Trip To Northern Hungary & Slovakia : Day 2

The second day of our trip started off in a relaxed fashion as everyone got ready to go. There are a few things you must keep in mind when traveling with a bunch of teachers from Hungary on holiday. One: everyone is going to drink, two: this results in a slow start the next morning. Me and Ben jokingly made bets on the first day of the trip to see when the first alcoholic beverage would be served. I guessed 30 minutes, Ben guessed 20 minutes, but we were both wrong...it was 10 minutes. That's the beauty of living in Hungary, you'll always have a piece of food in one hand and a drink in the other as long as you want to. 

The first and only major stop of the day was in Košice, Slovakia. Košice is the second biggest city in Slovakia after Bratislava. Košice was once part of the Hungarian empire and today still has many cultural ties to its Hungarian past. The whole history is a little to extensive to go into detail on here, but you should research it if you can. There are still people who speak Hungarian and consider themselves Hungarian in Košice and in other southern border towns in Slovakia. However, trying to figure out who is Slovakian and who is Hungarian is nearly impossible to guess unless you hear them speaking one language or the other. The relationship currently between these two countries has been at times tense. There was the now infamous "Komárno incident" in 2009, where the Solvakian government did not allow the Hungarian President to cross a bridge over to the Solvakian side. And then just a few days later after the "Komárno incident," two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Slovak embassy in Budapest, luckily causing no casualties as the flammable fluids did not ignite or detonate. Authorities condemned the attack. The foreign ministry of Slovakia stated they view the incident with great concern, but at the same time "it is seen as an isolated criminal offense." 

Our Hungarian teacher friends were slightly paranoid about visiting Slovakia. When we all sat down at a café for a coffee, they were worried that we might not get served because we were Hungarians. Of course Ben playing the part of diplomat as usual said, "Well, if we all just speak English I doubt they'll know the difference." And it was true, no one even seemed to care if we were or were not a group of mostly Hungarian travelers. My thought was, "Well, since me and Ben are from the U.S. we're used to everyone hating us at some point...ha, ha." 

The visit to St. Elisabeth Cathedral was beautiful, but cold because the temperature dropped about 10 degrees once you were inside. We spent about an hour there touring the cathedral and looking at the crypt. Then we all ventured to a house/mansion owned by a famous Hungarian merchant. Then we just toured around the city until it was time to go back to the bus.

We really enjoyed our short visit to Slovakia for the day and hope that they don't hold it against us for living in Hungary for a year...or for being Americans.   :)

St. Elisabeth Cathedral.

Up close of St. Elisabeth Cathedral.

Ben in front of Cathedral. 

A giant bell and the theater building behind it.

Inside St. Elisabeth Cathedral.

The Hungarian coat of arms can be seen
in the Cathedral. 

Tombs of famous Hungarians. Wreaths in the colors of the
Hungarian flag drape the tombs out of respect. 

The streets of Kosice.

The house/mansion of a famous Hungarian merchant. 

I'm enjoying a seat at the little outdoor theater.

St. Michael's Chapel.

Downtown street of Kosice.

The border between Slovakia and Hungary. 

Trip To Northern Hungary & Slovakia

In the autumn we took a trip with Ben's school to the western part of Hungary. Now that it is the spring they invited us on another trip to the northern part of the country. It was a one day trip that left on Thursday and came back on Friday. A lot of historical Hungarian sites were packed into this one little trip. Our first stop was at lunch time. We stopped in Tokaj for lunch--where we had our pork on a slice of bread and pickle. Ironically we would be back in Tokaj just a few days later--for another trip we had planned. 

A man fishing in Tokaj.

Our tour bus and teachers.

Us with a group of teacher friends.

After lunch we continued north to the town of Monok, which is the birthplace of Lajos Kossuth. He is considered one of the most important Hungarians of modern times. He was instrumental in the 1848 Revolution attempt and was Regent-President during the Revolution. He was a fugitive after the Revolution and eventually lived out the rest of his days in the United States. 

Lajos Kossuth painting.

The museum made you wear special
foot slippers. 

Ben was not thrilled about wearing his
foot slippers. 

Ben standing next to a 1848 Revolutionary solider.

Me posing in a traditional dress of the 1840's.

The birthplace and now museum of Lajos Kossuth.

The next stop was Boldogkovaralja or the castle of Boldogko was built in the second half of the 13th century. In the 16th century the castle played an important role in stopping marauding Turkish troops leaving from the Hungarian Highlands. The castle was once owned by the Habsburgs, but was made unlivable in 1702. It was restored in the 1960's and even as recently as 2010.

Boldogko Castle.

The view on top of the hill is wonderful.

Me with our contact Eniko.

Me and Ben enjoying the view. It was very windy up there
that is why our hair looks kind of crazy. 

View of castle from below.

A lonely little train crossing the landscape. 

Our next stop was Vizsoly. It has a copy of the Károli Bible (printed in the mid-1500's), which was the first complete printed Hungarian translation of the Bible. The church was built in the 13th century and is a calvinist church.

A replica of the printing press used for the Bible.
It took about one and half years to print the first Bible.

The Karoli Bible.

The Vizsoly church.

We arrived that evening at a very small town on the border of Hungary and Slovakia. The town as far as we could tell consisted of a row of houses, our hotel and some farms near by. That evening we had dinner, relaxed and enjoyed listening to the teachers sing Hungarian folk songs--it was quite nice.

View out side our hotel window/balcony. 

Our hotel, you can stop me in the upper right corner on the
balcony.

Ben enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of small town life
in Hungary. 

Spring Has Officially Sprung!

The last week has been perfect weather here in Hungary. We have been in the 60's and 70's (15-23 in Celsius). We spent the weekend in Debrecen walking around enjoying the sites and weather. We love being able to sit outside at our favorite coffee shops and just take in the lovely weather. After a long winter we really appreciate the spring now. Everything is turning green and new flowers are blooming on trees and in the grass. Everyone is out of their homes enjoying it too. We're often surprised by how many people we see now. "Were there this many people in the city before spring?" 

My favorite quote that Ben said the other day after we saw they had turned on the fountains again in the square was, "Ah, so this is the Europe I remember moving to!" And it is true, if ever there was a time to be in Europe, it would be in the spring. 

Saturday in the park. Wow, what a difference a month makes! 

People on the bridge. Just a little over a month ago this
was a frozen tundra!

You can not get more picturesque than a
picture of a picnic and bikers.

The view outside our window has changed a lot!

Look there are these green things on trees again!
I almost forgot what leafs were. 

Me standing by a honeysuckle tree.

Up close with the flowers.

A poem I made for Ben on his birthday.

The card I made Ben for his birthday.

A poster that Logan did for us. 

The poster Anna did for us.

Anna drew her family and pets.  

Logan's guide to all things in the United States...
just in case we forgot. How cute!

Fireworks in Budapest

I have no idea how long this music video has been out. I don't really keep track of Katy Perry, but I did stumble onto this song of hers called "Firework." It's an inspirational song and also just happens to be shot in Budapest, Hungary. In fact the same location we were in just last weekend! So if you haven't seen this music video I suggest you watch it. If for nothing else at least the beautiful city scenery.   :)