Blogs from Northern Great Plain, Hungary, Europe

Language is always challenging but especially in Budapest where I know a meager 3 words: jo napot kívánok (good day/hello), köszönöm (thank you), and szia (hi & bye). Back in 2000 during my first visit here, I could have sworn that non-English speakers here were saying "hello" upon meeting and leaving, like szia. I was always saying "hello" and "see ya," the latter exactly how to unknowingly pronounce szia. Fast forward 18 years. While Budapest has gotten a lot schwankier, the local usage of hello to mean goodbye to English speaking foreigners has not changed. I re-discovered this yesterday just before my very short hike to Kékestető, Hungary's highest peak @ 1014 m ASL (3326') about 100 kms northeast of Budapest. I didn't want to take the bus all the way to the top so I ... read more

Dag 1 -Rondreis Roemenië -dinsdag 28/8/2018 – Samenkomst in Debrecen (H). Etappe 3 van de individuele trip naar de plaats van samenkomst in Debrecen (250km van Budapest). Onderweg prachtige autostrates (waarschijnlijk dankzij sponsorgeld van de EU) tot bijna in Debrecen, vlakbij de Roemeense grens. Eens daar van af, secudaire weg in slechte staat. Landschap onderweg, zo plat als een pannekoek, bestaat hoofdzakelijk uit bruingedroogde mais- en dito zonnebloemvelden. Moest het land niet bewerkt zijn, zou men kunnen denken dat het onbewoond gebied is. Geen dorpen of huizen te bespeuren langs die autobahnen. Wel voorzien van nieuwe parkings en tankstations. De diesel is hier ook al duurder dan de super. Toch milieu bewust of brengt het geld op ? We staan hier op een camping in een bos. De installaties zijn uitgeleefd en/of kapot. Gelukkig zijn we ... read more

A Rickl-kúriaÚtban Hajdúszoboszló felé megálltunk Nagyhegyesen. Dr. Virág Zsolt Kastélylexikona, Hajdú-Bihar megye kastélyai és kúriái kötete alapján leltünk a Rickl-kúriára. Igaz, nem a könyvünk szerinti címen, a József Attila utca végén, mert annak egyik végződése sem tartalmazta úti célunkat. A kúria a fő utca (Kossuth utca) melletti rendezett park, kis erdei sétány végén található. Felújítva, igazán csinosan, parkosított kiserdővel körülvéve. ... read more

Darcy and I suck at traveling together. We always get these great ideas and then we assume that the person who has the idea knows what's going on. This is why we missed our bus to Serbia, and had an interesting time getting to Debrecen this weekend. Background: Debrecen is the second biggest city in Hungary. It's also home to a really big university. It's near the Romanian border, about a 3 hour train ride from Budapest. A few people from CETP live in/near Debrecen, so Darcy and I decided to visit them. It sounds easy. Go to the train station. Buy a ticket to Debrecen. Get on the train. Get off at Debrecen. On the way home repeat but for Budapest. Then you have to remember that it's Darcy and me doing this, so naturally ... read more

Arriving at the border, we were bothered for our passports while on the platform (so, Romania hasn't quite got the hang of being in the EU yet, then) and shepherded onto an "overgrown bus, meet shed" style osobáček which took us to Debrecen. Jitka's correspondance with her friends in Liberec revealed that while we were running away from storms in the deep south, the Czech Republic was suffering from a rather epic heatwave - something we had now caught up with here. We decided that since the temperature had skyrocketed so much, for our two nights in Hungary, we should sleep outside and seek places with lakes and rivers. The first thing we needed to do was go and get a sleeping bag for me, which I needed. This was all we saw of Debrecen, the ... read more