Hairgrove's in Hungary: Tokaj Weekend Trip

In a sleepy, picturesque little village just north of Debrecen is where some of the best wine in all of Hungary and possibly Europe can be found--that place is Tokaj. Since the 15th century Tokaj has been producing wines and continues to use its unique microclimate along the southern and eastern edges of the Zemplen Hills to its advantage.

We arrived in town early Saturday morning with our friends Nancy and Amy. We first went to our hotel to check in and drop off our bags. The hotel is connected to a bar, which is across the street. As Nancy and Amy checked in with the bar owner/hotel person, a crusty old man sitting at the bar starts staring at me and Ben. Then he asks, "Are you German?" "No," Ben replies, "We're American's." "Oh," the old man says, "Well, that's exciting! Why did you come to this dump?" By this point in the conversation it was time to leave and see our rooms, so we couldn't clarify what he meant by "this dump." As was he talking about the hotel being a dump or was he referring to the town or Hungary......we have no idea. I have a feeling this man is not head of tourism for Tokaj...just a hunch.

The train station of Tokaj.

Our hotel room in Tokaj. Not a dump! :)

After we dropped off our bags we toured the town until lunch. Finding the river, the downtown and many beautiful buildings. We arrived a little early so we decided to wait to do our wine tasting until the afternoon. Not that there is a rule about drinking before noon in Hungary, but we thought we would do better drinking on a full stomach.

Random boats filled with water.

Looking at the town from the river.

Headed towards "downtown."

Church.

Amy with the happy wine man statue.

Ben in a wine cellar.

Ben enjoying the garden area of one
of the wine tasting places.

Artistic shot of wine bottles.

A random pup in front of a cool rusted/painted wall.

Nesting storks can be found on many
homes in town.

The Jewish Synagogue.

Ben kind of looking like Justin Bieber here.

We had a great lunch in the downtown area and then were left with the dilemma of what to do next. We wandered around looking for random things and then finally discovered a hiking trail up bald mountain. The trail started in the graveyard and weaved it its way to the top. We were happy to get into the covering of the tree's because it was so windy that day. The path was easily marked by painted trees and Ben, who was an Indian guide in his youth helped lead the way. I mistakingly called Ben an Indian princess, but luckily he was a good sport and didn't mind the joke. Finally our little group of me, Nancy, Amy and Pocahontas (Ben) made it to the top. The climb was definitely vigorous and helped us work off our big lunch. We were out of breath, but the view took our mind off of being out of shape. It was a spectacular site! It looked like you could scoop up the whole town into the palm of your hand.

A little bit up the hill you get a view of town.

Ben our Indian guide.

Me walking up the hill.

The view was great.

The whole city of Tokaj!

Wetlands can be seen in the distance.

Me and Ben enjoying the view.

Nancy and Amy also enjoying the view.

A random Hungarian dog.

After our rigorous exercise of climbing we decided it was time to reward ourselves with a wine tasting! The wine tasting consisted of six glasses of wine--starting with a dry wine and going to a dessert sweet wine. Our favorite wine was in the middle, it was just right--the "goldilocks" of wines as I would like to say. Once our wine tasting was complete we enjoyed the rest of our evening going to dinner at a pizza place and then just relaxing. Needless to say our first day in Tokaj was a wonderful adventure.