The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1985 (12. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)

1985-09-01 / 9. szám

Csarda. But we stopped at the town of Szentendre, located along the Danube, about 25 kilometers north of downtown Budapest. Originally it was a Serbian settlement, but nowadays this small town has become a haven for painters, craftsmen and other artists. Our bus parked alongside the main highway along the Danube. We had to climb the narrow street up to the main square, which is marked by an elaborate memorial cross that was set up by the Old Serbian Trading Company in 1763. The entire square is lined with some exquisite 18th century Baroque houses, most of which have been lovingly restored. Since Hungary was celebrating BOOK WEEK during the time our group was there, we found many bookstalls on the square. It seemed that every Hungarian publishing firm is represented! Around the square there are some small souvenir shops, book and record store, cafes and eating places, as well as taverns. Since I had been looking for the new Sándor Lakatos record which I did not have time to buy in Budapest, I inquired at the Book and Record Store, but did not have any luck. However, my father did find a black vest with Matyó style embroidery that caught his eye, and he purchased it. As it turned out, it was cheaper here that in Budapest. Since it was a warm, sunny day, the majority of us lined up outside a privately owned ice cream store where one ordered one, two or three scoop cones and paid one person while the other person scooped out the cones. A third person kept the supply of homemade ice cream ready at all times. Here was another example of capitalism. After our short one hour stop in Szentendre, we were on our way north. As our bus was nearing the Danube Bend, it turned off and started to climb a country road higher and higher. Zsuzsi said we were at the Visegrad Castle, from where there is a beautiful panorama of the little village of Visegrad and the Danube Bend. Here too we have a short stop for those who want to walk up to the castle courtyard, or to pruchase souvenirs, many of which are much, much cheaper here. After the short pause here, we continue to the Silvanius Hotel, located atop Mount Visegrad. Our lunch turns out to be a fabulous meal, and as usual starting off with Apricot Brandy, we also had wine with the meal — a Csopaki Riesling — a fine, medium-dry white wine from the Lake Balaton area. Our meal started off with a fresh lettuce salad, smothered with a sweet/sour, oil/vinegar dressing. The main course was venison with a red wine sauce. Dessert was Rigó Jancsi ■+• September, 1985

PART 8 — Conclusion

Among the last activities of our tour was the trip to the Danube Bend, where we visited Esztergom, the former capital of Hungary and the residence of the Magyar Kings for ages. The city has retained its historic, cultural and administrative importance because it is the seat of the Archbishop of Esztergom, the primate of the Hungarian Catholic Church. Oftentimes he is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Our group went to see the huge cathedral, which is the largest church in Hungary. It stands high on a hill, overlooking the Danube and into present-day Czechoslovakia. An interesting feature of the cathedral is the Bakocz Chapel, that had been part of an earlier church. It was dismantled when the present cathedral was built, and then reassembled and incorporated into the new edifice. We also saw the Cathedral Treasures which really was the old sacristy that had been converted into an exhibition hall, where valuable chalices, vestments and other religious items are in glass display cases for public viewing. Afterwards we headed back to Budapest, using a country road that avoided the busy highway along the Danube that we had used in going to Esztergom.

We arrived back at the Royal Hotel at 5:30 P.M. and were told that we had V/% hours to freshen up for our dinner tonight. It would be at 7:00 P.M. at the famous Mátyás Pince Restaurant. Originally we were scheduled to have dinner at the Royal Hotel, but since Sunday was the day off for the gypsy orchestra, and a dinner with wine and gypsy orchestra was promised in the itinerary, we were taken to the Mátyás Pince, the Matthias Cellar Restaurant, one of the best known restaurants in Budapest. The sign in the restaurant lobby indicated that Sándor Deki Lakatos plays there. As we decended the steps to the restaurant, we could hear the melodic strains of many halgato songs. Bubb alas, Mr Lakatos Jr. was not there. Sunday is also the day off for his orchestra, and another good, sixpiece orchestra of elderly gentlement were playing, quite well in fact. Fortunately they concentrated their music of the nota category of Hungarian music that is so popular with the tourists. Our tables were in the same room as the musicians, and even though the primas, or band leader would wander into the labyrith of rooms that made up the Mátyás Pince, the orchestra remained here, and I was very pleased with the selections they played.

Dinner started off again with Apricot Brandy. By now. all the people were

getting used to this and very few glasses were passed on to those who could handle two or pre-dinner drinks. It put you in a good mood and you didn’t have to be Hungarian at all! Our so-called farewell dinner started off with a routine tossed salad made from fresh lettuce. We learned that it was garden fresh because many farmers grow it under plastic or a hot-house as we would call it. This was followed by a delicious quail soup with little farina dumplings. The main course was an outstanding chicken paprikas, that was a little on the spicy side for many of those in our group. Served with dinner was a good house wine. The waiter did not know what it was or did not want to find out what brand it was. Simply house wine is all he would answer upon my questioning. Dessert was a tasty slice of linzer torte. The time went by so quickly or else, the waiters were extremely efficient because right at 9:00 P.M. Zsuzsi got up and went from table to table to imform us that it was time to leave. “We shall have an early breakfast tomorrow and a lot of people have to pack their suitcases.’’

We arrived back at the hotel shortly after 9:30 P.M. And as Zsuzsi said, we did have to pack together all the items and souvenirs we had purchased in Hungary. Next morning after breakfast we would be flying out of Budapest and returning to New York City. We would be saying good-bye to beautiful Budapest where we had experienced a wonderful weekend.

TRANSYLVANIA:

The Hungarian Minority In Rumania

by

JULIA NANAY $5.00 plus 75c postage.

Bethlen Press, Inc. P.O. Box 637, Ligonier, PA 15658, U.S.A.

JULIA NANAY is a descendant of Transylvanian ancestors. She came to the United States subsequent to the Hungarian uprising of 1956. Miss Nánay graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA in 1973 with a degree in political science. She has received two Master’s degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University) in international economics and energy studies, 1974 and 1975 respectively

Page I I