Hungarian Heritage Review, 1986 (15. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1986-01-01 / 1. szám
18 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW JANUARY 1986 to answer questions posed by members of our 1986 Historical Tour of Hungary. After sightseeing in Sopron to our heart's content, we visited Gyor in the “Kis Alföld” or “small plain”. Enroute, we were all struck by the fact the countryside revealed that Hungary, in spite of industrialization, is still an agricultural country with rich dark soil and, as we motored by, thousands upon thousands of acres planted with corn, wheat sunflowers grapes, sugar beets, and many other varieties of agricultural products. We also observed that, although agriculture is collectivized in Hungary, there were a great many of privately cultivated gardens and Co Op Farms. The houses in the villages are, for the most part, similar in architecture and construction. Fenced in, most have flower and vegetable gardens. Some have grape arbors and fruit trees. What really surprised us, though, was the number of bicycles, horses and wagons, buses, trucks, and cars we saw everywhere. Mid-mornings and afternoons, we had “rest stops” and to have some refreshments. Beer and soda were always available, but rarely served cold. Coffee, of course, was “expresso”. The people we met in the villages and towns were always friendly, helpful, and quite interested in and curious about American-Hungarians. Most tourists, we found, are German and hotel personnel, shopkeepers, cab drivers, and just about everyone speaks German. We also rubbed shoulders with tourists from Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. But, we were advised, visitors from America are few in comparison to tourists from other countries around the world. Hungary, to be sure, in addition to being beautiful and historic, is also a tourist bargain. Prices are cheap, in terms of U.S. currency, for food, beverages, souvenirs, and the like. But most surprising of all was that religion seems to be alive, well, and thriving in Hungary in spite of reports to the contrary. While village churches may look old on the outside, most are remarkably beautiful on the inside and decorated daily with fresh flowers. Moreover, church bells ring in every town and village for morning services and even for the noonday “Angelus”. But getting back to Gyor, a city whose history dates back to early Roman times, we took in all of its historic sites and, as we walked along, we felt that we were on a movie set out in Hollywood. We visited St. Michael’s Church, the Bishop's Church, and other places of historical interest and, on the way back to Sopron, we stopped at Fertőd to pay a brief visit to the mindstaggering Eszterhazy Palace with its awesome wrought iron gate. What a splendid sight! What a vast multitude of priceless treasures it housed! Steeped in Eszterhazy lore, we departed for Sopron to prepare for our visit to Kőszeg, Szombathely, while enroute to Lake Balaton. —continued next issue The Wrought-Iron Gate of the Eszterhazy Palace in Fertőd.
