Hungary Trip -3

This is a statue of Kossuth. He is the major national hero. Every town has several statues, several streets, and usually a square named after him. This one is in Debrecen, but trust me - you'd see similar ones everywhere.




On Sunday, after dropping Chris and Paul at the train station Dana successfully drove us back to the apartment where we had lunch. Our next big adventure was a trip to Tesco - a huge one, much bigger than ours inTralee. It was sort of like a Super-Walmart, with small stores around the edge and a huge section for products other than groceries. We had a good time shopping and met an American - Margie Germain, who lives and works in Kisvarda, Hungary, a small town north of Nyireghaza. She heard our American accents and came up and said hello. We talked a while then gave her a ride to the train station, with a tentative plan to visit on Tuesday. That afternoon we drove to town centre and explored the mall. There was an ice sculpture exhibit for Valentine's Day.Then we went grocery shopping at Interspar again, and went home for supper and a restful evening.

Tuesday we drove to Debrecen - no problem driving on the right again! Dana had his follow-up dentist visit and received his new bridge. After about 3 hours this time, he was free! We bid David goodbye and went to town centre - explored the square and surrounding area and I had lunch in the food court of a huge mall we had not seen before. (Dana wasn't eating yet - and yes, I did avoid the KFC and Burger King and had a Hungaraian salata!). Then back to Nyireghaza to buy a toaster (Tesco again) and have a nice dinner at the apartment.

On Tuesday, it snowed again, but we decided we could make it, so we drove north to Kisvarda to see Margie. We had tea in her little village, then toured her secondary school and her apartment.
On the drive back we stopped in a small village Berkesz and Dana finally got some shots he wanted of the very typical house structure we've seen everywhere - a small house with several out buildings hooked on to the back all in a row and all connected! (He wants me to tell you these still aren't the best, but give you the idea!)






Wednesday we went the the Thermal Baths at the lake (Sosto I think) in Nyireghaza. It was wonderful - very relaxing and healing. I especially enjoyed it and floated in the hot water outside in the frigid (1 degree C) air and had a good cry and spiritual experience saying goodbye to John Tua. We knew he was dying, but it turns out he actually died just about the time I was floating! After lunch at home, we went to town centre one more time and explored some of the more traditional squares and streets, then had dinner at home.

Thursday we drove to Hortobagy National Park, about an hour beyond Debrecen. This is the puszta, the flat plains area. Dana said it reminded him of Kansas! There was a very nice visitor's centre with everything in English and an exhibit on the Hortobagy wildlife - most of which we couldn't see live because of the winter weather. We enjoyed lunch at the Csarda, a traditional inn, and walked around the little village. Then we drove a short distance to Mata where there are famous horses and equestrian centres. Most were closed for the winter, but we saw some horses in a stable and some pulling carts and saw some of the famous long-horned cattle. We stopped at a little shop which looked closed but as we were pulling in, a car pulling out turned around and came back - it was the potter and he let us in. Here are pictures of him, the pot we bought, and his beautiful kiln.




We then walked around the 9-hole bridge, a famous landmark and saw some neat statues. That night we ate at home and cleaned up and packed.





Friday morning we drove to the factory. Michael assigned us a young driver who was so kind, He not only drove us to the train station - he helped us get to the right place at the right time, and stayed with us on the very chilly platform to get us safely on the right (and late!) train!