We drove from Lake Bled across the border into Hungary without even the slightest indication of a border crossing besides a small road sign with a new flag on it. The drive, about 5 hours, was fairly direct and easy on the motorway and peppered with fertile flat valleys full of neatly organized rows of corn, golden fields of wheat and grape vines running up and down hillsides.
Since the drive was a good distance, I did a bit of research on places we may want to stop along the way. The first was Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Hungary, almost 50 miles long. We got some glimpses of the beauty of the lake, but our plans did not exactly pan out. It was pouring rain, a recent accident had cars diverting on other routes, and many places along the way were closed, small towns seemed practically dead. As it is a lake, a getaway place for many, and summer hasn’t really started yet (schools aren’t out here quite yet), all the vacation rentals were still locked up and the many businesses that must thrive on those summer tourist dollars were closed.
We did, with a tad bit of difficulty, find the most adorable castle to stop at as our first official stop in Hungary. It was in a city about 45 minutes west of Budapest. I didn’t know any of the history when it came up in my searching, but it looked pretty, and well, who doesn’t love exploring a castle? Turns out, it’s about the most precious castle you can imagine, and it’s not that old, and it was hand built by the owner himself! Bory Castle was built by Jenö Bory. He was an architect, building engineer and sculptor while his wife was an artist. It took him 41 years to build it, and just about every inch of it is filled with artwork by he and his wife. It is in the middle of a neighborhood, not up on a hill watching which way enemies may arrive from because well, this professor didn’t have any such enemies. In the early 20th century, not many people were building castles any more, and while it is no where near the size of some castles I’ve seen, it was almost more intricate. The turrets, sculpture garden, courtyard, rose gardens and spiral staircases were all unique and made for a picturesque place to live.
We arrived in Budapest at the exact wrong time and got caught in quite the gridlock of rush hour traffic, but Dad, as he has done the whole trip, handled it with great tact, skill and patience! Our Air B&B in Budapest was in an older building with a stunning facade, but the interior common space, including a large tiled “courtyard” was in need of repair. Always a bit anxious arriving to something you agreed to online, I opened the door to our apartment and stepped into what felt like our own palace. The bedrooms were modest, bathrooms very decent for European standards, but the living room, with twelve foot ceilings was large enough to host a ball in. Oh, if only I had known enough people in Budapest.
Our apartment was just a block from a long pedestrian street lined with restaurants that spilled onto the street, brand name stores and cheesy tourist shops. We wandered along here our first night and struggled to find what looked like “Hungarian food,” but found some Italian that seemed to combine things a bit.
Thursday was the only day my parents were to be in Budapest, so I wanted to make sure they got a good taste of the city before they left. I consulted Rick Steve’s and we set out on a walking tour throughout Pest. Buda, on one side of the river and Pest on the other side, still have a bit of their own identity, but for most purposes, they have combined into one, Budapest. Most of the tourist attractions are in Pest, and that’s where we are staying. We walked along the river toward the Parliament building. The river was crowded with river boats, a popular destination for river cruises along the Danube.
Along the riverside, a memorial of bronze shoes lined the bank. It is dedicated to the thousands of Jews who were lined up along this bank, ordered to remove their shoes, and then shot by Hungarian soldiers, their bodies falling into the river below. A chilling reminder that the Holocaust happened all over Europe.
Our walk around town took us by the exquisite Parliament building, by monuments and through parks, in front of cathedrals and synogauges, just enough for a great taste of the city. And for the afternoon, we had a real taste of the city planned!
I had booked a small group walking food tour, but it turned out just to be the four of us! Rebeka, our guide, was energetic, enthusiastic, and had a wealth of knowledge of not only the city, but also of the Hungarian food. We lucked out and even had a second “guide” for the day as Rita, from the office, was joining us to photograph along the way. We truly felt like we were getting the royal treatment.
In 896, Mygars, immigrating from Central Asia decided to call this place home. They brought with them skills and customs unlike any other in the area. They were known for drying out their meat, and even carrying it long distances under their saddles, making it more tender. The cows that they brought with them, are like the Hungarians themselves, tough and hearty. These cows were even immune to the mad cow disease that swept over Europe in recent history, making them very valuable.
Hungary loves their food, in fact, it’s the most obese country in Europe. (A bit ironic based on the name of the country, right?) And as it turns out, the reason we struggled to find “Hungarian restaurants” the night before was because after being so controlled by the communists, Hungarians love having choices. While traditional food is often still cooked at home, when dining out, they much prefer a variety represented by different countries.
It’s a country focused on meat, and so we started with sampling a variety of sausages made from uniquely Hungarian pigs. The Hungarians, still having a bit of Asian influence, love their spices, in particular paprika. The sausages reflected that heat as well, and man they were delicious.
Knowing that vegetables were important, but not really liking them, the Hungarians most typically eat their vegetables pickled, claiming that it helps with digestion. The most common way of pickling doesn’t include any sort of vinegar, but rather a thick slice of sour dough bread at the top of a jar filled with vegetables, water, and garlic. We had two different types of pickles, one a bit sweeter, but both very similar to our pickles. There was also some saurerkraut and a tiny pickled watermelon! All flavorfully delicious.
Our next dish was the Hungarian national dish of goulash. I’ve had goulash before, but the Hungarian version is different. I’m more accustomed to a gravy/stew like consistency, but the Hungarian one is a thin beef soup. It’s delicious, and very flavorful with paprika as a key ingredient. We also enjoyed the Hungarian drink of choice here, palenka. A strong, vodka like drink that is often flavored at home with a variety of fruits and herbs. Palenka is said to cure all ails, whether you rub it on your chest for congestion, on a sore muscle or drink away a heartache. Rebeka said, “we drink to cure the world.”
We devoured a small flodni cake in the Jewish quarter for dessert. While not terribly sweet, it was a concoction of a wide variety of flavors smashed in between a few layers of thin pastry. There were apples, poppyseed, plum jam, and walnut, all holding their own layers proudly.
We couldn’t have a Hungarian food tour without sampling Hungarian wine. Different regions, including by the lake we had tried to visit, have very different specialties. All were smooth and delicious, but what I enjoyed most about this, our last setting of the tour, was the conversations we had with our guides. Discussing openly our personal opinions of our own country’s politics, health care, education, immigration and even maternity care. I loved the openness, curiosity and support each of us felt for the other, the true desire to learn from one another, not judge, and the realization that neither of our country’s have it all figured out just yet.
After we left our darling hosts, shockingly, we were just a tad bit hungry, as it was dinner time and we had been discussing over wine for some time, so we decided to find a place and split a few appetizers. Rebeka had shown us a brand new hotel that had just reopened after being refurbished, so we decided to try it out. Truly stunning inside, in the late 19th century, this building had been a mall, an elegant shopping venue for the wealthy. The ceiling was stained glass with intricate details and archways. Food was perfectly lovely both in taste and presentation. Being reopened for just two weeks after a long renovation process, we asked our waiter to tell us more about the history of the place. He was not confident in his English, so asked me to translate. Apparently, my pronunciation of the one Hungarian phrase I knew, “thank you,” was so good that he mistook me for a local! Always a compliment, especially when I feel incredibly ignorant for only speaking one language. He was able to muster up the confidence though and tell us more about the building, including that his grandmother had once worked there and how proud she was of him to be working there now.
It was a perfect last day with my parents for our family vacation. I put them in the cab headed to the airport the next morning, and they have since made it home safe and sound. I believe the best indication of our time together being so perfect was that I was sad to see them pull away, sad that this trip, such a rarity for the three of us, was over. But now, Jessica and I will continue the adventure in this part of the world.
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