The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-05-01 / 5. szám
Page 10 THE EIGHTH TRIBE May, 1978 phen I. The Cathedral, with its enormous cupola, awed us into walking our horses with our backs taut and proud. Within the hour we had completed the day’s ride. As we rode into the yard carpenters were still putting the finishing touches on the stable’s new interior. Despite the fact that all three grooms checked the boards for nails and spent the. night sleeping on bales of hay covered with rugs, Sobri caught his flank on a hidden nail. We walked across the field to an outdoor restaurant, Kettős Pines. There we sat under the trees and watched an enormous sun set over the fields. It filtered through the dusty haze, and the whole landscape, dominated by the impressive cupola of the basilica, glowed red. We drank semisweet Champagne from the old Roman province known as Pannonia. I sat next to András Bácsi. As he sipped the wine he told me of his army training, then the chance to go to Bábolna, the model horse farm founded in 1789 by Maria Theresa’s son, Joseph II, and one of the four studs that are the basis of breeding. András Bácsi had handled and worked not only the Arab stallions but the famous Lippizaner horses, and he was best known for driving the Hungarian five-inhand. He began work at Tata in 1957 and had prepared horses for the tours since they started in 1965. He was now sharing his knowledge with Miklós, who had ridden with him since he was eight years old, and László, who at eighteen was spending a year of his agricultural training specializing in horse management. We were served apple and red currant soup, followed by the Magyar dish gulyás, a paprika-flavored stew containing chunks of meat the size of walnuts and onions lovingly and slowly stewed in lard. With the gulyás came a sharp salad of gherkins and pickled cabbage. The meal concluded with a meltingly delicious poppy-seed strudel. In the garden large white and brightly colored poppies hung their heads. We had ridden past many such patches, but it was not until that moment that I realized why they were so carefully tended. Throughout the meal I drank a Debrői Hárslevelű, a dainty, highly aromatic white wine, but I noticed some of my riding companions enjoying a Szekszárdi Vörös, a fullbodied red wine of the southern Transdanubia that Franz Liszt so much admired. We drove on to the Silvanus Hotel in Visegrád. By this time we had ridden too far to make the return trip to our original base in Tata. The modern building is situated like a fortress on a rocky crag, with balconies overlooking a magnificent sweep in the river, close to the thirteenth-century citadel. After a non-riding day reserved for the horses to rest we were eager to continue the trek, but as it was very hot we had to wait until late afternoon. We spent three hours riding through the forests, where we had to walk most of the way to avoid kicking up the dust. Eventually we reached the cool banks of the Danube. First we let the horses drink. Some of them pawed and frolicked in the water. As we trotted on, the sun set on the mountains in front of us. Then to our wonderment the mountains turned blue, and their reflection highlighted the water to a brilliant midnight-blue. We continued riding in the water until it was almost too dark to see, then we crossed back up, galloping along the narrow top of twenty-foot-high banks. I decided it was better not to look or think of the consequences should one’s horse stumble. I gripped hard with my knees, concentrated on my best riding, and noted some other tense cheek lines. We then went along lanes, skirting any growing corn. All at once we were on a cinder track, and Sobri took off. I tried pulling his head, as András Bácsi had taught us, with one short rein, to no avail. I tried the other side, and he gave one of his favorite bucks—very unusual at the end of the day. As we were about to race past Ernő I heard him shout “Hop Hojla, Hop Hojla,” which, although it was musical and tense, seemed to calm Sobri in the way “Whoa, Whoa,” might an English-speaking horse. Then we were in a stable yard, and I understood the horse’s eagerness. He knew his stall and his oats were not far away. The Hungarians do not follow the rule that horses should only walk the last half mile to the stable. Tibor, a famous steeplechaser, proudly showed us around the stauie that he had built from the ground up over the last eight years. We saw matched carriage horses, ponies for children, a chestnut stallion whose coat shone like polished antique furniture, and a frisky little black stallion that jumped like a cat. Tibor took out the Lippizaner to show off its fantastic paces. I peered through the dark to look at a large black racehorse —the best in the country. Each animal looked in prime condition. Tibor told us that the horses were exercised for an hour daily; then the grooms donned TOWNS OF HUNGARY PÉCS Pécs has a populafion of 145 thousand, the fourth largest in Hungary. Beginning with the Christian epoch, it was for four centuries the military centre of the Roman legions. An important colooy of the first Christians lived here and built churches, which gave it its medieval name: Quinque Basilicae, which the Germans transformed into “Fünfkirchen”. The town today has many attractions for the tourists. The mosque built by the Turkish pasha, Kassim, the “Zsolnay” porcelain factory, the Janus Pannonius Museum, and the garden of the Bishop’s Residence, are all places of great interest. In the Mecsek nearby mountains and in Villány excellent wines are produced. You will find them in every restaurant in Pécs. VESZPRÉM This university town of 33 thousand inhabitants is situated between Lake Balaton and Budapest. According to popular tradition, it was rebuilt a hundred times, having been demolished over and over again, first by the Mongolian hordes and later by the Turks. It is more beautiful today than ever. The Castle district is beautiful situated. The restored houses, the Fire Tower and Heroes’ Gate all evoke the past, but the cathedral of Saint Michael is the past incorporated; it has been standing here ever since the year 1000. Nearby you will find Herend, the centre of Hungarian porcelain manufacturing, where products have won world-wide recognition.
