PECS - BUDAPEST

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Its times like these I wish I was Tasmanian. That way I could give Hungary 4 thumbs up rather than my stock standard 2. (it's a joke Taswegians).
From the border crossing onwards, Hungary has been a joy. For starters, better roads with rational drivers to boot.
The people - my previous exposure to the Magyars was limited to Aussie Joe Bugner (Hungarian Joe Boojnay in this corner of the world) but he seemed like a pretty decent bloke so confidence was high and they didn't disappoint. The Hungarians from our encounters were generally everything a struggling tourist could hope for. Easy to smile and willing to help even though very little English is spoken. In fact German is the preferred second language outside Budapest. This is understandable given its location and some sketchy historical events that won't be mentioned. (Tell em Mauler, THEY STARTED IT!)
Under pressure I was surprised how many German words came flooding back from 3 years school German over 35 years ago. Regretfully, the need for a "da ist Lumpy" never arose.
Obviously neither of us have ever studied Magyar and its probably just as well given the complicated nature of the phonetics.
"Excuse me sir, Pecs."
"Pecs?"
"Is this the road to Pecs?"
"Huh?"
"Pecs, Pecs. Like the sandwich spread."
"Huh?" (with the compulsory Hungarian smile).
So showing the nice man the word Pecs on our map.
"AAAAAh. Paitch."
We didnt bother asking for directions to Torokszentmiklos, just pointed to the name on the map again.
The money - following in the line of: Kuna, Lei, Convertable Marc, Leke and the Leve, Hungary dished up the Forint. All these currencies were commencing to get a might confusing but I have developed a process to determine roughly how much we should withdraw from an ATM on arrival. Now follow closely. You go by the price of a litre of diesel advertised at a garage and convert that to euro working on the standard value of roughly 1 euro per litre. Sounds easy. Abracadabra, some quick gozintas, and bingo.
"Ok Penny, draw out 5000 Forint."
"That sounds an awful lot."
"Trust me, maths was my strong subject."
"I hope it doesnt give it all to us in large denominations."
"Here it comes. What?" 1 x 5000 note.
So with each transaction costing 4 dollars in fees, I just withdrew about 28 cents. (It was actually a little more than that but for dramatic effect.....)
Some more cipherin and we withdrew a more realistic amount, at the cost of another fee of course.
The food - anything would be an improvement on Romanian "traditional cuisine", so how could I resist the wild boar gnocchi? Did it taste like chicken? Not even remotely. I guess it tasted like wild boar which is pretty darn good in a gamey sort of way. The owner assured it had been freshly shot that day which explained the slight hint of lead in the gwavy.
Five lousy days. Again, nowhere near enough, but with time so tight, those 5 lousy days allowed us only a couple of ports of call.
Pecs, previously mentioned, is in the deep south of Hungary and is competitive with any other European city in terms of character, architecture, monuments ya da ya da ya..... It's also surrounded by a myriad of beautiful Hungarian villages with their requisite church steeple poking out of the centre. There's an obvious civic pride in this area that we found a little lacking in a couple of other Eastern European towns.
Of course Budapest was port no.2. On one hand there is Hungary and on the other is Budapest.
I'll get the negatives out of the way first:
. the people are generally not as obliging as the rural areas.
. it's a lot more pricey.
. the Blue? Danube. Strauss was either colour blind or fanciful when he penned that number.
Other than that, Budapest is magnificent. A Yeatesy must see on any European itinerary.
Whilst in Budapest, 1 must do and 1 must not do:
Must do - The Terror House. Along the lines of The Killing Fields and S21 in Cambodia, this museum is housed in the old HQ of the AVH secret police and chronicles the tough times of Hungary's rank and file during Nazi and Soviet occupation/rule.
Must NOT do - Thermal baths. A so called "essential Budapest experience". Maybe it's essential because it gives you the flip side of an otherwise wonderful city. A complex where employment requires a pre-requisite of downright rudeness. A complex devoid of information - perhaps the employees get off on watching perplexed tourists wandering around bumping into each other asking the same questions. A complex that gave me a minor eye infection. A complex that has an ALL inclusive over the top price that DOESN'T include (as you find out later) the change rooms, sauna, spa, towels... It does include the pool but that's about it. A complex I would't recommend.
The whinging complete, we still leave Hungary with a smile and point north towards the land of Domonic Hrbarty.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the Gabor sisters. Sorry Zsa Zsa.
Yeatesey

Cars are responding to road rules, food looks edible and the supermarket shelves are stocked with fresh produce and more than one variety - Mmmm we must be in a new country!
Hungary has been a welcome stop (apart from our shared, double shower without shower screen shower and no toilet paper toilet).
Our first stop was Pecs. We cross the border without a hiccup, with pleasant custom officials and navigate without incident direct to the door of our hostel / restaurant - not bad (or am I just patting myself on the back in anticipation of possible future navigational failures!) Pecs is a town surrounded by acres of sunflower fields, corn crops and a variety of other healthy looking crops. The highway has no litter or untidy scrub -it is a pleasant drive wherever you go. The actual town of Pecs is charming, tidy and ressembles many a French town we have visited including a great patissiere we discovered. There was not a lot of english spoken, but the locals are very welcoming, and between Gary's not bad rusty school boy German and our sign language we manage to order food, the biggest, coldest glass of beer man has ever seen and drink in the atmosphere.
Police escorts away, I am back at the navigators realm, we roll into Budapest, on a weekday, peak hour traffic, and I deliver Pepe and us to the door of our hostel. I am doing just fine without Tomtom. Maybe the Hungarian, really well posted, english signs are helping just a tad.
Before arriving to Budapest I was not sure what to expect after Bucharest. Well I am happy to report, Budapest is NO Bucharest, thank goodness. It is a large, well maintained (since Soviet occupation) attractive city. In fact I would go so far as to say a beautiful city. Buda on one side of the Danube and Pest on the other, both are good value. So what do you do when in Budapest? Well high on our priority list was a Hungarian themal bath. There are a number of them here in Budapest, and the photos and promotional items make them look fabulous - an absulute must!! So Gary and I pack our costumes and head to the largest and most popular of the thermal baths "Geller". We have no idea what to expect, but want to make sure we can take a few photos. Well how would I describe our experience at the thermal bath!. Firstly, I lost my Grecian tan (probably as I have not had a bath since leaving Australia), Gary caught conjunctivitis and we both came away much poorer (our pockets anyway) for the experience of basically an indoor heated pool shared with lots of people with the average age of 70 and an outdoor pool complete with wave pool every hour for ten minutes. Bored with our "thermal pool" expereince we headed for the central market where Gary feasted on Hungarian sausage.
All in all a great city, just give the therbal baths a miss and wait until you get to Turkey. Pepe"s had a few days rest, my knees are so sore from all the walking and Gary's happy sampling the local cuisine. Sad to leave, but excited about our next destination.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Pecs
The wall of padlocks. They are a security conscious bunch. Not quite sure of the significance.

Budapest
The Terror House Museum.

Budapest
The Castle

Budapest
The outside wall of the Terror Museum, complete with a photograph of some of the persons who lost their lives inside those walls.

Buda
The thermal baths! Don't go there. At least not to this one.

Buda
Looking to Pest from Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda side.

Pest
The Chain Bridge

Buda
Reflection of Fisherman's Bastion and me.

Buda
The streets of Buda

Pecs
The flag flies proud.

Pecs
You'd reckon one of these damn phones would work.

Pecs
Streets leading to the centre

Budapest
Just before the first rain we had seen for some time.

Pest
The Tourist Cruise - larger than life

Comments

[Dennis]

Pecs
I have been to Pecs Hungary and absolutely loved it!!!! So quaint and atmospheric. The Turkish architecture mixed with the Baroque sytle of buildings was lovely. I especially enjoyed the tree-lined street leading from the Four-Tower Church to the Sechenyi Square. I loved the cuisine and the music fesitvals both there and in the capital city of Budapest. Dennis Czigler http://europetraveltours.net/

[Dennis]

locks in pecs
Oh and btw, the locks in Pecs are there for good luck

[colvinyeates]

With all those locks, that's a lot of good luck. If you are at all interested, check my photo library on [e-mail]

[Zoltan]

Locks in Pecs
There is an old tradition that lovers put a locks to that place and afther that throw away the key. In this way - according to the tradition - their love will live forever...

[Tamara Katie]

Toronto massage
airport massage he true erotic massage experience .You will love this .I do recommend.

[Trude]

Padlocks
Lovers lock their love with padlocks and throw away the key.