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Jewels of the countryside
Often when one is travelling
through the countryside, you come across a small little village: and
quite often, when you decide to linger a few hours, you soon realise
that you have found a jewel not to be missed! In the next few
months, we are going to share with you some of our wonderful
experiences we encountered while travelling abroad in Europe: SZENTENDRE in Hungary, TROGIR and GROZNAN in Croatia, YVOIRE,
CARCASSONE, and MOUSTIERS ST MARIE in France, SAN GIMIGNANO and
ISOLA DI PESCATORI in Italy, HALLSTATT and MARIAZELL in Austria,
OBIDOS and SINTRA in Portugal, CADAQUES and RONDA in Spain, COCHEM
and ETTAL in Germany, STEIN AM RHEIN and ENGELBERG in Switzerland,
ODENSE and AERO in Denmark, KARLSTAD and VAXJO in SWEDEN, POLPERO
and SALISBURY in the UK, LLANDUDNO and BRECON in Wales, LEITH and PORTREE in Scotland, CLIFDEN and KINSALE in Ireland.
SZENTENDRE
The first gem on our itinerary is
a little village on the Danube-bend, some thirty kilometres north of
the Hungarian capitol,
Budapest. If the
visitor to Budapest takes only one day-trip, invariably it will be
to Szentendre, a settlement built and inhabited by a
succession of Serbian refugees. They enjoyed religious freedom under
Habsburg rule and traded in leather and wine.
Since the 1920’s, Szentendre has
been home to a growing number of artists. As a result, the town
contains many galleries exhibiting the work of local artists. One of
Hungary’s best-known ceramic artists, Margit Kovacs’ work is found
in an interesting museum.
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Take the train from either
Batthyany ter or Margit hid for a pleasant 40-minute
suburban train journey alongside the Danube. At first encounter,
this interesting cobblestone-village appears to be a tourist trap:
street cafes, pony carriages, interesting galleries and craft shops.
Soon, one starts to sense the special atmosphere of the many church
bells tolling a new melody of a long forgotten past.
Various winding cobblestone
streets lead you through a maze of stone buildings, housing
trendy bars like the Art Café Fo ter, or the Regimodi
restaurant, serving delicious local food and dishes:
Jokai Bableves (a thick bean soup containing smoked gammon
and dumplings), Tarhonyaval (beef goulash in hot paprika
sauce) and Toltott (peppers stuffed with rice and meat).
Between April and October, it
is recommended to return late afternoon on the Hydrofoil that
serves the Danube between Vienna and Budapest, or enjoy some
Harslevelu or Zodszilvani medium-dry white wine or
the popular dessert wine from the Tokaji region on the
pleasure boat that arrives a little later the evening in
Budapest. Back in the capitol, the renowned restaurant, New York
Café, will be an excellent choice for an outstanding evening. |
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