AFTER HOURS
48 hours in Debrecen The largest city in eastern Hungary, Debrecen is an elegant place long-famed, like many towns in this part of the country, for its healing thermal waters, here set in majestic forested surroundings. Home to one of the best aquaparks in Europe, it is also a cultural centre of some renown. Its university is Hungary’s largest, and during term-time the city is a lively student centre with a flourishing music scene. Craig Turp
Why visit now? For a start, it has never been easier to get here. Since Wizz Air began operating flights to Debrecen from a number of European cities in 2012, as well as from Tel Aviv in Israel, record numbers of tourists have been visiting the city. Boutique hotels and pensions galore have opened up to accommodate them, offering a more relaxed alternative to the high-rise hotels of the communist era. Get your bearings Debrecen’s recently modernised airport is close to the city centre. Bus number 1 stops outside the terminal building and runs to the main train station in the city centre. The journey takes no more than 15 minutes. From the train station, at the far end of the city’s main street, Piac utca. A tram from run the full length of the street before looping around the city’s park and enormous thermal bath complex. Unless you are heading out
into the Pannonian Steppe (puszta, or Great Plain) it is unlikely you will need any other form of transport: the city is incredibly pedestrian-friendly. Sleep The faded grandeur of the Secession-era masterpiece that is the Aranybika Grand Hotel on central Kossuth tér will appeal to some, but far better value is offered by the many pensions on Debrecen’s side streets. The Malom, a short walk to the west of the city centre and set inside an old mill, has bags of character, charming rooms and a decent restaurant. DAY 1: A Piacful walk Piac utca, Debrecen’s main street, leads all the way from the city’s railway station to its central square, Kossuth tér. A walk along here is the perfect introduction to the city, not least as its northern section is partially pedestrianised: only trams are allowed. During the summer and early autumn 78
there are craft markets, street food fairs and live music most weekends – and often during the week too. (Piac utca in fact translates as Market Street, reference to the important horse markets held here in the past. The Neo-Classical building on the corner of Piac utca and Kossuth utca is the city’s rather fine Debrecen Town Hall, built in 1842-3 to designs by local architect Ferenc Povolny. Reformation & Independence Probably Debrecen’s defining landmark, the modest yet elegant Great Reformed Church (Nagytemplom) stands at the head of Piac utca and is the most important protestant church in Hungary (Debrecen was the heart and soul of the Hungarian Reformation). In 1849, Lajos Kossuth proclaimed the country’s independence from the Habsburg Empire here. The chair he sat in while he read his declaration has been preserved for posterity. There are great views of the city from the top of the western tower.