WANTED - Beautiful Women and Honest Politicians

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Hungary is full of very grim-looking and abrupt people. However they are quite friendly if you make the effort to converse with them.

Travelled to Eger (pronounced "A-gair") to sample some Hungarian wines. The tourist signs call the wine region the Valley of Nice Women, whereas the guidebooks refer to it as the Valley of Beautiful Women. I remember some guys telling me that any woman looks beautiful after you've had a few too many. The wine of choice is the Egri Bikaver, known as Bull's Blood, which is a dry full-bodied red wine. Hungarian food is a bit stodgy, but very hearty. Before hitting the wine cellars, we lined our stomachs with goulash and wild boar stew.

Last stop is obviously Budapest. There are still protests in front of Parliament House calling for the Prime Minister's resignation. Nothing like committing political suicide by saying that you lied about the state of the economy to win the last election. Shame Johnny Howard isn't so truthful.

I have been joined once again by Mini-me (Christina) for the next 2 weeks. The most interesting thing I saw was the Szobor Park where they re-located all the old Communist statues after the end of Soviet rule. It's a stark reminder of the communist propoganda machine. The nicest thing we did was go to the Gellert thermal baths for a relaxing soak and massage; those Hungarian women have talons of steel.

The thing about Europe is that every major city and town has the Big 5 - castles, churches, squares, bridges, and museums. After a while it all gets a bit ho-hum and same-old-same-old. Plus the old Eastern bloc nations are going a million miles a minute to catch up and be linked to the EU. It appears to be what they are trying to achieve, which is a borderless society. As a result each nation seemingly has lost its individuality, which I have to say has been a huge disappointment.

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Photos

Budapest view
Parliament House next to Danube River

Ground Zero
Looks a bit erotic, but it's actually where they measure the city distances from. Budapest's version of the GPO.

Market stall
Hungarians love their paprika (hot peppers) which is used to flavour everything

Best meal
Bought some fresh trout in the Grand Market Hall and cooked it back at the hostel with lemons. Scrumptious!

Lenin
The dude himself looking a little chunky

Idealised face of communism
All the statues look macho with square jaws

Boozin' beauties
Me and Karen (from Toronto) sampling the wares

Waiting
One of the Eger wine cellars

Cellar vats
People come with plastic bottles and jerry cans and just fill 'em up and get maggotted at home

Woman of steel
Goofing around at Eger station

Eger view
Nice outlook of 40m Turkish minaret from the castle ramparts

Delish desserts
Braving the cold to sample Somloi Galuska (traditional Hungarian dessert) and Wine Roulade