Gyor was the Celtic city of Arrabona when it fell to the Romans. Three rivers meet here, a historically strategic position in the Carpathian plains. Looking at a map you can see all of the old roads radiating out from the city. The town has been fought over and occupied by practically everyone. The Celts, Romans, Magyars, Turks, Habsburgs. Napoleon’s troops retreating from Russia blew up the remaining bits of the fortifications.

I love the rolling sound of the name of the region: Northern Transdanubia.

There is a nice, not too large and not too prosperous pedestrian only old town. With a variety of buildings dating over the past thousand years.

We journeyed to visit a working Benedictine Abbey that has occupied a high point of ground for those thousand years. A stopover point in the first crusade. Now a UNESCO world heritage site.

The 400,000 volume library was remarkable, but the Basilica newly renovated.

Back in Gyor on a rainy Sunday we visited churches in the old town and I photographed their surprisingly dis-similar interiors.

This is our last day in Hungary. We take the train up to Vienna Austria tomorrow.

Returned to Budapest. This time for a leisurely stay in the company of CAMarchand.

 

 

It would have been easy to enjoy many cities with the weather we have had this week: sunshine and the 60’s. But Budapest is a grand and delightful city and we have been out every day enjoying it.

 

 

The city straddles the Danube, the longest river in the EC and a traditional border of the Roman Empire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Buda sits on a narrow, low hill on the West side.

 

 

 

 

The castle of the Magyar’s, dating from the 1200s broods up over Pest, across the river.

The castle stands on the ruins of a number of earlier fortifications. The Habsburgs were in residence for about 150 years. The entire town has been repeatedly destroyed by the Turks, the Christians, and most recently when the Germans, on Hitler’s orders, fought to the last with the Red army. Walking around Buda I wonder if the ground itself contains a cacophony of bits of the DNA from the blood of so many armies from Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Likewise the people.

Today it has been (once again) rebuilt/restored and it is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the river the old town of Pest has a fine area of pedestrian only streets. And here in a warm November there are plenty of people about.

The Americans have established fast food beach-heads in Pest.

But mostly there are many many restaurants serving what seems to me to be the same “traditional Hungarian dishes”. Although I suppose the tourists like this, I have learned to avoid them, and frequent the plentiful Italian and French restaurants.

There is a nice central market to enjoy a stroll through.

And a truly excellent National History Museum.

Some more “Grand Budapest” photos;

A “lest we forget” section;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some unusually styled photos to enjoy.

Bonus:  A (repeat) travel tip. Hotel laundry charges are one of the biggest rip-offs in the world   Our hotel charges $6.36 to launder one pair of shorts. Having built up a load of laundry needing processing, (all darks so one load), we locate a nearby laundry using “maps”. There the proprietor runs the washer and drier while we walk about .. and charges us $5.50 for the entire load. This included a pair of Cathy jeans, which in the hotel would have cost $11.02 !!!

P.S. If you carry a bar of laundry soap you can always push the laundry along a few days until you are in some place long enough to deal with it.

Enjoying Munich with Cathy.  This is one of her favorite cities.

Munich is, of course, glorious. The old capital of Bavaria, backed up to the Alps, and not particularly historic unless you are studying the medieval salt industry and trade.

At the moment the warm weather is lingering into mid-fall, and the city is full of people.

 

At noon the tourists (us too) fill the square in front of the Rathous (city hall) to watch the ancient glockenspiel turn.

There are of course plenty of grand and official looking buildings.

But also plenty of just great views and interesting little places around the old town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Munich is the kind of place one could stay in for an extended period. Great markets with the highest quality foodstuffs of every kind. A wonderful downtown city park (the English garden) to walk in. You would have to leave if you needed any kind of clothing, etc. Because Germany is expensive!

A lot of the tourist activities revolve around Munich having (I am told) the best beer in the world. And (I know) they are in a tie with southern China for the best pork in the world.

You can enjoy both together (the serving suggestion) practically everywhere. Sitting outdoors in the sun, in the beer hall. Everywhere.

I have been here on and off over 45 years. And there are restaurants I go back to, just because.

And I particularly enjoy the Technology Museum, 5 stories of technological history to warm an old engineer’s heart. They have cars and planes and boats (a U Boat with the side cut away so you can see all the interior), and I cannot stay away from the hall of the steam engines that ran the industrial revolution. They have a Watt engine built from the original drawings.

The museum is in way better shape today than it was in 1945.  In fact it seems impossible they saved anything.

Here is the Marionplatz in 1945.  One of the many places where you can (like London) see the new buildings that filled in the bombed gaps.

Munich actually survived the Allied power’s bombing pretty well. As opposed to say Dresden where the capability of humans to create a “fire storm” (plasma loose on the earth) was tested. Who can understand the first half of the 1900’s and our self-inflicted destruction of the leadership of western civilization in the world.

Munich, this prosperous, beautiful, welcoming city was the home of the Nazi party. The first death camp was constructed just down the road. So it goes.

Some church pictures. Just because.

 

Pecs is not a big town, but seems to be as it sprawls across a valley and climbs the surrounding hills.

It has scrappy areas, but also fine houses and gardens, shopping, malls, etc. Some of the town walls dating from about the year 1000 are standing.

Tribal people were around this area for thousands of years, but the notable history of the town starts when the Romans displaced the Celts about 2000 years ago. They built their town up into the Capital of the Province Valeria, known for its fine wine plantations. This was an important early Christian center in the first centuries AD. And after the Romans came the endless Balkan wars.

The Ottomans held the area twice, one time for over 150 years. They converted all the churches to Mosques and built more, which the Christians converted to Churches upon their return.

I think that this may be the only city I have ever been in that was pillaged and burned by the Christians.

Today Pecs is a major University town. And a major tourist attraction, because the old town has somehow survived mostly intact through the centuries of war, including a nearby tank battle of the Red army.

And it is spectacular. Some pictures.

I have also been enjoying the numerous, well marked hiking trails in the hills, although they are a bit rough for street boots.

Pecs is said to have a Mediterranean climate. Now, well into the Fall, the weather is chilly but with a warm sun under a bright blue Bemidji sky.

A Pec story. The old Bishop’s summer house is a ruin.

Which maybe started when the Turks began to use it as a hostel for Dervishers. Presumably the whirling type, which probably ran down the neighborhood.

The prices for everything (Taxis, Hotels, meals) are about one third higher here than I have had over the past few weeks. And my hotel is full of Germans with lots of German TV stations. Maybe these observations correlate.

I have been eating mostly in (good) Italian restaurants having once again had a terrible “Hungarian” dinner in the Tourist area. There is fine dining here. But somehow that is not so attractive when travelling alone.

Some random indoor pictures.  The little café interior is in a place that has been operating since 1758.  The lobby picture is in a fine hotel right downtown.  It has a beautiful and large dining room. I tried to get in for Sunday Brunch and it was fully booked!

 

Tomorrow (middle of the night) I waggle up to Budapest and then fly to Munich to rendezvous with CAMarchand who is winging in through Philadelphia. Looking forward to her company travelling with me over the next few weeks.

 Balkan Trains: Key learning: Take the Inter-city (IC) trains, and get into the first class car. It is still very difficult to climb up into the car, but once on board the seats are quite comfortable, and there is space to stow your luggage.

The washrooms are bad, but so it goes.

Wrote here on a crisp blue sky fall morning, trundling across farmed valleys and through wooded hills. Romania might be a bit down at the heels, but this is a pretty country. The villages we pass look interesting and it seems to me that a wander around road trip through the Balkans could be a pleasure.

Arad

Earlier I had changed my plans and shortened my stay in Arad, based on it being described to me as a “little county town”. But it was as interesting as anyplace I visited it Romania. You can guess its history: captured and belonged to everybody over the centuries.

Pictures around town.

 

What I liked best about Arad is that it is a living working city. Bustling in fact. And therefore plenty to see.  Sibiu as a contrasting example had a great old town, but after seeing it in one day not much else going on.   Arad street scenes:

 

 

Part of my stop here was to figure out how to cross into Hungary. The people at the ticket booth at the train station had never heard of the train I had researched for my plan and wanted to put me on an overnight trip with train changes.

However capable travel agent Cristina

 

Piggybacked me into a car taking two travelers to the Budapest Airport who dropped me in Szeged. Which proved to be a very easy trip on a brand new motorway. Across farmland as flat as Illinois.

 

 

I can truthfully say that I enjoyed this visit to Romania. And I do not always say that leaving a country.  Everyone I met was friendly, helpful and kind.  It is an interesting country and perhaps I can see more of it one day.

Hats off for the food and wine.

Some bonus photos around Arad.

 

A Romanian Bus ride

Journeyed to Sibiu by bus. Had come from Oradea to Cluj by train and not noticed I had been sold a second class ticket. It was a difficult trip. Very hard to get luggage onto and off the train and nowhere to put it. Crowded, stuffy with wretched bathrooms.

But there are many independent bus companies operating in the Balkans and I decided to try. The hotel arranged a reservation for me. ($8.33)

The company operated out of a little shed at the bus station.

The bus was crowded with small hard seats. The proverbial “cheek by jowl”.

We made very slow progress because of many stops, and at every stop a laborious process of new passengers buying tickets from the driver.

One rest station. Fresh new paint.

Pay this woman a quarter and use the wash room. No towels. No problem, dry your hands in your hair.

 

Sibiu

I came to Sibiu as surely all tourists do, to see one of the best preserved medieval old towns in Europe. And it is very nice. The town was originally founded by Germans and was one of the six Saxon cities of Transylvania. Here are some photos of a few of the more spectacular areas and buildings.

There are also interesting little nooks and vistas around the old battlements.

Even the unrestored streets in the old town are are interesting. And there are still plenty of crumbling buildings worthy of saving.

I was attracted to a large produce market down by the river in the real town.

 

This is a very tidy town with block after block of fine houses with well-tended gardens. There are also areas of gritty soviet style apartment blocks, and poor people with the history of hard living written on their faces.

Cathy asked me why my “indoor” pictures were always pubs and restaurants (woops) and so I took these:

 

Tomorrow back on the train. Six hours across Romania. Did get a first class ticket ($27). Will lay over two nights in Arad, a little town near the border and figure how to best cross into southern Hungary.

So impressed by the price to quality ratio of Romanian wines. Googled it up and learned that they have been making wines here for 6000 years. Wow indeed.

Divide by 4 to get dollars.

Cluj Napoca, the capital of Transylvania.

This city was known to the Greeks as the capital of Dacia. Which fell to the Romans. But the Romans packed up and left before the year 300, so only fragments are left of their colony.

In Medieval times one of the six Saxon cities of Transylvania.  In modern times back and forth between Hungary and Romania, and now within Romania.

The city is within a valley between rolling hills along a fast moving river. Not too big and easy to walk around. Lots of effort is being put into the renovation of of the city:  streets, sidewalks, buildings. But there are also still many rundown buildings that could be wonderful if restored.

As always the communist infrastructure has fallen into ruin and blight. The town gas distribution system throughout the city is (you guessed it) ghastly.

There are some fine buildings here, notably the Orthodox Cathedral.

And the Roman Catholic Basilica.

And to go along with them here are some street photos of some other interesting buildings.  Starting with the opera house.

One photo I posted on Facebook for my urban planner friends is this impressively designed street accommodating cars, parking, bicycles and pedestrians.

I have enjoyed my visit and time spent in this city. And for future visitors have made up this little catalog of “Things you could do in and around Cluj”

Ride a Romanian train and meet nice people

Find a nice Pub/Restaurant

Go to a Craft market

Or a farmer’s market

Walk along the river, or in the hills, or the Park

Go to the game

Track down history

Or philosophy

Get married

Make a new friend

Here are some random indoor pictures

And I must share with you my best pictures from Cluj.

The happy eggs.

 

 

 

Off tomorrow deeper into Romania.

 

 

Oreada, my first stop in Romania. Five hours south via super slow train seemed like it would be enough for one day, and it was.

The town is said to have been at its best in the 1300’s. Before the Turks flattened it. The first time. They flattened it again in the 1600’s. Everyone in the neighborhood has ruled it over the years. The Hungarians, Habsburgs, the Ottomans, etc.

Oradea has some nice buildings. Lots of churches. And as many coffee shops per-capita as Seattle. Here are some photos. Around town.

Romania is poor. The infrastructure from the Communist past is run down and broken and ugly. Bacos, the bartender at the wine bar Tapta is leaving with his brother to find work in Manchester where “the wages are better”.

Work is underway to restore this city. They are rebuilding the pavement in the central square and it looks like it will be beautiful when complete.

There is a nice pedestrian only street.

 

But more work is needed. There are too many closed shopfronts and crumbling buildings.

People who allow themselves to be bored would certainly be bored here in this little country town. I had a fine time. Nice walks along the river.

Good food and wines.

The prices are amazing. Unlike some poor countries (e.g. Portugal, Argentina) where prices are inexplicably high, prices here are in proportion. In a pub had a bottle of a fine Romanian Pilsner beer for a dollar 4 cents. A Cepressa salad is 3 dollars. A good bottle of wine in a restaurant is between 6 and 16 dollars.

At the restaurant “To Chefs” I had one of the best dishes I have ever eaten: a bacon wrapped Tenderloin heaped with black truffels. For eleven dollars and 50 cents.

Some random indoor pictures.

Everyone I have met has been friendly and welcoming.  There is plenty of English. In fact almost all the indoor “Muzac” backgroung music is in English.

A few observations:

Like Texans, the women who can, dress up, but the men don’t bother. The women paint their eyebrows a startling black. And wear false eyelashes.

Service is spotty. Excellent in some places. Pretty bad in most, where working seems to involve standing (or sitting) around talking with the other employees.

Cigarettes are smoked everywhere. Here is something we have forgotten, ash trays and a cigarette menu in the coffee shop.

The Balkans !

Such a tumultuous history that even the name is a metaphor for fracture and strife.

A crossroads between Asia, Europe and the Middle East the borders have been redrawn over and over throughout history as the area has fallen in continual conquest to every migrating tribe, expanding city state, nearby country, or empire. Not to mention the intra area conflicts.

In my lifetime the formation and then dissolution of Czechoslovakia. In almost everyone’s time the emergence of new countries from the Bosnia war.

I arrived a few days ago in Budapest, once with Vienna the twin capitals of the Habsburg empire. Today the Capital of Hungary. Have been hanging around the Marriott getting over jet lag and mostly sampling the food and wines. Will be back here in a month or so with Cathy, so no need to do serious sightseeing museums etc.

I was very surprised by the Grandeur of Budapest. The city seems more Grand than say Paris. It makes Rome look shabby, and cities like Prague a discarded peanut. Here are some random photos of grand buildings.

 

Budapest has emerged from the coma of communism and is alive. There are countless cafes pubs and restaurants. Crowds of tourists but also locals out everywhere enjoying the city. Also shops, supermarkets, malls and fancy shopping.

 

The city has an extensive metro system coupled with trams and busses. Very orderly. The taxis are spotless. The metro stations have spacious underground areas al la Moscow. Some underground photos.

 

There are still lingering communist hangover traits:      Occasional inept and surly service. Spurious charges on bills. Lots of leather jackets. And an incredible number of cigarette smokers (outside only).

This is a low income country and the populace have not yet recovered elegance. But the city seems elegant nevertheless from the legacy of the endless grand architecture.

One particular note. The streets are very very clean. No litter, some but not much graffiti.

 

And no dog poop. Quite a contrast from many European cities (e.g. Paris) where it seems to have rained dog poop. Perhaps not many dogs, but also these dog convenience stations located here and there.

 

I am currently on a train south to Romania. Trundling at Russian train speeds (slow) across an endless plain. Flat as a pancake. The villages look like Germany 40 years ago.  But with new investment.  New train stations, electrical infrastructure, road construction.

Will be continuing as this “Around the Balkans in 80 Days” tour continues.

Some train pictures.