Transdanubia Trip Day 1

A couple weeks ago we were invited to go on a trip to the Transdanubia region of Hungary with Ben's High School. The trip was truly an authentic Hungarian experience in every sense of the word. The day started with us going to Ben's school. He still had to teach that day, but the classes were shorten so that the day would end by 10:00 a.m. This was also my first time to see Ben actually teach. I always knew Ben was a good teacher, but seeing him in action just reaffirmed how good he really is!

After the day was over all the teachers got on the bus and immediately started passing out food. People walked up and down the isle giving us túrós pogácsa (which are cheesy bread biscuits) and other wonderful hungarian snacks. Our bus ride was enhanced by the CD selection of Celine Dion (something one of the female teachers picked out). The journey took around 3 hours, but we stopped several times. First, we stopped for a coffee break at a gas station that could have rivaled any cool Starbucks type place back home.

Then our next stop was after we had gone through Budapest. We stopped at another gas station, but this time had a late lunch. The teachers had packed cooked chicken and pork. We ate our food using a piece of bread as a plate, but before we could eat our lunch the palinka had to be passed around. Most teachers had already cracked open a beer on the bus ride, but the palinka only reinforced the celebratory mood. Teachers were wearing shot glass necklaces just for the palinka! Once we had downed our palinka and ate our lunch we got back on the bus for the final leg of our journey.

Teachers enjoying the food and palinka.

Ben dreading the palinka.
It burns when you drink it!

The first official stop was Bory Castle in the town of Székesfehérvár. This "Castle" was not built by a king, but by a famous Hungarian architect and sculptor named Jenő Bory. We spent a lot of time there wandering the grounds and looking at all the beautiful artwork. Plus, you could climb the towers for a view of the city. 

Our group in front of the Castle.

Ben could be heard saying, "I'm the king of the world!"

From the Castle we went to a random parking lot outside of the downtown. We thought we were going to TESCO to get some breakfast items for the morning, but we were wrong. We actually ended up touring the downtown of Székesfehérvár, which is actually the oldest town in Hungary. We would never have guessed that this sleepy little town once was the place where Hungarians use to crown their kings. Their first king--King Stephen was crowned here in the year 1000. Ever since then kings have been crowned in this city. The downtown also has Roman ruins and has a place called the Garden of Ruins, which is a site where about 30 of their kings and queens were crowned and 15 are buried. 

A jester in the middle of two buildings.

Downtown street with the National Orb.

The Garden of Ruins

After looking at the ruins we went to see a famous a coo-coo clock that plays songs and shows a brief history of Hungary. Our Hungarian-English speaking teachers thought that us calling it a "coo-coo clock" was quite humorous. Then we went to St Stephen's Cathedral, which has beautiful ceiling frescoes and baroque architecture. Finally after an hour or so of touring the town we went to TESCO and got on the bus to go to our hotel. 

The Coo-Coo Clock

Our hotel room.

Our evening activities at the hotel included eating a late dinner of cabbage rice rolls and chicken and playing Hungarian charades (more about that later). We went to bed that night amused and rather full.