Gunga- Sweet Szentendre ( St. Andrew)

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Well, I'm laughing because I can't find the town I'm writing about so I just picked one that began with the same letter. Clueless.

On our last day in Hungary we took a bus trip to the 1,000+ year old village of Szentendre. It was pleasant to drive a couple of hours outside Budapest to see the countryside. It is mostly flat farmland with no remarkable topographical features- read that as pretty 'ho-hum'.

The village is trying desperately to attract tourists. I would say from the number of tour buses and various languages we heard that they are succeeding. Get there early (around 9:30am) to be before most of them arrive. The village has been pretty much untouched by 'urban renewal' or renewal of any kind except for some paint jobs so the architecture is authentic. While there were some larger stone edifices, sort of junior castles up one hillside, several turned out to be part of a monestery and pretty much off limits. Most of the shops were in older wooden style houses. The streets are all paved with cobblestones. I urge anyone thinking of a visit there to wear sturdy shoes with hard rubber soles and a lot of firm support.

In the main square there was a lot of noisy construction going on. Thankfully, they were replacing cobblestones with, yep, new cobblestones not paving the square with ugly, black hot top. Shops varied from pure kitcsh, to delicate hand made lace tablecloths, to hand knit sweaters, to wooden boxes carved right there, to glassware, to beautiful ceramics. There is a small museum devoted to Margit Kovacs, a highly praised 20th century ceramicist.

Our guide, Mircea, has told us that Szentendre was also famous for two things: its ice cream, and its pastry shops especially the delicious Dobos Torta.

Val and I walked through the town looking to our left and then to our right. We headed for a shop as far away from the street repavers as possible. We found a delightful bakery that had a few tables and chairs outdoors. Those of you who have followed our travels KNOW that we like to sit and observe local culture. It is even better when one can drink strong coffee (Val) or eat a yummy treat (me). We found a wonderful bakery and settled down to do some 'cultural studying' - or as someone onced described me as being a 'human geographer'. What made this spot good was that it was quiet, on a shaded street, and away from the beaten tourist path. What made it great was that it was next door to an ice cream shop. No, we didn't have two treats. We did get to have the fun of watching school class after class lining up to get a cone. It must have been the last day of school and each child was getting a treat. First, it was the little ones all fidgety and giggling. Then the 3-5 the graders, all self- conscious, with boys poking each other and girls chatting non stop. Next came the older kids, many as tall as the teachers, crowding in a bunch being much too 'cool' to stand in a line. The boys, talking loudly, were all elbows and sneaker shod feet wearing t-shirts with pictures of rock stars- some written in English but some in Hungarian. The girls were in short skirts with leggings and wildly colored tops, whispering to each other and sneaking furtive glances at the boys. Each walked away licking a large cone which brought the chattering pretty much to a halt. It was wonderful to see the same joy that all kids have eating an ice cream cone especially on the last day of school. It was fun to see the creative outfits that the kids wore many with pictures of rock stars as disparate as Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, and Beyonce. I'm sure those 'stars' have no idea they have a loyal following in Szentendre. The power of You Tube or the Internet should never be underestimated.

Our ride back was uneventful and the boring chore of packing was what awaited us. We tried to conjure up something a bit dressier to wear for the 'Captain's Dinner' but, alas, it is not our style to bring a lot of bling or to go glitzy. We don't dress to impress. After 10 days of traveling we were just happy to have something clean ;-) The dinner was fabulous. All the dinners were great but this was over the top. Without all the elaboration I will list the courses: Cold appetizer- Smoked salmon with caviar; hot appetizer- Tortelli pasta filed with Porcini mushrooms in white truffle cream; Sherbet- Lemon; Entrees- Filet Mignon or Spinach feta cheese tart; Dessert- Baked Alaska on parade with whipped cream. raspbery sauce AND hot chocolate sauce; Coffee served with chocolates and Petit Fours. Really, it's a wonder the boat didn't sink after 10 days of meals like this! After dinner the Captain treated us to a short boat ride on the Danube. The moon was full and all the fantastically beautiful buildings were lit making them as elegant as an actress decked out for the red carpet. We rode under the Chain bridge and several other bridges and they, too, were all lit up. It was a wonderul ending to a beautiful cruise experience.

Next, on the bus for a 10 hour trek through Slovakia and on to Czech Republic and beautiful Prague.

Carolyn/ Gunga

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