Magyarorszag

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We have become used to easy and quick border crossings, even between countries who don't always get on, so it came as a bit of a surprise to spend over 2 hours making the crossing from Serbia to Hungary. The queue on the Serbian side was long but it paled into insignificance with the one on the Hungarian side. Luckily there was a toilet in the area between the control gates. No drama at all at the acutal gates. The Serbian people were friendly and relaxed and the Hungarians the same. The Hungarian customs checker - interested in grog, cigarettes and fuel - had a lot of fun telling me I looked like every bloke with a beard he could name while he did a more than cursory check for the items in question.

One of the down sides of travel is that you often spend an inordinate amount of time organising or finding a place to have a pee. Sounds silly, but this need can loom so large in your mind that it expels all other considerations. The world, and all in it, look so much brighter after, as opposed to before, the event, major problems become inconsequential and that level of frustration that has some being very snippy in a vehicle just disappears with that sense of ease.

In a lot of countries we have been visiting you have to pay. Nothing wrong with having to pay for a service but we don't normally have to pay in our own country and it sometimes comes as a surprise. You arrive in the country, possibly having travelled some distance, have no local currency and a great need. Go to an ATM/Bankomat but does this solve the problem? No hope. They tend to give you large denomination notes - in some places, very large denominations. Small shops often look askance when asked to change these large notes and you are left holding on, so to speak. Maccas, Burger King and similar fast food joints can come in very handy but you still have to find them and then you really have to buy something. Both can be issues. Maybe the availability of toilets is the secret to their success?

India and Vietnam were pretty good for blokes. Unofficial public urinals abound - trees, walls, sides of houses can all be swung into service should the need be great. Not so easy for the women though. Turkey was also pretty relaxed about available public places but, in the more 'European' countries, you normally have to find an appropriate facility. There are cities that look after you, of course. Public facilities that are clean and convenient but these are few and far between. Now if places that want tourists could pay just a little more attention to this fundamental need we would be a lot happier.

Apart from our wee issues there is also a growing problem being encountered. The problem is that some of us, me in particular, are growing. I should stress that the others in our current group are not having this problem with some actually losing weight. Servings of food seem to be becoming larger and larger but that is not really the problem. Bread is part of it. In Turkey, through the Balkans and on up into Eastern Europe you get bread with just about everything. Some of the bread is excellent, some not so, but there is generally plenty of it. It is not really a problem to receive a lot of bread with a meal but my Mum ensured that I have a deeply embedded requirement to eat everything served up. I am fighting it but don't always succeed.

I have a suspicion that the real issue is beer. There is a lot of it about and it has now been cheap for a while. Europeans seem to consume the stuff at the drop of a hat. First thing in the morning and then through the day. Highly unlikely that you can buy a diet Coke or any other soft drink more cheaply than beer.

Szegad is the first town of any size you hit along the motorway from Serbia. We pulled in because the Lonely Planet said it was worth a visit, because we needed a feed, we needed local money and we needed the facilities. Szgeged is worth a lot more than a comfort and sustenance stop. It is a university town. Plenty of trees, quiet on a Sunday arvo with some bars and restaurants open around the centar but little else.

The weather was sunny and hot with temperatures over 30 degrees. As happens with weather of this type, as soon as the sun starts to do what a sun should, and shine nice and bright, out come the people and off comes the gear. People love to get a suntan. None of this worry that you find in Australia about melanoma. Nice red skin is all over the place at this stage of the season.

Hungary clearly has a Jewish population - they had a lot more before WWII and Hitler's Hungarian mates got operational. There was obviously some money and commitment on the part of the Jewish community in Szeged when they decided to replace one of the oldest synagogues in Europe with one of the most beautiful. I haven't changed my view about religion, and, for me, Judaism is no better nor worse than any other, but the fact is that some of the most beautiful buildings and art are generated under the influence or religion. The Jewish Synagogue in Szeged is a beautiful building. It is a calm and serene place that I am sure is a good place to worship. Stained glass windows and a ceiling that takes your breath away. I just hope that the adherents spend a lot of time during the services looking up.

If you have some hang-up about flat, plains country that is all under agriculture you will not like a lot of Hungary. It is clearly a productive agricultural country although I understand that agricultural production is not a high component of the country's weatlh. I enjoy seeing this sort of land

Budapest is advertised as one of the great cities of Europe. We camped at the BB Hotel a little out of the centre along one of the many train and metro lines. It was a little cheaper out of the inner city and we were able to easily park our car. Excellent public transport with light rail trains running every 10 minutes each way helped us get around. By choice, around the town we did a lot of walking on the two days we spent there.

Buildings are what Budapest does well along with statues and sculptures. In common with other important cities in this area of Europe, Budapest has been destroyed and re-built a number of times. The Opera House stands out as one of the most spectacular. I guess singers of all types have that desire to perform on the big stage.

Statues and sculptures abound around the city. Some are old, and it was interesting to us - and possibly no one else at all - that they turn a much brighter shade of green here than in other places we have visited to date. Not dull at all. The statues in Heroes Square, where there are a number of the more mythical heroes, some of the more romantic figures of the Magyar who came across the plains and then a queue of leaders over the time since the Magyar have been here. The Celts, yet again, were turfed out in the 5th or 6th century AD. If the statues are anything to go by, I may have considered moving on if this mob had arrived on the doorstep.

We also hit some shops. There are a few large shopping malls in addition to 'Fashion Street'. The latter didn't get a lot of attention. High priced shops and not a lot of variety. The malls … well … much the same as any mall anywhere.

You have to pick your spots in countries and Hungary, like others, is too big to see everything. We decided to take a run down to Kecskemet and then take the back roads to Tokaj so that we could see more of the countryside.

We asked Tomtom to take us by the shortest route from Debrecen. It was a bit of a surprise to be taken around the back of a sports ground, past a lot of people fishing in a lake and then to the banks of a river to wait for a ferry that could take no more than 6 vehicles. Efficient though and only 500 HUFs or about $A4. It was definitely the shortest route and much more interesting than the bigger roads.

Tokaj is a nice little place with sufficient rough edges to insulate it from its apparent destiny as a tourism theme park for some years to come. The Vashko Panzio Borpince was a good place to stay. The wine in the 'pince' - cellar I think - was well and truly drinkable and we have a few bottles in the vehicle at the moment. There are, of course, many other wineries in this the place where some apparently claim the grape was first identified. Not sure about that but there are a lot of places around to sample the product.

The Disznoko vineyard was one of the larger in the area. It was bought up by a major insurance company after the country moved away from State control of such places. We were taken on a very good tour by an excellent guide who was able to take on questions about the industry as well as about the wine she was there to talk about. She gave three of us the opportunity to taste and there were purchases made. The matrydom of the fourth - the driver - for the good of the group was relieved when we made it back to our pansion and into a bar.

Out of Tokaj and Hungary now and into Slovakia for a few days before we head for Frankfurt to drop off Trish and Tony for their respective planes.

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Photos

Szeged
A lovely building of its type nicely restored or maintained

Stained Glass
The building went up in 1905. They did it well

Chain Bridge
Across the Danube. One of the bridges linking Buda and Pest.

Parliament House
in Budapest

You Guess
A confused scupltur or intended?

Parking Area
For any statues that you have and need to get up somewhere