travel village has been deliberately preserved in its traditional state and paints a picture of the Hungarian subgroup, Palóc, and their life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Walk down the only road taking in the beautiful old houses and walk into every single craft shop and museum you find. Follow the road and hike up the hill for twenty minutes and you’ll find a medieval castle, and a picturesque view of the village and surrounds vineyards, orchards, and general loveliness. Easter hosts the best festival of the year; think colourfully decorated costumes, folk crafts and customs, and men throwing buckets of water over women, for some reason. Pécs
a ruddy good, liveable city. Go and see the 11th Century cathedral, the 4th Century necropolis, or the the Mosque of Pasha Quasim, built when the Ottomans came to take over. There are a few museums to get stuck into, with two of them focusing on local artists Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry and Victor Vasarely. Nearby is the town of Villány, famous for its red wine. Nip over and take a tour of any of the wineries for your obligatory holiday-wine-day-out. National parks Aggtelek is a national park is for those who think geology ‘rocks’ (apologies). With 280 caves spread across 200 square kilometres and stretching into Slovakia, Aggtelek is bound to sate your cavernous desires. Its limestone landscape, stalactites and stalagmites (I can never remember which is which) may seem familiar, but unlike Gibraltar these caves are a little larger in size, one of which is known to be the largest stalactite cave in Europe!
The great thing about Europe is that you can step into any town on the map and the chances are it’s got some history behind it. Pécs is no different. Founded two thousand years ago by the Romans, it’s now exists as a small (although large in Hungarian terms) university town. Hungary has been a Christian state for a long time and Pécs has the Early Christian Őrség is the the place Hungarians go to Necropolis to back that up, built in the relax. Tucked away in the west by the 4th Century. But Pécs is better known as border of Slovenia, this place is renowned being a multicultural melting pot. The valfor its luscious meadows, marshland, and ues of people from different backgrounds a forest that covers the region with a have all blended together over smattering of quaint little towns the city’s history and its inhabiIt seems and villages for good measure. tants still live in harmony togethThe region’s directorate have as if nothing er. Pécs has won awards for been working hard to prehere has peace, tolerance, and just being serve the natural and historical changed
surroundings, which is why it seems as if nothing here has changed for a few hundred years. Tranquillity awaits you. Hortobágy is a national park rich with folklore and cultural history. Wild horses have been grazing this steppe for over ten thousand years and have been joined more recently by other beasts such as oxen and cattle. The main attraction here is Nine Hole Bridge, 167 metres of stone road with entrances broader than the rest of the bridge to make life easier for herdsmen to cross the river by funnelling their animals in an orderly manner. There are also around 350 different types of birds, which combined with the open horizon, attracts birdwatchers and sunset admirers alike. Keep an eye out for the shadoofs (sightly, early irrigation tools) jutting into the air across the landscape. The land of Hungary is blanketed with natural beauty, compelling history, and charming towns. Cross over to Budapest over a long weekend for a city break with a difference, or take your time exploring the countryside, towns, and villages for a relaxing cultural holiday. All that’s left for you to do is visit this captivating country, and that’s left for me to do is refrain for a few more sentences from making any drab ‘hungry’ puns. So save up those pennies and make a new entry on your bucket list; this really is a travel destination that will leave you hungry for more. (Sorry.)
for a few hundred years. Tranquillity awaits you.
Pécs 70
Baradle Cave in Aggtelek National Park GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MARCH 2018