Hungary Trip 2

Chris and Paul picked us up and we went to dinner at Cactus Jack's in Debrecen. (Dana continued to feel amazingly well, or at least say he did, and was hampered very little by all the work he had done). It was so much fun to meet them again - and in Hungary of all places! (A reminder - they visited us in August, 2007 with their son Tommie and Mick, Jeannie, Dick and Pat from Iowa - Chris was an exchange student in the 60's with Dick's family in Belle Plaine IA! They have a factory in Luxembourg and a branch factory in Nyireghaza, Hungary (30 minutes from Debrecen) with an apartment and car!) They drove us to the Nyireghaza apartment which was fantastic.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at home (yes, I stayed on my diet, even in the hotel room!) and then went to the factory.Paul gave us a great tour which we found very interesting. They make parts for other companies, such as frames for painting cars. I'm sure I don't have it straight, but we enjoyed it, and he trusted that Dana was not in to industrial espionage with his camera!

We then went to town centre - which surprisingly to us is
dominated by a big, modern mall. We had a late lunch at John's Pub (yes, I know, but that seemed to be the best choice even though it doesn't sound Hungarian) and then walked around town centre. We enjoyed the "Padlock Tree" and the many squares and statues.
Paul drove us out to a beautiful little lake and park - a summer resort with water park and thermal baths (pictures on another post, from the day we actually went to the baths). Then for our first shopping venture at Interspar - a huge store with a most impressive (to me) revolving door! We had dinner at home - this was part of the joy of having the apartment!

Thursday morning all 4 of us set off for Romania. The drive thru rural Hungary was very interesting - lots of cornfields! And, quite a few "ladies" standing in driveways in tight jeans, high-heeled boots, and fur jackets selling their ...well themselves! We didn't' stop.

ROMANIA - THE MAREMURES REGION

We waited quite a while at the Romanian Border - our American passports apparently
took more scrutiny than Chris and Paul were used to! Once in, we continued to enjoy the countryside as we entered the Maremures Region. We made a short stop in Satu Mare, then drove to Baia Mare, where we toured the town centre/square and then drove to our hotel - the Euro Hotel, which was very nice. We had a good and incredibly cheap dinner!

We woke up Friday to a significant covering of snow - enough to raise some question as to whether we should do the car tour through the mountains as planned. However, after some consultation, Paul decided to brave it, and boy was it worth it. The driving was adventuresome at times, and he did a great job. What gorgeous scenery! We stopped at several small, rural churches and saw beautiful countryside and interesting people and structures.
In the middle of this very rural mountainside were these elaborate wood or iron gates. The tradition is to build the gate before the house to ward off any bad luck or evil spirits.

PICTURES OF SOME OF THE GATES
(all by Dana except the red one and the one with a flag)




























The whole day was fantastic, but the 2 highlights were near the end.The first one is one of the out-of-the-way things Paul has discovered in his tours of the area; when he's in Hungary by himself he loves to go exploring in the mountains and we benefited!


First highlight - The Merry Cemetery. This is a cemetery in a church yard made up almost entirely of blue painted crosses, each with a picture and a verse. The pictures are caricatures of the person's life - either occupation or particularly significant events. Most are very positive though one apparently shows a girl being run over by a car. The verses are all light-hearted, telling of happy events (supposedly - of course, they were in Hungarian, so we're going by report!)

From Tourism Site: The merry cemetery of Sapanta has been, for more than fifty years, the creation of sculptor Stan Patras, the successor of several generations of wood artists that bequeathed their trade from father to son. In the beginning he sculpted about ten crosses a year. The method of work has been preserved unaltered to this day. The oak wood is cut into beams that are then allowed to dry one or two years. Next they are hewn into 10-cm thick planks, 2.20 m long and 30-40 cm wide, ranged in stacks, and allowed to dry for some months more. Then the sculptor begins his work: first he draws the geometrical motifs and the bas-relief dedicated to the deceased, then he sculpts and paints the cross in blue - a symbol of hope and freedom. In 1934, Patras began to scribble an epitaph on the crosses. Usually it is a short poem written in the first person, dotted with archaisms, vernacular phrases and...spelling errors. The sculptor-poet's source of inspiration is the two-three night wake. The relatives of the dead person do not mourn, but drink and make merry. The entire life of the village is featured in this cemetery. The shepherd, the farmer, the wood ranger, the wood cutter, or the pupil stand side by eternally, with the weaver, the spinner, the housewife, the merchant, the carpenter, the doctor, the musician or the drunk. This colective memory of Sapanta, this ensemble of colourful graves where each dead peson recounts humbly his/her existence with its joys and sorrows, creates a serene and merry atmosphere, a sort of challenge to death, a hymn to life. The creative spirit of Stan Ioan Patras still havers over the merry cemetery of Sapanta even if today most of the crosses are concocted by his students. His continuator now is Dumitru Pop. Born into a poor family, he studied with Patras since he was nine, and during his holidays he sculpted miniature crosses and frescoes. He went then to a vocational school in Timisoara and returned to Sapanta in 1977, after the death of Stan Ion Patras. Ever since Dumitru Pop has been living and working in the shadow of his master, inhabiting the maestro's old home.

Second highlight - After leaving the cemetery we had some really dicey roads and several of the veiws he wanted to show us were completely fogged in. However, everything was still pretty - for the riders! There were virtually no businesses, and we all needed a stop - and lucked onto the Cabana Bradet. This was a very large inn, maybe in a summer tourist spot, but very isolated at this time of year. We went to the door and found that the interior was all decked out for a wedding - but they welcomed us to the undecorated, bar side where we enjoyed drinks and the facilities.

We then drove down the icy mountain road, back to the border (another even longer wait), and home. Had dinner at the pub right by the apartment - good and very convenient, as we were tired.

Saturday we got up and went to the Russian Market - a large open air "flea" market, so named because the Ukrainians ride the train down early Saturday morning to buy and sell. By the time we were there they were gone, but we still found it interesting and made several purchases! .
Paul was called to a work emergency with Michael, whom we had met at the factory, so we drove to Michael's house and stayed there while he and Michael dealt with the problem. We thoroughly enjoyed the hour with Angela and 2 year old David in their beautiful house.









We then took a driving tour through the wine region, Tokaj, marked by many vineyards set against mountains.





Paul showed us another of his exploration "finds" , an ancient mud fort. It reminded us all of the round stone forts in Ireland, but this one is a circle of small, man-made hills. The picture does not do it justice, but invision this mud buildup in a complete circle with a large center for houses, etc. It was a good system - easy to defend. We then walked around the little wine town of Tokaj, which is very quaint and pretty, but pretty deserted on a winter Saturday. And now for the next highlight - and remember this was Valentine's Day!





We drove for quite a while on narrow mountain roads and came to Paul's destination - a stunning castle on a hill - not as big as the Rock of Cashel but pretty much as awesome! We drove up, took pics, then walked further up. The castle itself was closed for the season, but we didn't mind. The view was spectacular and look at the innovative snowman someone had made! And now, the coup de grace - the pub Paul was looking for was open - in the "bowels" of the castle, a rock cave! This is a medieval restaurant, Castrum Balduo. We wore robes, ate from wooden bowls and rank from wooden cups. The menu was filled with game, fish, and interesting sounding dishes and everything we had was very good. It was a spectacular valentine's dinner!








When we got back to Nyireghaza, we went to the train stations to buy tickets for Chris and Paul for the next day - they were leaving to go back to Luxembourg. Then home for a good night's sleep before dropping them at the train Sunday morning and taking our first independent drive - back to the apartment. Although this ends the section titled "Chris and Paul", they should be a sub-title on the next section also, as they provided the car, apartment, and logistical support!