Trip 3 - Mongolia to Eastern Europe

I spent the afternoon visiting the gorgeous baroque Minorite church (on the same square as my hotel), Eger Cathedral (a large, stately 19th-century building with dark paintings), and the outside of the 18th-century Cistercian church (the inside was under renovation). Then I walked 15 minutes west of the city center to Szépasszony-völgy, or "Nice Woman Valley," as it's translated on Eger's street signs. Here, down a steep hill and opposite a stable, are dozens of wine cellars where you can sample locally produced wine-including the Egri Bikavér (bull's blood).

I was the only visitor in the area, as far as I could tell. There were a few dozen cellars, some lavishly inviting, with musicians and outdoor dining; and some nondescript, marked by just a number. I walked to the far end of a field encircled by cellars and entered the nondescript cellar number 48. It was run by an elderly couple who spoke few words-all I could understand was the names of the wines anyway. I sampled the sweet muscat and leányka (two whites), a merlot, and the thick bull's blood, at HUF 30 per glass. The couple was very friendly and invited me to purchase a liter, and while that was tempting, I didn't feel like carrying that around.

I ate a big dinner at Fehérszarvas, a festive place featuring game dishes. I had the Hungarian-sausage sampler (with spicy peppers), bouillon with quail egg and vegetables, deer cooked in wine with frost-nipped cranberries, and, of course, more bull's blood-all for HUF 4700.

The next morning I had a buffet breakfast featuring eggs, juice, sausages, and cheese, and then I admired more of Eger's baroque buildings-particularly on Kossuth Lajos utca, a street with remnants of an old synagogue and the still-intact Franciscan church. This church was the first I'd noticed whose façade's Latin inscription in Latin highlighted the Roman numerals adding up to 1793 (the year of the church's completion). Later on in my travels, I saw many European churches that used that technique.

Then I visited Eger Castle, which dates from the 13th century. Most notable of the items on view were stoves and artifacts from 1552, when Eger was invaded by the Turks. The picture gallery had only a few Hungarian paintings (of battles against the Turks), and the mint-and-coins collection was more like a store, though it was worth the extra HUF 50 to see a 10-million-forint note dating from the days of hyperinflation.

I was immediately enchanted by Budapest: grand buildings, wide boulevards, narrow pedestrian streets, bustling squares, trams, and the beautiful Danube River. The Pest (eastern) side is more built-up and is densely populated; the Buda (western) side is greener and has attractive hills and Buda Castle. The train left me off on the Pest side.

I walked down the busy Rákóczi út from Keleti Station almost until I reached the Danube; then I walked up the pedestrian Váci utca and had some punch-flavored ice cream (HUF 150) at Gerbeaud. I went to the Ibusz agency and arranged a home stay, which was much cheaper than a hotel; I was assigned to the home of Farkas Györgyné (that's the family name first). I also bought a Budapest Card, which allowed me unlimited transportation and free entry to many museums for three days for HUF 2950.

Györgyné was an elderly lady who lived on Markó utca, next to Parliament and the Danube, in the northern part of the city center. She spoke German, so we could communicate. My room faced the front of the building and cost me HUF 3296 per night.

I crossed the Chain Bridge to the Buda (western) side. I had a dinner of fruit soup, gypsy steak, and apricot pálinka (brandy) at the Merleg Vendéglő, a small, friendly restaurant in the city center. Then I walked through the central pedestrian area and up the wide Andrássy út, which passes through a cultural area containing the opera house, theatres, and cafés. I had a dessert of sherbet and an Apenta (a Hungarian soft drink) at the Müvész Café.

I'd met a Hungarian named Andi in 1995 while working at a summer camp in western Massachusetts, and I'd vaguely kept in touch with her by mail since then. I had tried to call her before leaving the United States, and I'd reached her mother, but as I spoke no Hungarian and hadn't thought to try German or Russian, I hadn't made any progress. So, at the Müvész Café, I asked my waitress a small favor-to call the phone number I had and try to reach Andi. She reached her mother, who explained that Andi now lived with her boyfriend; the waitress tried that number and got Andi on the phone. Andi was an English teacher of elementary-school students, and she invited me to come to her school the next morning, meet her students, and attend a music class.

So the next day I made my way to Andi's school, which is attended by students from elementary- through high-school grades. Andi had also been a student there. I waited for her in the teachers' lounge, and then she introduced me to the vice principal and to her former music teacher, who allowed me to watch his high-school class. I couldn't understand the conversation, but I got the point: They were listening to The Marriage of Figaro and writing and discussing their thoughts on what the music evoked.

Then I attended one of Andi's English classes, and I was amazed how much they had learned by the fifth grade. They warmed up with Simon Says, and then they got into a discussion of animal species and tourist attractions in Budapest. Of course they had a few questions for me as well, and they all wanted my autograph. And it was clear they all adored Andi.

Later on I visited the National Museum, whose most noteworthy attraction is the crown of St. Stephen, which dates from the 12th century. The museum also details the history of Hungary from the 12th century to 1990. I met Andi for lunch after school, and we dined at Fatál, a large, bustling place on Váci utca: bean soup with mushrooms and sausage, dumplings and goose leg, and flaming chocolate. She insisted on paying.

That night I saw My Fair Lady-it was rather amusing to watch Henry Higgins try to teach Eliza Doolittle to speak the equivalent of haute Hungarian. The performance was excellent, and it was a bargain at HUF 860. Then I met Andi and her boyfriend, István, and two of their friends. István drove us around looking for a suitable bar while Andi, an ardently patriotic Hungarian, read to us from a book in which someone explained how everyone in the world is Hungarian. We went to one excessively crowded bar and then sat upstairs at a more mellow place, where Andi taught me a word game (called Hudgy-Pudgy or some such thing) that, fortunately, can be played in English: People take turns making up two-word rhyming phrases (such as "junk skunk") and giving clues (such as "smelly animal that no longer works") so that the others can try to guess.

The former home of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt has been turned into a museum, so the next morning I got to see his two pianos and plenty of handwritten scores. Then I toured Castle Hill, a walled castle area on the Buda side with lots of museums. The Music History Museum contained an exhibit featuring scores of Béla Bartók and a collection of instruments from all over, though it wasn't as impressive as the museum in Moscow. The Museum of Commerce and Catering was an interesting, unusual place, and Matthias Church contained pretty paintings and colorful stained-glass windows.

I lunched at Fekete Holló (game ragout soup) and then took the cog-wheel railway and the children's railway (the conductors and ticket sellers are all kids) for 40 minutes through a forest. There wasn't much to do at the end of the line, but it was a beautiful ride through the Buda Hills. I returned to the city by bus and then went to the Kalamajka Táncház (dance house), where for HUF 300 I joined a mix of locals and tourists for a lesson in Hungarian folk dancing, accompanied by a live band. Not terribly hungry, I had a small snack at the Anna Café before returning to Györgyné's.

I took a pretty walk through Margaret Island-in the Danube between Buda and Pest-the next morning; it contains some pretty pathways, gardens, Roman ruins, and churches. Then I walked across the bridge to Flórián tér, in Óbuda-an area of more Roman ruins. The remains of an old synagogue were also nearby.

A more impressive synagogue, aptly named the Great Synagogue, is in central Pest; it also contains the small Jewish Museum. There's also a museum devoted to composer Zoltán Kodály, in his former home near the city park. Kodály composed my favorite opera, Háry János-it's a brilliant introduction to Hungarian folk music. After visiting these, I walked up to the park, fronted by a square and monument dedicated to the country's heroes.

After lunch (hortobágyi palacsinta, or meat pancakes) and some meat dish called Alibaba, I visited the Underground Museum, which explains the construction of the three subway lines. Most interesting was the description of the first subway line; the trains on this line are small, cute yellow trains. Transportation in Budapest, interestingly, is on the honor system-you're supposed to validate tickets before boarding trains and after boarding trams and buses. I was never checked for a ticket my whole time in Budapest, and Andi agreed that the system didn't really encourage honesty: She was still using her September pass, and here we were almost halfway through October.

Later on, I met Andi and István and we went to Andi's parents' apartment, in the southeastern reaches of Budapest. They served us duck, chicken paprikás, and wine, and Andi gave me a book on Kodály. Andi, István, and I attended a concert of Schubert, de Falla, and Tchaikovsky (HUF 800) and then to a restaurant on the Danube for dessert (I had some kind of cake with poppy seeds).

It was hard to find, it was dark, and there were few street lights or street signs and lots of barking dogs (all fenced in, fortunately). It was worth the search, though: The place had just been built, and I got an immaculate room for about $25 a night. The place was also a wine-making facility, as were most buildings in Villány.

I had seen a nice-looking restaurant on the other side of the train station, but after walking the long way back to the station, I realized it was still quite a ways away, and the road was dark and eerie. So I walked back to the center of Villány, where I dined at the Oportó. I had pork stuffed with sausage and some kind of plum-in-dough dessert, and I sampled the kekoportó wine (all for HUF 1380).

I found my way back to the Bock, but I found the gate locked and there wasn't anyone around. My room was in a building at the back, so I climbed over the fence, hoping they didn't have any dogs.

The room rate included a small buffet breakfast, and then I went to the Wine Museum, which contained lots of wine-making tools and an 1895 bottle of Muscat. Then I took a bus through the vineyards (10:20; 18 minutes) to Villánykövesd, one train stop back toward Pécs. Reminiscent of Eger, Villánykövesd had two streets lined with wine cellars. The only one I could find open at this hour was Tiffan (and it wasn't really open-someone was working there and I asked whether I could sample the stuff). I had kekfrankos and Olaszriszling.

In Hévíz I checked in to the Panorama Hotel, an enormous place with two buildings connected by a long corridor; the cheaper rooms were in the back building. The place was OK, even though they had the gall to charge HUF 3500 for Hungarians but HUF 4679 for me. They also couldn't get my credit card to work. I might have searched longer, but it was late and dark and I was tired and hungry-the next day I found several decent-looking places just a block or two away. I had a dinner of goose liver, fish soup, and wine at the Rózsakert.

The Panorama's buffet breakfast almost made up for its annoying policies-among all the usual breakfast goodies were pork knuckles. I took a short walk up the hill from the hotel and visited a brightly lit, recently built church, and then I hit the thermal bath (Gyógy-tó), Hévíz's major attraction. Heated naturally by a spring in a crater, the lake draws Hungarian and Austrian visitors year-round. The day I visited, the air temperature was 12 degrees Celsius, and the water temperature was 31 degrees. I don't usually take to swimming, but I stayed there a couple of hours.

The next morning I took a walk through the attractively laid-out, well-kept gardens, and then I toured the palace; it was ornately decorated but had undergone damage by the Russians. I tried to visit a nearby Haydn museum, but it was closed for restoration.

Most of the train museum was outdoors; the indoor portions were closed. There were still plenty of locomotives on display, though.

I wanted to leave early the next morning for Vienna, so I wanted to stay near the train station. I found the Panzio Bianco, very close to the station; there was only one room available, and for only HUF 900! It was, by far, the most bizarre place I've ever spent a night. The room was in the attic and reached by a ladder; the walls sloped; the toilet was not in a separate room but rather behind a curtain; the bed was simply a futon on the floor; the light switch was a piece of string; and various odds and ends filled the room.

Then I explored some of the attractions in this very attractive, artsy city. I started at the Fabricius House, a museum whose rooms are laid out as they were in the 17th and 18th centuries. Most interesting was the kitchen, with antique utensils and cookery. There were attendants in each room; one of them took a break from her crossword puzzle to give me a flower. I also visited the Goat Church and wandered the streets of the old inner city, admiring the ancient buildings. I checked out a wine cellar (take 'em in while you can), sampling the vegyes Tramini and Riesling and having a snack, and then I walked to the Petöfi Theatre for a performance of Chicago. When I approached the ticket window to buy my HUF 800 ticket, I was shocked to be asked to buy instead from a patron in the lobby who had an extra ticket. Chicago was well-performed, with a good orchestra; I noted that "razzle-dazzle" translated into Hungarian as "hocus-pocus." I had dinner in a nearby downstairs restaurant and then retired to my attic lodging. Go on to part 4