piercings who blocked our way and hit us with a blast of Hungarian. I shook my head at them and tried to move on, but they blocked our way again and hit us with a louder blast of Hungarian. Now I was annoyed, but I saw a bunch of equipment and I could see just around the curve a bunch of people dressed in WWII clothing and a truck from that era. I looked at Ton and said, oh this is a movie set. Then the two intimidating people smiled, and apologized in English saying that they thought I was Hungarian (I take that as a complement)but the set was live so we couldn’t go on.
Some of the vintage vehicles for the movie, notice the German SS plates on the vehicle in front.
Later we wandered by the set again, and they were done shooting. Our two leather clad guards saw us and waived us up to take a look. They had converted that part of town to a French village from WWII. We think the film is French as a lot of the crew were speaking French.
France 1944.
We were wandering down another street in parallel with a guy with a beautiful and frisky golden retriever. After a few minutes of sharing the road, he looked over and asked where we were from. We replied the US and he asked what state. When we said Oregon he said Portland? It turned out he was a Hungarian-American who had moved back to Hungary when he retired.
The center square.
We spent about 20 minutes talking to him about the US, Hungary, and traveling in Europe. He was particularly interested in our impressions of Romania, as he said there is a large Hungarian minority in the country. He gave us a couple of ideas about places to visit on the rest of our visit here.
A branch of the Danube in front of Szentendre.
In the end Ton was right it was a three hour visit. But it was a beautiful town, we saw a movie being made, and met an interesting American expat. Another good day in Hungary.
We had a long lay around in our nice hotel room, so we did not get going until almost noon. I woke up at dawn and looked out the window and the Danube was like a mirror, and the white marble on the palace across the river was glowing orange in the sunrise. A memorable way to start a day.
The view from our hotel room this morning.
Ton wanted to visit the market as she wanted to pick up some spices for our use, and also to bring home as gifts. A short ride on our “home” tram no 23 deposited us at the market. It was slightly less crowded than the other day, but still very busy.
The interior of the market, busy but not teeming.
We picked up our spices, and then Ton headed over to a butchers counter where we looked at some cuts of meat that we found interesting. We were pointing and kind of speculating about things when a nice Hungarian lady volunteered as our guide and translator. She and the guy running the stand spent a lot of time explaining things, asking about our tastes and based on that making recommendations. It was a fun and we owe her a lot of thanks for taking the time to help us. We now have some interesting meals to look forward to.
The egg guy at the market.
As we were passing by the restaurant stalls we saw a sandwich that looked intriguing. It was a massive thing made from Langos bread, with lettuce, tomato, onion, three kinds of cheese, salami, pepperoni, bacon crackling, and jalapenos. It is not something to tackle lightly, but we were up for it.
Our sandwich being prepared. Nutella was for another dish not ours.
The completed sandwich was immense and while we gave it our best shot we did not even make a dent in it. It was delicious and Ton declared it the best meal we had in Budapest. We took most of the sandwich home to François and it will make two more meals before we are done with it.
Our completed sandwich.
Stuffed, we headed back to François for the afternoon and chatted with our Dutch neighbors. For the first time on the trip François was actually hot and we opened up all fo the windows. But as soon as the sun set it cooled down fast so we should have a nice sleep.
We were anticipating our overnight excursion into Budapest. Ton packed a small bag with the stuff we would need and we were off to our hotel in town around 10 am. Our plan was to drop our bag off at the hotel and head out on a walk. We were really pleased when we checked in that they assigned us our room on the spot, so we got a few extra hours in the hotel.
These little paddle boats are the coolest of the many river excursions offered in Budapest.
Instead of setting out right away we enjoyed a few hours of relaxation before heading out for a late lunch/early dinner around 2:30. Ton had found a Transylvanian restaurant she wanted to try so we decided to make a day of it by strolling there.
River cruise boats rafted up on the banks of the Danube.
Transylvania was Hungarian for hundreds of years, and to most Americans is associated with Hungary because the Hungarian born Bella Lagozy played Dracula in the original movies. During the period it belonged to Hungary the region was settled mostly by Germans just to add to the mix of nationalities. After WWI most of the region was given to Romania and it remains Romanian today. When we traveled to Romania a few years ago we spent quite a bit of time in Transylvania and it is beautiful country. Another region with fascinating history. The food was good; though in the end we ordered Hungarian not Transylvanian food.
Our funnel cake desert.
As we have been walking the streets we keep seeing shops doing booming business selling a confection called funnel cake. Ton did a little research on them and found the Hungarians held them in some disdain calling them “Tourist Cakes” or “Tourist Traps”. But they did look good so we sampled one, think of a churro with ice cream. One is enough.
The Liberty Bridge.
Since we have arrived I have been fascinated with how the Danube influences the city. We both wanted to try a night time river cruise. We choose one of the longer ones that started just before sunset and lasted until after sunset.
Buda castle lit up from the river.
The river cruise covered the whole city in about 2 hours and since both sides of the river are beautiful it was nice to be able to look at the Buda bank going one way and the Pest bank going the other. As I said it seems every architect in Budapest designs their building to present its best side to the Danube. It really pays off on the river cruise.
The Pest Bank.
The views are essentially the same as you see from the River Bank, but of course being on a boat adds some charm. The best thing is it would take 2 hours of hard walking to cover the same distance that we did from a nice seat enjoying the view the whole time.
The palace.
As the trip ended I convinced Ton to walk down to the Parliament building to take some more pictures. When we passed on the boat the lights weren’t on yet. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed our evening stroll.
The Parliament building from the river bank.
When we returned to the hotel we decided to have a glass of wine to toast our evening. It was a great way to end a night enjoying one of the worlds beautiful cities.
On our second day in Budapest we really took advantage of our transit pass to see a large swath of the city. The day began with us taking the #23 tram in front of the campground to the parliament building. I was pleased that the tram ran all of the way to the parliament in fact for most of the trip it ran parallel to the river.
The #23 tram in front of the parliament building.
At one point a tour got onto the tram and we learned that the #23 tram was once voted one of the most beautiful tram rides in the world. We jumped off at the massive parliament building and began our day.
The parliament from across the Danube.
The building is one of the landmarks of Budapest and is the largest parliament building in the world. The interior is as beautiful but all of the tours for the building were sold out for the period we are here so we will have to settle for the slide show we watched in the visitors center.
The parliament from the river side.
We walked along the river and it is one of the most beautiful river fronts I have seen. As I said yesterday I am completely impressed with how all of the major buildings in the city seem to present their best side to the Danube. It not only makes for a beautiful skyline but allows you to appreciate the buildings from multiple angles as you walk along both banks of the river.
The Buda side of the river highlighting the castle.
Further along the river we came to a beautiful but sobering tribute to the Jewish population of Budapest. Prior to WWII Budapest had a thriving Jewish population of over 400,000 people. Hungary was allied with Germany until 1944 and as an ally was able to protect the population. The Germans occupied Hungary in early 1944 fearing the Hungarians were negotiating to leave the war. After the Germans swept in they began the biggest shipment of people to concentration camps since 1942 decimating the Jews in Hungary.
The Great Synagogue of Budapest
Today there is a tribute on the banks of the river called the Shoes On the Danube Bank. In December of 1944 20,000 Jews were taken to the banks of the Danube and executed by Hungarian Fascists, they were forced to take off their shoes before being shot so that their bodies would tumble into the river, the shoes were considered too valuable to allow to be swept away . The bronze shoes lining the Danube are a tribute to the people lost in the holocaust.
The Shoes on the Danube one of the most memorable of the memorials to the holocaust we have seen.
Our next stop was heroes square. It is a large square away from the center of the city dedicated to historical heroes of Hungary. There were a lot of big statues of people you have to be Hungarian or a very well read European historian to know.
St. Stephen the only person in the group we knew anything about.
We had a lunch of goulash today that was ok but not quite what I expected. If this is good goulash, (the restaurant was very full) it appears to be a variation of beef stew and while it was fine, it was not substantially different than an American beef stew. I think I will give it one more chance before finalizing my verdict.
The crowds were still out in force on this beautiful spring day.
Ton wanted to visit the central market as she remembered it as one of the most impressive in Europe. I punched central market into google and we jumped off the tram in front of a nice building that looked like a market, but Ton looked confused. When we went inside the old market at this site had been converted into a modern supermarket. It turns out there are two buildings called central market, one on the Buda side where we were, and the famous one on the Pest side.
The good news was our detour to the wrong central market allowed us to visit this beautiful site that includes the Hungarian Lady Liberty on top of the hill.
I punched the other central market in and we had to endure another beautiful tram ride along the Danube to a steel bridge. We chose to walk across the bridge so that we could interact with the river some more.
The cruise boat dock on the river.
We arrived at the market and this one was much larger and still functioning as a market (even though there was an Aldi supermarket hidden in the basement.) Ton enjoyed looking around even though it was bursting at the seems with people.
The market is a beautiful building and can hold a lot of people.
She had a few things in mind and was particularly interested in paprika. After spending 30 minutes wandering around amongst the crowds we headed into the basement to the Aldi to get some essentials for François.
Looking down on the main floor of the market.
Our tram 23 had a stop at the market, so after getting our essentials taken care of we headed back to François for the evening.
Ton really wanted me to see Budapest. She visited about 20 years ago and it made a big impression on her, and when we talked about this trip she always referred to it as the Budapest trip. So I was looking forward to see the city that made such a big impression on her.
Great cities always seem to have a river that subtly shapes the character of the architecture.
We have been in Europe for their labor day (May 1 in Europe) and have had it influence our trips. On our very first trip we were in Paris on labor day and were going to head to the center when the desk clerk warned us we should stay in Montmartre for the day because- as he put it they would be having the annual May Day riot in the center. We spent part of our day watching live coverage of the riot on TV. As we walked around Montmartre you would have never known there was a riot going on 20 minutes away. In Poland we learned that the whole country shut down for not only labor day but the whole week as they had scheduled 2 other national holidays in the first week of May. We ended up in Kraków for 6 days as the campground owner there allowed us to stay out of pity, every campground in the country was fully booked for that week. So we were wondering what we were in for today.
St. Stephens Basilica.
The streets were quiet and the tram was pretty empty so we were optimistic when we arrived downtown. We decided to head to the Basilica as that is where we usually start our city visits. For the first 5 minutes we were on side roads and Ton said that the crowds weren’t too bad. 30 seconds later we turned onto the avenue that St. Stephens faces and we found the crowds. In addition to the normal load of tourists, there were a lot of labor day tourists from the surrounding countries, we heard a lot of Slavic languages being spoken in addition to the normal German and English you hear in every city. The campground is an indicator that this is a labor day destination for Hungary’s neighbors as we are surrounded by plates from Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia instead of the normal French, Dutch, English and German RV’s
The interior of St. Stephens is beautiful but full.
St. Stephens is a beautiful cathedral, but today it was teeming with people and tours. Ton spent a lot of time wriggling her way around groups of people to get a photo without a head in it. I spent my time on the edge of the crowds trying to enjoy the beauty while keeping an eye on Ton so I didn’t lose her.
This reliquary contains St. Stephens holy right hand. There is a sign next to it giving the history of the hand and its coming and going over time.
After St. Stephens we decided to cross the Danube on the Szechny Bridge. Once again the views were beautiful but it was a challenge to enjoy them without getting swept along with the crowds. But as I looked at the city from the bridge I began to realize how all of the major buildings in the city seemed to be drawn to the river. Many great cities have a river that shapes them but Budapest is striking because so many of the important buildings in the city compete to show their best face to the Danube.
St. Mathias Church in Buda Castle.
After the bridge we tackled the climb to Buda castle. About 80% of the way up the hill we saw a cafe and decided that we deserved a beer. In the cafe we shared our table with a Brazilian couple who we enjoyed speaking to.
The fisherman’s bastion from the front.
At Buda castle Ton really wanted to visit the fisherman’s bastion as it had really made an impression on her last visit. When she visited she remembered standing on the walls of the bastion listening to a Gypsy Band playing Hungarian music. She was so impressed with the band that she bought one of their CD’s. Now you have to pay to walk on the walls of the bastion and their were not any local musicians around. But the views are still incredible.
Part of the grounds of Buda castle.
Ton than consulted her list of places and said that she wanted to visit the area of ruined pubs. I punched it into google maps and to my surprise it provided directions to the area of ruined bars. So after a bit of a walk to a tram and a transfer to a bus we found ourselves in an ally on the edge of the old town. The ally had character and it did have a bunch of pubs though I would not call them ruined, but intentionally funky.
The exterior of our ruined pub.
We had to wait 15 minutes for our pub of choice to open, but by the time it did we had been joined by another 40 or 50 people. I’m not quite sure how to describe the pub. It is consciously outlandish and unabashedly aimed at tourists, but it is so over the top that it works and is almost charming.
The hookah room in the pub. There are probably 15 more themed rooms in the place.
We found a table and Ton immediately took off to take pictures. She came back and told me that we didn’t need to rush to get a table as the place was immense. As we were drinking our beers a steady flow of tourists wandered thru our room including at one point a guided tour.
Customers are encouraged to write on the walls.
We settled into the routine and enjoyed taking in the steady flow of people including one Canadian couple festooned with Canadian flags on their clothes and backpacks. We guessed they wanted to make sure they were not mistaken for Americans.
There are several catwalks to get you from one room to another.
As we were chatting the couple next to us leaned over and asked where I was from? They were American and had been trying to figure out my accent. It turns out they were missionaries who live in Austria helping to resettle refugees. They were on a weekend retreat away from their three teenagers and seemed to be having a great time.
This is supposed to be the most beautiful cafe in the world. It is called the New York Cafe because the building was originally owned by the New York Life Insurance Company.
We walked to the New York cafe which bills itself as the most beautiful coffee house in the world, to see if we could be tempted to overpay for coffee and a desert. Any thought ended when we saw the line of people waiting to get in. So we decided to head back to François for a much more affordable dinner.
