Hung(a)ry heart

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Hello everyone.

We are now in Pécs, Southern Hungary. It is much smaller than Budapest, and much hotter. It is also prone to monstorous thunderstorms. We're staying a little bit out of town atop a dirty big hill (the walk is probable comparable to walking from Thorndon to Khandallah), which means that it is very scenic, and very hard on the legs.

The regional variations within Hungary are very noticable. Budapest was the seat of the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and as such has very strong Western European influences, with a heavily dilluted Turkish infleuence for flavour. In the south, it is the other way around, as this part of town was very much in Turkish hands. For example, in the square in the centre of town is the Pécs parish church. Except you would be forgiven for thinking, from the outside, that it was a mosque. The reason for this is that it has alternated between Mosque and Church throughout its modern history - depending on who was in control at any given time. The Ottomans tore down the original church on the site, and erected a mosque. When the Turks were shown the door, the reverse happened. Etc. etc. This makes for a very interesting looking church! While it is now covered in Catholic motifs, you can still see preserved arabic script containing passages from the Koran.

Pécs is perhaps most known for its 4th century Christian burial chambers, which are listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. We have looked at them from the outside, and frankly I was shocked at how badly they have been preserved. THe chambers themsleves have been paved, concreted, and left to graffiti artists to deface. Not that I'm necessarily anti-graffiti, it's just that I think there is a time and a place, and a UNESCO listed cultural taonga is neither. Anyway, the tombs themselves are housed underneath the bascillica, which you have to pay an arm and a leg to visit, so we are saving that for the heat of the afternoon today, so that we can enjoy it while it is unbearable outside!

Anyway, I'm rambling, so probably time to move on. In keeping with our tradition of leaving a country before we run out of punnable song titles (Simon, Roy, Raffe - Jane Dewar would be proud), we're leaving town soon... Will write again then. We will also update Bec's long-promised food blog to cover Hungarian fare. Without spoling that, I can say that this place is the perfect stop for those on the Atkins diet. Breakfast at our Pension today was two boiled sausages (and nothing else).

Hope all is well with everyone.

Malcolm

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Photos

Town square
The Pecs town square, mosque in centre