Day 13, Budapest (Again)

After we rode into Budapest we learned that the Parliamentary building was letting people in to tour. After we checked into our hotel we walked to the Parliamentary building and viewed just about every room. While we were walking around we got to view King Stephens crown, scepter, and mummified hand. How they mummified the hand I really don't know but it was really cool. The scepter and crown were pure gold and the scepter had a cut ruby at the top. We also learned that the building contains 40 million bricks, half a million of precious stones, and 40 kg of gold were used in construction. Also the architect went blind during the construction. It was built in the style of Gothic Revival.

Day 12, Szekesfehervar

After regretfully left the wonderful beach town of Siofok we headed to Szekesfehervar, a town full of restored monuments. This town had such a wonderful history attached so we couldn't wait to visit it. Every part of the town seemed to have some historical monument in it so we had lots to observe here. After we checked into our hotel we visited the Bory Manor. This manor was built by Jeno Bory. He was a famous sculptor and architect. After touring the manor we visited the St. Stephen Cathedral. This was the burial place of many kings in Hungary. We visited the Statue of György Varkoch. The statue is supposedly placed where he died at the gates of Episcopal Palace. After spending all day waking around we went back to the hotel to get some sleep because the next day we are going back to Budapest for one more day of fun.

Day 11, Siofok

Today we woke up pretty early than the norm to get down to the beach and rent our sailboats. When we got down to the beach it was a good half-hour wait to get our boats. After we bought a days worth of time, the instructor in the back gave us some very useful tips on using the boats like not to tip them over by steering them to far to the left or right and not to hit each other for the fear of smashing the boats. When we got to the actual sailing part it was a blast. We were out on the beach from 11 to 6. We had so much fun we skipped lunch which, in Hungary, is probably the biggest meal of the day. To race we had to go half-way out into the lake. We raced to the other side of the lake and back. On the way we saw so many other people racing so we think its a pretty popular thing on the lake. We even got into a race with some natives that spoke a bit of English so we could talk. That night we hooked up with the people we raced and ate dinner at a boardwalk cafe. They were pretty nice people and we had a good time with them, so I guess you could call today the best day.

Day 10, Siofok

Today we decided to go to the wonderfull tourist city of Siofok. This place has an awsome view of the largest lake in Central Europe, Lake Balaton. Lake Balaton is a wonderfull lake with crystal blue waters and nice sandy beaches. We checked into the Best Western Janus Atrium Hotel and headed straight to the beach. Today, instead of going around the town, we just decided to play around at the beach. We attempted to play beach volleyball with some locals but we got our tails kicked. After getting a thrashing we hit one of the local ice cream parlors and bought some triple scoop ice cream cones. That had to be our best day in Hungary. We decided to walk out as far as we could on the lake and dang that was far. You could walk out almost half way across the lake before having to swim. Later before we went to the hotel we found that we could rent sailboats for racing on the lake. We decided to try that out the next day because in the forcast it was supposed to be just a little windy on the lake. Perfect for sailing we hope.

Day 8, Eger/Aggetelk National Park

Today we read in a brochure in the hotel lobby about the Aggetelek National Park located about 10 kilometers outside Eger. We hopped into a taxi and told the driver to bring us there. As we drove on the Hungarian road's we saw the most beautiful trees and flowers anywhere in the world. When we arrived at the gates we saw we got there 30 min. early so we walked around the entrence absorbing the colors of the Hungarian landscape. While there we observed a lot of Hungarian wildlife including Saker Falcon. As explained to us by one of the park rangers, it is one of the biggest species of falcons located in Hungary. While in the park we saw the falcon dive and grab a small rodent of some sort and fly away. I found it so cool that the falcon moves so fast to grab its prey. I only barely saw it while it was diving for its food. Also while we were there we saw alot of wild boar. These were hunted since Hungary became populated. They were used for major celebrations. Usually they were cooked at the arrival of a new king or at the birth of a prince or princess. At the end of the day we went back to our hotel to pack for the next day to come.

Day 9, Kiskoros

After leaving Eger this morning we arrived in Kiskoros. Kiskoros is where the poet we discovered, Sandor Petofi, was born and raised. Besides the fact that it was were the poet we discovered lived, this town was occupied by the Soviets after WW II. This town suffered a harsh loss in the population from 1944-1956 when the Hungarian Revolution ended. Of course their have been many revolutions in Hungary but never one so violent. It started as a student demonstration marching on Budapest. As the students reached it the Soviet army, scared by such an outbreak of protesters, decided to start shooting. At this the revolution truly began. The student protesters started swarming military storehouses and took weapons. The Soviets were going to back down but then decided to bring in more troops and crush the rebellion. There we visited many sites like the town square where many people were massacered because they resisted rule. We stayed in an ok hotel while we plotted our next days adventure.

Day 7, Eger/Szántódpuszta

Today we spent the most of the day in Szantodpuszta. It is an 18th/19th century farming village very close to Eger. We were very interested yesterday at the festival so we decided to spend most of the day actually seeing how they lived. We found this to be very painful, because having to work everyday just to live a simple life is difficult. Having to take care of the land, cattle, and on top of all that, children and the family. We visited a school building where the children learned with books and no computers. I found that to be surprising. After that we ate lunch that consisted of goat cheese, milk, and beef jerky. Then we watched a very competitive soccer game. We had a long day, so we went to bed soon after this.

Day 6, Eger

Today we went to the Castle Eger and participated in Festival of Historic Ages. There we participated in things that 18th century Hungarians would do. We learned how to make wine from scratch. We also learned how peasants actually lived in the 18th and 19th hundreds. We learned that they had it really rough during the Soviet reign here. They had to pay enormous taxes out of the food they collected. After that we decided to head back to the hotel and find some other things to do for the next day.

Day 5, Eger

As we drove into Eger we went right into a festival. Apparently we drove right into the knights and dancer contests. This, we discovered, was the 7th day of the festival. Along with the contests went the Eastern Cultures day. On display were many Hungarian products, along with other things from Great Britain, France, and Germany. On that day we drove in around 6:00 pm so we could still watch all the knight contests. Their was jousting, sword fighting, and some were just all out battle to the "death". The quotations around death mean that if you got your opponent into a deathly position where you could kill them in one blow like on the ground or you knock away their weapon too far you win. After we watched that we decided to check in to our hotel, the Senator Hanz Panzio Hotel, then we walked back out to watch the dancing compitetion.

Day 4, Budapest

Today we wanted to do something a bit downhill from excitement so we went to the Natural Science Museum. There they had a bunch of old Hungarian farming tools and descriptions of just about everything. They also had a bunch of the normal history we have here like the dinosaurs, cavemen, and all the usual. We also got to see the first ever dinosaur to be discovered in Hungary. They only discovered pieces of it and the full body has not been discovered yet. They believe it to be an herbivore because of the teeth they found. That was probably the most boring part of our trip but we still learned much from that place. That night we headed for Eger and the "Merry-making in Castle Eger Festival."

Day 3, Budapest

Today we decided to visit the Fisherman's Bastion. Fisherman's Bastion was created in honor of the fisherman who protected that side of the city. The bastion, however, was just created for viewing the whole city and river. It has been described as a viewing terrace. While we were up their an artist was painting the incredible view from the top of the bastion. After we left it was time for our Gastro Food and Wine Walking Tour. With a tour group we walked all around Budapest tasting just about every Hungarian dish their is to taste. After about the third restaurant we visited we got to taste some of the famous Bull's Blood of Eger wine. That had to be the best drink we had ever tasted. After the tour we went around the city just hanging around and taking in the sights because tommorow was our last day in Budapest.

Day 2, Budapest

Today when we woke up we decided to access the Internet at our hotel room and see what attractions are here in Hungary. While surfing the net we found a place called the "House of Terror", and decided to check it out. When we got there we found that it was a museum of the communist rule in Hungary. We each got a pair of headphones to listen to the English version of the descriptions of objects. We got to visit the torture rooms the the commies used to interrogate government and resistance prisoners for information. In the museum their are videos of interviews with survivors of the communist reign of terror. After watching some of these we went to the prison cells. They were about a fourth the size of a classroom and had one bunk bed. After that we decided to head to downtown Budapest and go shop at the Castle Corner Shopping Centre. Here they sell alot of Hungarian hand made products. We saw carved bows, dolls, handwoven blankets and quilts, and we even tasted a small glass of Hungarian wine. Man was that tasty. We spent the rest of our day their and bought alot of souvenirs. We also learned that the creator of the Rubik Cube, Erno Rubik, was born and raised in Hungary. That night we went out to Cafe Pierrot.

Day 1, Budapest

Yesterday we left from RDU to fly to Budapest, Hungary. We arrived today at 8:25 am and checked into our hotel, Casa Sol Hotel, and then decided to explore the city. First we decided to get some lunch so we stopped into one of the local restaurants. After lunch we decided to visit Hero's Square. Hero's Square is the largest square in Hungary. The statues in the square are famous kings, governors, and other people important to Hungarian history. We felt honored to be standing in such a place of artistic beauty. In the exact middle of the park a 36 meter high statue of the Archangel Gabriel. At the foot of every statue is the most important event of the persons life. Also we were able to visit an uknown soldiers tomb. After we visited the magnificent Hero's square it was quite late in the afternoon. Instead of visiting another attraction we decided to explore the city as a whole. We went to a nice shopping mall for a bit then stopped into a cafe for a snack. After that we decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest for tommorow.

Hungarian Dishes

At the Cafe Pierrot, we decided to order the Hideg Meggyleves. It is a cold creambased cherry soup and it tasted quite good. The unique combination of cinnamon, sour cherries, and fresh cream provided a satisfying aftertaste. For our main course, we ate Pecsenye, which is pan fried pork steak. This meal left an interesting taste because of the paprika, gravy, and celery seeds. For dessert we tasted the Dobos cake. It is made of a five layer lemon sponge cake layered with chocolate butter cream and topped with thin caramel slices. The sides of the cake were coated with ground hazel nuts and cookie crumbs. It tasted exactly how it sounds; DELICIOUS!!!!!

Hungarian Vacation

We are making a blog about our trip to Hungary.