Cakovec, Croatia

We took a day road trip, yesterday, to Cakovec, Croatia. It took us less than 2 hours to get there, we stayed on back roads which were wide open. Croatia does not have an open border with Hungary, so we had to stop at the border and show our passports. The Croatian officer was very excited when he saw our American passports. He got a big smile on his face and said, “Ok, yes, America!” He asked if we were on holiday and we said we were. We crossed into Croatia and entered the town of Crakovec within minutes.

The landscape was obviously very similar to Hungary, being right on the border, though the structures were different. Hungary is known for its baroque style architecture. Croatia, at least what we saw, did not share this characteristic.

We drove into town which had many people walking the cold streets. Though it had not snowed in a few days, piles of snow lined the streets in the below freezing temperatures. A large farmers market was active in the city centre. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch but realized that we had no Croatian money and did not know the exchange rate. We laughed at ourselves for being unprepared and decided we would get lunch when we drove back into Hungary.

We explored the town a bit before heading back into Hungary. It was a short trip…we had to get back home because AirFrance had finally found dad’s luggage! His three bags, which had been lost since one week before Christmas, had finally been shipped to the Vienna Airport. We needed to get home to receive the delivery of them!

Since our Christmas presents are on their way, we plan on having a second Christmas. What a beautiful holiday season!!

Merry Christmas

We celebrated a wonderful Christmas in Hungary. Against Hungarian tradition, which involves putting the Christmas tree up on Christmas eve, we put ours up one week early. At the farmers market, on a snowy day, we found a beautiful tree for 4500 forint (about $20). With luck we also found a stand for a couple of bucks at the market. Dusty carried the tree home and trimmed the trunk with a hatchet, to allow the tree to fit into the stand. After placing the tree in the house, we enjoyed the thick pine smell all evening. The pine needles are extremely sharp, and small pine cones are growing throughout the branches.

The next day we went to Tesco in order to purchase some ornaments. It is tradition in Hungary to decorate the tree with edible ornaments. We bought beautiful Christmas balls, made entirely of chocolate! After additionally buying a strand of lights and some tinsel, we set off back home to decorate our Hungarian Christmas tree.

I embroidered our names on some stockings and hung them on the stair railing. I also embroidered some other Christmas decorations for the house. We baked all week, before Christmas, and enjoyed some snowy days.

That same week, Dad got stuck at CDG airport in Paris for 2 days, on his way back from California. When he finally made it home, his bags didn't make it with him. Unfortunately, the airline "misplaced" all three of his suitcases! All of the Christmas presents, from the states, are in those bags. We are still waiting for the airline for find the baggage. This is the 3rd year in a row that AirFrance has lost his luggage at Christmas time!

The three of us enjoyed a small Christmas, exchanging some Hungarian gifts, listening to Christmas music and enjoying each others company. Dad made a fantastic Christmas breakfast, and Dusty and I prepared leg of lamb for dinner. For dessert, we enjoyed home-made custard pie and tapioca pudding. Christmas was made complete by the light snow that fell all day.

Merry White Christmas!!

Christmas Market in Budapest

We drove to Budapest and visited the Christmas Market in Vörösmarty tér, the main square downtown Buda. The drive to Budapest was beautiful. The hills along side the highway were covered in snow. The streets of Buda were lined with beautiful Christmas lights and large Christmas trees. The market was full of wooden pavilions selling crafts, jewelry, leather and traditional food and drinks. Children were singing traditional Hungarian Christmas songs and people filled the streets drinking warm wine. Warm wine is a Christmas tradition in this region of Europe.

On the down side, the prices of all the goodies were double those in Pápa, and the market was much smaller than we expected. Vienna hosts a very large Christmas market. so we need to head there if we want to visit a larger one!

All in all, the market had a nice, Christmas atmosphere, and we enjoyed ourselves!

Christmas Season

Christmas time in Hungary is absolutely beautiful! There is snow on the ground and people all over town. For the local Pápa Christmas market, wooden booths are set up downtown where traditional hot drinks and food are sold. Dusty and I enjoy the hot chocolate, which is actually hot chocolate pudding served in a cup.

The weather has been very cold and snow fell for a week straight. Yesterday, the snow on the ground, turned to pure ice! We slipped a few times but still made it downtown for a cup of hot chocolate!

Yesterday, Dec. 6th, is the day the Hungarian children are visited by Santa. The children leave shoes on their window sills, and Santa puts small gifts into them. Dec. 25th is the day in which the Hungarians celebrate the birth of Christ.

Dusty and I are planning to visit a couple of large Christmas markets, maybe in Slovakia, Austria, or our own capital of Budapest.

Happy Thanksgiving from Hungary

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. After compiling all of the ingredients necessary for an authentic American Thanksgiving meal, we spent the day cooking! In Hungary, whole turkeys can only be found in the stores at Christmas time, so we improvised and baked a beautiful turkey breast. More creativity came when making the yams...there are no yams here. So, we baked a fresh gourd and added the ingredients that would be in a yam casserole and we had a kinda-like-yam casserole....very delicious! We made a wonderful raspberry, apple salad, my Grandma's stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a relish tray. For dessert we enjoyed apple strudel and pumpkin pie!! We enjoyed spending the day together cooking, and then a beautiful dinner as a family. Happy Thanksgiving from Hungary!

Futbol

Dad took us to the local soccer (futbol) game last night. Pápa played a very good team from Budapest. There was a huge turn out for the game at the local stadium which is right next to the water park. Vendors were selling scarves, hats, coffee mugs, etc. Everyone bought a scarf to show support for the team.

It was a very cool evening and the forecast is actually predicting the first snow some time this week. We all bundled up but were beginning to feel cold in the second half.

The other team, like I said, is very good. Pápa held on for awhile, but once the Budapest team scored their first goal, it was all over. They continued to score again and again. We chose to beat the crowd and leave before the game had fully completed. The score was already 5-0, so we didn’t plan on missing Pápa’s big comeback! Lol

Many others had the same idea, so we were definitely not the only people to leave early. As we drove home we saw the downtown was already very busy. I suspect that game nights bring out a lot of people who then go out downtown following the game.

It was nice to see so much of the town coming out to support the local team. This was actually our second time watching the Pápa team play. A few weeks ago we went to Gyor to watch the game. The Pápa and Gyor teams were much better matched and that was a very close game with Pápa winning 1-0. Last night though, the team gave it their best. It was a fun night. :)

Archeological Dig-Digs up History

The local Pápa newspaper (which I translated), published an article on the archaeological dig outside of the Great Church. Here is what we have found out.

Archaeologists have discovered a cellar dating back to the Avar Period, in 670 AD. According to my own research, the Avar Period existed within the time period known as The Great Migration, or The Dark Ages, following the fall of the Roman Empire. (Zeljko Zidaric, "The Great Migration-The Dark Ages").

The artifacts found around the cellar however, date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. It was during this time in history, that Hungary founded the state of Hungary and converted to Christianity. In 1000 AD, Hungary's first King was crowned, King Stephen. King Stephen was canonized in 1083, and is still celebrated to this day (hungary-tourism-guide.com).

The upper layers of the dig, mainly consisted of the skeletal remains of children from the 17th and 18th century, from a civilian cemetery. All skeletal remains have been taken to the Varvara county museum for further examination. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Hungary was freed from the Turks but then became apart of the Habsburg Empire in which they fought an unsuccessful war for independence from 1703-11. It was also during this time that Hungary saw a large flow of migration from Germans, Croatians, Slovakians, and Romanians (hungary-tourism-guide.com).

Digging has expanded in order to look for more underground buildings. The new digging next to the Griff Hotel, across the street from the Great Church, has revealed remnants of a fountain.

The archaeologists are calling this sight an archaeological phenomena. Unfortunately for investors however, this phenomenal find has pushed back the restoration plans for downtown. Originally, plans were to begin construction at the end of November. It now appears that the archaeological dig will continue until at least next spring.

Update on the Dig

The archaeologists are continuing to dig in front of the Catholic Church, downtown Pápa. There have been no new discoveries. The digging has expanded however, and they are now digging on the other side of the main road as well.

A Hungarian Halloween

Halloween has not traditionally been celebrated in Hungary, though with the increasingly growing Western influence of the West, the celebration is slowly beginning to trickle into the country. A few stores carry jack-o-lantern decorations and witches, and Tesco has large carving pumpkins for sale.

We purchased a couple small bags of candy, just in case we had a few rouge Trick-or-Treaters. In addition, we found it necessary to buy a pumpkin, carve it and place it on the porch! Six pm rolled around and we thought for sure that we were not going to get any trick-or-treaters. Then, the door bell rang! We opened the door to find 3 boys, around 10, on their bicycles beginning to ride away. When they heard the door open they stopped. We all just starred at each other. The boys, who were not wearing costumes, said to us, “Halloween.” We said, “Yes, Halloween.” They responded, “Cukor,” which means sugar. I popped back into the house and grabbed 3 small Snickers and handed each boy a candy bar. They thanked me, in Hungarian, and took off. Those 3 brave boys were our only candy seekers for the entire Halloween evening.

We settled in for the night and enjoyed a big steak dinner with baked potato, garlic bread, veggies and paprika salad. Our marathon of scary movies continued and we eventually called it a night.

What a Halloween LOL!

Autumn is Here!

We had a wonderful day yesterday! The weather has turned quite cold and it truly feels like autumn. After bundling up, we strolled down to the walking area. All the trees are covered in leaves of orange, red and yellow. The stone streets and sprinkled with leaves of the same color.

We took our time walking through allies and peering into shops. In addition to shopping for a few groceries, we were also on the lookout for embroidery material. Once it begins snowing I know we will be spending a lot of comfy time in the house, and I would like a Christmas project to work on.

We purchased the produce we needed at a local produce market right down town. For our bread, we now have a new favorite bakery. Her shop is near the Catholic Church and her products are simply the best. In addition, she is friendly and speaks a little English.

At the sewing shop we found all of the embroidery materials I would need to begin working on some Christmas projects. The tiny shop was bustling with women purchasing different threads and fabrics. The men behind the counter did not speak any English but were extremely patient with me and very helpful.

After walking around for a few hours we headed back home and started dinner. We have been trying some new “European” dishes, in addition to our old favorites. A new favorite in the house is my homemade sauerkraut. Sauerkraut, the “real” way is fermented, but I just cook it in the crock pot with onion, apple, vinegar, salt and pepper, and it comes out fantastic. We enjoyed a pot of it for dinner with some paprika pork and rice.

Today is supposed to be the coldest day of the week, dropping below freezing. Last year it did not snow in October, but it looks like it will this year. We are so excited for the snow!!

More on the Archeological Find!!

The The archeological dig continues in Pápa. Excavators have reached a new layer of skeletal remains. Rumor has it that the father of a 12th century Hungarian king is buried in this very crypt. Archeologists are exhuming bodies in order to find this almost-forgotten father. A local taxi driver explained why some bodies seemed to be turned on their sides. It is said that when Jesus returns, he will come from the east; therefore many people were buried facing east. The taxi driver, who has all the answers, also informed us that this crypt was just for the well-to-do population. Plans to construct the fountain are still underway.

Eros Pista

I have completely fallen in love with a Hungarian product…Eros Pista! Eros Pista is Hungarian chili sauce. This thick red sauce is absolutely amazing. Getting it at restaurants was not enough for me and I purchased my first jar of it yesterday. I enjoyed my Eros Pista with some fried chicken for dinner last night and it was incredible. Hopefully I will be able to purchase this product in the states…I am hooked!

Archeological Find!!

Spectators peer through a chain linked fence which appears out of place in front of a church. In a city as old as Pápa, first recorded in 1061, an archeological find is extremely exciting. When digging in front of the Catholic Great Church, built by Jacob Fellner in 1786 as a dedication to St. Stephen, workers came across ancient stone and skeletol remains.

Archeologists working behind fences, are cautiously uncovering numeous, fully intact human skeletons which were seemingly buried (or thrown) into a crypt type of structure. Many of the remains are not positioned as would be expected if they were buried properly. Some remains are turned on their sides, others are overlapping one another. Archeologists are carefuly examining the remains, sketching pictures of each.

The stone walls, being uncovered, appear to lead even further under ground. As the digging continues, one can not help but wonder from what period in time these remains come from, and what type of structure is being uncovered. The people of Pápa wait to learn the origins of this archeological discovery.

Missing something....

I have finally begun to miss something from the states!

I miss saying hi to people, and greeting them good morning, even to strangers. I miss people waving as they drive by, or me waving to people walking as I am driving.

People here do not greet strangers, or even say hi in passing. When I return to the states, I am going to make sure to say hello to each and every person I pass, and take pleasure in them greeting me back! :)

It's Getting Cold

The weather has begun to get chilly! We ran the heater for the first time two nights ago. We are excited for the snow to begin...hopefully next month!!

B&B in Smalininkai

We would like to give the contact information for the B&B we stayed at in Smalininkai, Lithuania, http://www.smalininkuose.lt/

The owners were extremely hospitable and the accommodations were excellent.

Ukraine

Smalininkai, Lithuania

Auschwitz-Poland