William Penn Life, 1976 (11. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1976-10-01 / 4. szám

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ing Committee, greet us, who was spending three weeks with relatives just a short distance from Esztergom. After lunch we again boarded our buses and headed for Tatabanya, which is the largest coal mining region of present day Hungary. The entire group were guests of the Tatabanya coalminers where we were given a brief history of the coal mining industry in that area. Here too, our National President responded to the welcome and explained how our Association also was founded by coalminers 90 years ago.

From here the tour headed towards Komarom, the city on the west bank is Hungarian and a portion of the city on the east bank belongs to Czechoslovakia. From here we got to Gyor where we were to stay overnight. As we arrived at the Raba Hotel, we had to turn in our passports in return for our key. The passports, incidently, were returned to us the next morning as we checked out. The hotel management at each stop took care of our reporting to the police so that we did not personally have to do it.

The next day was King St. Stephen’s Day, which today in Hungary they call Constitution Day because St. Stephen gave Hungary its first constitution. Appropriately enough, our first stop that morning was at the world famous Abbey at Pannonhalma. Here, high atop a mountain, stands the church and the buildings which have withstood the ravages of war for many centuries. Even today it serves as a teaching order for the Hungarian catholics. There was a Mass being celebrated, unfortunately the church was so crowded that none of us

Bicentennial Tour

could get in, but we did tour the entire abbey and spent considerable time in the library which is one of the largest and most famous in Hungary.

After lunch our tour took us to Fertőd where we had an opportunity to visit the castle of the Eszterhazy’s which contained over one hundred rooms. A tour of this castle was a memorable one, however, it certainly left one with the thought of how could one family enjoy such a tremendous amount of wealth. The original furnishings are priceless antiques today and from what we were able to observe, these antiques will be well preserved so that for many generations those of Hungarian descent can admire them.

From here our tour took us through the city of Sopron which the Hungarians call “the Gem City of Hungary” because of the fine air qualities in this area there are many sanitoria for the caring of the sick. From here we headed to Kőszeg and then to Szombathely where we were to be quartered at the Hotel Cladius. On the morning of the 21st we encountered our first rain and cold and miserable weather. We headed for Kőszeg from whence we were to have gone to the baths at Bukk, unfortunately because of the cold weather only a few of the hardier members of our tour dared to enjoy the warm baths.

We then visited another famous church at Jak and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the town of Jak is the home of Stephen Szemes, Manager of Branch 76, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We then visited the Fort at Kőszeg which had a very interesting museum and we had been scheduled to have lunch at Mt. Szabó, however, because of the muddy conditions the buses did not attempt to

Welcoming ceremonies at Hotel Szabadság, Budapest.

drive up the steep road, therefore, we had an excellent lunch in Kőszeg itself.

Sunday we again awakened to a miserable rainy, damp day. After breakfast it was arranged that we would arrive in Sárvár about 10:00 o’clock at which time there was both a Roman Catholic Mass being said and the Protestant Services were also scheduled for 10:00 o’clock. In this way all members of the tour were able to atend church services that Sunday morning.

For lunch we stopped at the Halasz Csarda in Keszhely and enjoyed our first famous fish chowder which was well seasoned with hot Szegedi paprika. It had been planned that we would stop at the wine cellars for a wine tasting afternoon. Unfortunately, there were no cellars large enough to take care of the entire group, therefore, it was decided to have our wine tasting right at the Halasz Csarda. In short order a fine gypsy band was obtained and they started playing and to the merriment of the gypsy music, we had our wine tasting ceremony.

From here we went on to one of the most famous baths in Hungary called Heviz, which has both an indoor and outdoor pool. Again unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, not many braved the baths. From the baths we headed for Keszthely and our first view of Lake Balaton, we then followed the shore of the Lake Balaton all the way to Balaton fured where the group was split in two because there was not enough room at one hotel to accommodate all of us. Some stayed at the Hotel Annabella and some stayed at the Hotel Marina. The weather was not conducive for nightlife at Balaton fured, but because there was no gypsy music at the

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Members of William ?enn Association official family who participated' in the Bicentennial Tour

to Hungary.

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