Places to go near Budapest
From Kecskemet, the Bugac Puszta, some twenty-nine miles south of the town, can be reached by bus or hire car from Budapest Airport. There is something rather more primitive about the Bugac puszta than the Hortobagy. Even before the Second World War, life was rather nomadic here and though vineyards and orchards have been planted since then, the landscape has retained much of its original character.
As long as it is not the height of the tourist season, a very pleasant meal with music can be had at the Bugac csarda. The nearby woods provide excellent cover for pheasant shooting and facilities are available on the presentation of a shot-gun licence and some advance notice (apply at tourist offices).
If, instead of visiting Szeged and Kecskemet, the traveller has returned to Debrecen, a short spell, if only a couple of days, should be spent in the northern more hilly part of the country. If this is the first objective after Budapest, the best way of reaching the area is to take a train to Eger or hire a car at Budapest Airport and explore at your own leisure.
The small village of Tokay, whose wines continue to enjoy the sobriquet 'King of wines, wine of kings', is still one of the least spoilt places in Hungary. No industry and relatively few new buildings have emerged to mar its simplicity and intimacy, and there are few villages in which an hour can be spent as profitably as here.
The settlement is entered near its river. Those arriving by train are met by a bus, which transfers passengers to the village centre. The village is well worth spending a night in, although accommodation is limited. There is a modern and not particularly attractive hotel near the river, but rooms in private houses are likely to be more attractive as well as cheaper.
These can be found on application to the hotel porter or the tourist office in the village square. If these requests prove fruitless, the best and, in the author's experience, most effective way of securing rooms is to stop some friendly old lady and ask in German for her advice. More often than not she will knock on the nearest door and persuade the owner to offer her rooms to the strangers.
If finding rooms is not particularly a problem, food, it must be said, is not as good as it is in the main cities, although the modern restaurant of the hotel has an attractive terrace overlooking the river. Occasionally the fish can be excellent, but otherwise it is advisable to concentrate on the real joy of the place, its wine.
The wine of Tokay Hungary
The glory of this wine, known as 'essence of Tokay' or 'essencia', is usually very difficult to obtain. It is sweet Tokay made from pressing of the finest grapes and matured for at least twelve years in a deep cellar, where a black spongy mould forms on the bottles and walls because of the moisture. Its purity and sweetness are unquestionable and indeed it lives up to its reputation of being capable of restoring a dying emperor.
Commoner than the essencia are the dry Tokays known as 'Szamorodni' and the sweet 'Aszubor', which is given a number of 'butts' on its bottle neck from one to six depending on the level of sweetness. Thus a 1980 Aszubor with six butts will be sweeter and richer than a 1976 with three butts. Most of the bottles to be seen for sale throughout Hungary come from the government's own consortium in the nearby village of Tolcsva. However, there are several private cellars in the region which allow tastings and possess some very fine Aszubor for modest prices. The most convenient of these is almost five minutes' walk away from the hotel.
Turning left then right from the hotel out of the village, there is a private cellar on the right where an aged lady will syphon the wine from the barrel with a long test-tube device.
The churches of Tokay Hungary
Along the main street, there is much of interest. As in many settle¬ments in this part of the world, there has long been a variety of religious activities here. There are Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and down one road to the right the impressive if melancholy ruins of a synagogue.
Continuing along the main road past several pleasing doors of early nineteenth-century pattern on the left, we come to the main square, where the most visited church is situated on the left. It is a nineteenth¬ century affair with a rather austere character relieved by modern glass and a jolly congregation. Above it to the left is another church of some Protestant denomination, while below, continuing along the road, one passes another unidentifiable religious building with a lofty tower, though it is usually closed.
On the left of this principal village street, after walking for some minutes, is the museum of wine and wine-making, whose exhibits are displayed in the basement of an old house. Here there is an impressive array of machinery and earlier implements involved with the making of wine, as well as several charming old bottles of the Tokay wines made before the war, Many of these came from princely estates and bear the names of such famous aristocratic families of Hungary as Esterhazy and Szechenyi.
There are also several menus and posters dating from the time before the First World War, when the Tokay wine industry was launching an export drive in foreign countries, including England. Al¬though Voltaire commemorated the wine in a book and Haydn and Schubert are both said to have composed songs praising its great re¬storative qualities, it would seem that mass advertising was still necessary.
Ironically, this great wine was considered to possess such medicinal qualities that for many years of this century in Hungary the only way to procure the best wine was through a chemist's.
Tokay Boarding School Hungary
A little further on from the museum, a turning to the right leads down several picturesque streets which then lead back to the river and the hotel. Continuing further along the main road however, it may be of interest to reflect that one of communist Europe's few boarding schools is situated in the large and very school-like nineteenth-century building on the road. The British Council, always fond of arcane ventures, commendably supplies the school with an English native speaker. It is curiously reassuring to think that a few yards along these dusty roads, still used mainly by horses and carts, someone is instilling these young Magyars with a basic awareness of English literature. It is yet another example of the close connections Hungary enjoys with the Anglo-Saxon world.
Miskolc Hungary
Back in the village square, a small bar run by the government's Tokay wine consortium will offer a good glass of four-puttom (or butts) Aszubor.
From Tokay, a railway runs to Miskolc, the second largest city in the country, where much of the nation's industry is concentrated. Al¬though the city has several fine churches, it is not a place to spend a night. Cement and lime works as well as several iron industries make it a grey settlement, especially in winter.
The classical Calvinist church at the corner of Kossuth utca and Szechenyi utca is of interest, as is the Greek Orthodox church in the courtyard of Ferenc Deak ter 7, built between 1785 and 1806, which contains an exquisite iconostasis and some impressive choir stalls in the severe Zopf or Louis Seize style.
At the end of the Szechenyi utca is the 234-foot-high Avas hill, with its Calvinist church dating from the fourteenth century which has an interesting wooden ceiling and choir. The old streets on the hill contain about 800 wine cellars, for this is an area renowned for its red wines. The Hermann Otto Museum near the church above is rich in archae¬ological objects found while the limestone was being excavated. At the top of the hill is a squat modern lookout with a cafe commanding excellent views of the city when the smog lifts. If there is time, an excursion should perhaps be made to Diosgyor castle, a symmetrical series of fortifications dating from the fourteenth century. Having lost its strategic role, it was used as a hunting base for the country's kings and queens.
Eger Hungary
About one and a half miles from the village begins a romantic ravine (Hamorvolgy), watered by the brawling Garadna. From here a pic¬turesque road winds its way along the Biikka to Eger, one of the most interesting towns in the northern part of the country and a welcome change from the overdeveloped sprawl of Miskolc.
Eger is one of the oldest settlements in Hungary and the first King of Hungary, St Stephen, founded a bishopric here at the beginning of the eleventh century. The sixteenth-century bishops of Eger liked to build extensively, but the invasions of the Turks ended this. Luckily the fortress, which had been extended most capably after the first Mongol incursions in the thirteenth century, was able to withstand the initial attacks of the Turks in 1556. Captain Istvan Dobo, the commander of the garrison at this time, has been justly celebrated in several Hungarian poems and plays.Unfortunately, forty years later, the Turks were successful and the town was occupied for almost a century until 1687. Later, during the uprisings of Rakoczi against the Austrians, the fortress again had to be besieged.
The rest of the town is Baroque, with little sign of that rather heavy nineteenth-century architecture which is to be encountered in most towns of Central Europe. This must be partly the result of the town's isolation from the main railway lines across Hungary. Even today, it only has a branch line to the junction of Fiizesabony. The present town still bears signs of the rivalry between bishops and citizens which existed in the Baroque period, with the result that there are two centres in the town, one ecclesiastical and the other civic. The ecclesiastical centre is situated around the cathedral and Szabadzag Square and the centre of the merchants' town around Dobo Istvan ter.
Several of the rooms, including the library, have impressive ceilings painted in the eighteenth century and on the whole sympathetic¬ally restored. The building is one of the most important of its date in Hungary, and the library, with its medallions and wood carvings, is an excellent foil to the richness of the frescoes above, portraying the Council of Trent. The Lyceum provides a worthy overture to the other splendid buildings of Eger. Opposite stands the Neo-Classical cathedral, designed by Josef Hild, Hungary's leading empire architect, in the 1830S. The exterior, with its six Corinthian columns and dome, is one of the most striking facades in Hungary. The effete statues of saints along the monumental staircase ascending to the portico were executed by the Italian craftsman Marco Casagrande between 1833 and 1846. Casagrande is also responsible for the reliefs on the facade depicting Jesus in the Temple and the Pieta.
Through the portico another colonnade leads to the three aisles. Three domes mark the ceiling of the central aisle, rather as in Sant Antonio at the end of the Canale Grande in Trieste, designed by Hild's contemporary Peter von Nobile An octagonal chapel to the right of the principal altar contains a number of somewhat mediocre frescoes of the 1880s by Ferencs Szoldatics. The large marble cherubs guarding the high altar are again the work of Casagrande. All in all the atmosphere is curiously like that of many Neo-Classical churches in Italy. The paintings of the side altars, mainly the work of nineteenth-century Italian artists from Modena, reinforce this impression. The paintings in the south aisle are much earlier than the classical structure and are believed to have come from a previous church of the 1760s on this site.
Explore Hungary in comfort and style and hire a car from Budapest Airport. Car hire and car rentals can be pre-booked before you travel to save you time and money. Budapest is one of the world´s most beautiful cities, so take your time to explore the fascinating sights and sounds, and hire a car from Budapest Airport.
As long as it is not the height of the tourist season, a very pleasant meal with music can be had at the Bugac csarda. The nearby woods provide excellent cover for pheasant shooting and facilities are available on the presentation of a shot-gun licence and some advance notice (apply at tourist offices).
If, instead of visiting Szeged and Kecskemet, the traveller has returned to Debrecen, a short spell, if only a couple of days, should be spent in the northern more hilly part of the country. If this is the first objective after Budapest, the best way of reaching the area is to take a train to Eger or hire a car at Budapest Airport and explore at your own leisure.
The small village of Tokay, whose wines continue to enjoy the sobriquet 'King of wines, wine of kings', is still one of the least spoilt places in Hungary. No industry and relatively few new buildings have emerged to mar its simplicity and intimacy, and there are few villages in which an hour can be spent as profitably as here.
The settlement is entered near its river. Those arriving by train are met by a bus, which transfers passengers to the village centre. The village is well worth spending a night in, although accommodation is limited. There is a modern and not particularly attractive hotel near the river, but rooms in private houses are likely to be more attractive as well as cheaper.
These can be found on application to the hotel porter or the tourist office in the village square. If these requests prove fruitless, the best and, in the author's experience, most effective way of securing rooms is to stop some friendly old lady and ask in German for her advice. More often than not she will knock on the nearest door and persuade the owner to offer her rooms to the strangers.
If finding rooms is not particularly a problem, food, it must be said, is not as good as it is in the main cities, although the modern restaurant of the hotel has an attractive terrace overlooking the river. Occasionally the fish can be excellent, but otherwise it is advisable to concentrate on the real joy of the place, its wine.
The wine of Tokay Hungary
The glory of this wine, known as 'essence of Tokay' or 'essencia', is usually very difficult to obtain. It is sweet Tokay made from pressing of the finest grapes and matured for at least twelve years in a deep cellar, where a black spongy mould forms on the bottles and walls because of the moisture. Its purity and sweetness are unquestionable and indeed it lives up to its reputation of being capable of restoring a dying emperor.
Commoner than the essencia are the dry Tokays known as 'Szamorodni' and the sweet 'Aszubor', which is given a number of 'butts' on its bottle neck from one to six depending on the level of sweetness. Thus a 1980 Aszubor with six butts will be sweeter and richer than a 1976 with three butts. Most of the bottles to be seen for sale throughout Hungary come from the government's own consortium in the nearby village of Tolcsva. However, there are several private cellars in the region which allow tastings and possess some very fine Aszubor for modest prices. The most convenient of these is almost five minutes' walk away from the hotel.
Turning left then right from the hotel out of the village, there is a private cellar on the right where an aged lady will syphon the wine from the barrel with a long test-tube device.
The churches of Tokay Hungary
Along the main street, there is much of interest. As in many settle¬ments in this part of the world, there has long been a variety of religious activities here. There are Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches, and down one road to the right the impressive if melancholy ruins of a synagogue.
Continuing along the main road past several pleasing doors of early nineteenth-century pattern on the left, we come to the main square, where the most visited church is situated on the left. It is a nineteenth¬ century affair with a rather austere character relieved by modern glass and a jolly congregation. Above it to the left is another church of some Protestant denomination, while below, continuing along the road, one passes another unidentifiable religious building with a lofty tower, though it is usually closed.
On the left of this principal village street, after walking for some minutes, is the museum of wine and wine-making, whose exhibits are displayed in the basement of an old house. Here there is an impressive array of machinery and earlier implements involved with the making of wine, as well as several charming old bottles of the Tokay wines made before the war, Many of these came from princely estates and bear the names of such famous aristocratic families of Hungary as Esterhazy and Szechenyi.
There are also several menus and posters dating from the time before the First World War, when the Tokay wine industry was launching an export drive in foreign countries, including England. Al¬though Voltaire commemorated the wine in a book and Haydn and Schubert are both said to have composed songs praising its great re¬storative qualities, it would seem that mass advertising was still necessary.
Ironically, this great wine was considered to possess such medicinal qualities that for many years of this century in Hungary the only way to procure the best wine was through a chemist's.
Tokay Boarding School Hungary
A little further on from the museum, a turning to the right leads down several picturesque streets which then lead back to the river and the hotel. Continuing further along the main road however, it may be of interest to reflect that one of communist Europe's few boarding schools is situated in the large and very school-like nineteenth-century building on the road. The British Council, always fond of arcane ventures, commendably supplies the school with an English native speaker. It is curiously reassuring to think that a few yards along these dusty roads, still used mainly by horses and carts, someone is instilling these young Magyars with a basic awareness of English literature. It is yet another example of the close connections Hungary enjoys with the Anglo-Saxon world.
Miskolc Hungary
Back in the village square, a small bar run by the government's Tokay wine consortium will offer a good glass of four-puttom (or butts) Aszubor.
From Tokay, a railway runs to Miskolc, the second largest city in the country, where much of the nation's industry is concentrated. Al¬though the city has several fine churches, it is not a place to spend a night. Cement and lime works as well as several iron industries make it a grey settlement, especially in winter.
The classical Calvinist church at the corner of Kossuth utca and Szechenyi utca is of interest, as is the Greek Orthodox church in the courtyard of Ferenc Deak ter 7, built between 1785 and 1806, which contains an exquisite iconostasis and some impressive choir stalls in the severe Zopf or Louis Seize style.
At the end of the Szechenyi utca is the 234-foot-high Avas hill, with its Calvinist church dating from the fourteenth century which has an interesting wooden ceiling and choir. The old streets on the hill contain about 800 wine cellars, for this is an area renowned for its red wines. The Hermann Otto Museum near the church above is rich in archae¬ological objects found while the limestone was being excavated. At the top of the hill is a squat modern lookout with a cafe commanding excellent views of the city when the smog lifts. If there is time, an excursion should perhaps be made to Diosgyor castle, a symmetrical series of fortifications dating from the fourteenth century. Having lost its strategic role, it was used as a hunting base for the country's kings and queens.
Eger Hungary
About one and a half miles from the village begins a romantic ravine (Hamorvolgy), watered by the brawling Garadna. From here a pic¬turesque road winds its way along the Biikka to Eger, one of the most interesting towns in the northern part of the country and a welcome change from the overdeveloped sprawl of Miskolc.
Eger is one of the oldest settlements in Hungary and the first King of Hungary, St Stephen, founded a bishopric here at the beginning of the eleventh century. The sixteenth-century bishops of Eger liked to build extensively, but the invasions of the Turks ended this. Luckily the fortress, which had been extended most capably after the first Mongol incursions in the thirteenth century, was able to withstand the initial attacks of the Turks in 1556. Captain Istvan Dobo, the commander of the garrison at this time, has been justly celebrated in several Hungarian poems and plays.Unfortunately, forty years later, the Turks were successful and the town was occupied for almost a century until 1687. Later, during the uprisings of Rakoczi against the Austrians, the fortress again had to be besieged.
The rest of the town is Baroque, with little sign of that rather heavy nineteenth-century architecture which is to be encountered in most towns of Central Europe. This must be partly the result of the town's isolation from the main railway lines across Hungary. Even today, it only has a branch line to the junction of Fiizesabony. The present town still bears signs of the rivalry between bishops and citizens which existed in the Baroque period, with the result that there are two centres in the town, one ecclesiastical and the other civic. The ecclesiastical centre is situated around the cathedral and Szabadzag Square and the centre of the merchants' town around Dobo Istvan ter.
Several of the rooms, including the library, have impressive ceilings painted in the eighteenth century and on the whole sympathetic¬ally restored. The building is one of the most important of its date in Hungary, and the library, with its medallions and wood carvings, is an excellent foil to the richness of the frescoes above, portraying the Council of Trent. The Lyceum provides a worthy overture to the other splendid buildings of Eger. Opposite stands the Neo-Classical cathedral, designed by Josef Hild, Hungary's leading empire architect, in the 1830S. The exterior, with its six Corinthian columns and dome, is one of the most striking facades in Hungary. The effete statues of saints along the monumental staircase ascending to the portico were executed by the Italian craftsman Marco Casagrande between 1833 and 1846. Casagrande is also responsible for the reliefs on the facade depicting Jesus in the Temple and the Pieta.
Through the portico another colonnade leads to the three aisles. Three domes mark the ceiling of the central aisle, rather as in Sant Antonio at the end of the Canale Grande in Trieste, designed by Hild's contemporary Peter von Nobile An octagonal chapel to the right of the principal altar contains a number of somewhat mediocre frescoes of the 1880s by Ferencs Szoldatics. The large marble cherubs guarding the high altar are again the work of Casagrande. All in all the atmosphere is curiously like that of many Neo-Classical churches in Italy. The paintings of the side altars, mainly the work of nineteenth-century Italian artists from Modena, reinforce this impression. The paintings in the south aisle are much earlier than the classical structure and are believed to have come from a previous church of the 1760s on this site.
Explore Hungary in comfort and style and hire a car from Budapest Airport. Car hire and car rentals can be pre-booked before you travel to save you time and money. Budapest is one of the world´s most beautiful cities, so take your time to explore the fascinating sights and sounds, and hire a car from Budapest Airport.
Labels: Eger Hungary, Miskolc Hungary, Tokay Boarding School Hungary
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