Europe, Part Three; Hungary, Part Two

Monday marked the beginning of week two in Europe and day three in Hungary. Once we had eaten breakfast we packed our bags and said goodbye to my beloved Győr. We traveled across the country in about 3 hours and visited a castle in Eger, a city where only Elders served but I was lucky enough to take part in a youth trip to this castle as a missionary serving in Debrecen. We spent an hour or so there then continued on to Miskolc, which was my greenie area. I'll be honest, I don't have fond memories of that place but there are some gems.

The castle in Eger

We drove over the river through the woods, literally, and over a mountain and I shouted at Garmin the whole time, "Where are you taking us?!!" Scott kept the relative calm by laughing and chimed, "What an adventure!" We got to our hotel in the late afternoon and drove to a restaurant that serves savory palacsintas. A palacsinta (paula-cheen-ta) is a Hungarian pancake, similar to a crepe. Very filling.

Scott was so patient waiting for his massive palacsinta.

After dinner was the traditional hunt for ice cream. Well all the ice cream shops were closed so we had to buy a pint from the grocery store. We decided to turn in early and watch a movie from Scott's iPad. It was a relaxing night.

In the morning, we made our way up to Lillafüred (lee-la-fur-ed) which is a palace turned tourist attraction. It is beautiful. There is a lake and a gorgeous palace which is now a hotel and caves under the mountain which we of course took a tour in. Best of all, they had lángos! A lángos (laan-go-sh) is deep-fried potato dough brushed with garlic and topped with shredded Trappista cheese and and sour crème. So bad for you but so tasty!

By the afternoon, we were at the castle in Miskolc called Diósgyőr (de-osh-gy-ur). Diósgyőr is cool because it used to be on the 200 forint bill (forint is their currency). I have a picture of me standing in front of Diósgyőr with a 200 forint bill as a missionary. They are currently in the process of rebuilding the rough parts. It used to look really cool and war torn and now it'll look ordinary and new. Castles are meant to look like they've undergone fighting and cannon fire! But I digress. We had a great time exploring the parts that were open and Scott loved the fact that we were at a castle. He's such a boy.

When we had our fill of castles, it was late afternoon so we started our drive to a small town in between Miskolc and Debrecen called Polgár where a member lives who was letting us stay at her house for the night. Her daughter, Antonia, had been my companion as a mini-missionary for my first transfer in Gyor. They attend the branch in Miskolc so I'd known them since my first area. Judit (equivalent to Judith but pronounced You-deet) met us with open arms as if no time had passed. She is a wonderful woman and strong member of the church. She took us to eat at a traditional Hungarian village restaurant and we chatted amicably. Poor Scott. He had no idea what we were saying and Judit doesn't really speak English so it was just us talking. He was a trooper though. Gosh I love that man!

That night, we did laundry and planned the remainder of our trip. In the morning, we said farewell to Judit and drove on to Debrecen. We got there earlier than anticipated and had time to go to Hortobágy (Hore-toe-baaj) which is where they sell the whips. (If you've never seen or heard me whip my Hungarian bullwhip, you are seriously missing out. Ask me to show you and I'll gladly whip it out! Pun intended!) Hortobágy is part of the national parks in Hungary and they do horse and buggy tours of the area complete with men in full traditional wear, whipping on horses. Not just in the saddle but standing on top of the horse lying down on the ground. There is also a guy standing on two horses and holding the reigns of three more horses riding around the buggies in circles. It was pretty amazing!

The Hortobágy Five

Soldiers used this technique to teach their horses not to react to gunfire overhead.
The whip sounds like a gun shot. These horses didn't flinch!

Buggy ride over, we walked back to our car and drove back to Debrecen. We ate dinner at another boat themed restaurant, this one on land, called Calico Jack's. The food was pricey and not what you would call traditional Hungarian food but you go for the atmosphere. Ice cream followed as usual. Can't get enough of it!

The next day we did some shopping and took pictures. We bought me some Hungarian DVDs and a DVD player for home since the DVDs here only play on region 2 players which is not the same players as America (region 1 for those interested). With pictures all taken and my experiences of Debrecen exhausted, we drove on to Budapest for the last three days of our trip which will be the final installment of these entries for this trip.