SLOVENIA SIDE TRIPS-HUNGARY-PART FOUR

HOTEL VOLAN OVERLOOKING LAKE BALATON


WE PASSED ON THE LAKE CRUISE---UP THE LAKE,DOWN THE LAKE. BORING!

(Excerpt from my book: OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, AMAZON.COM)

After a day-and-a-half to travel few hundered miles, we finally left Maribor and Slovenia about noon, our destination for the night, Lake Balaton in Hungary. I know, were still not in Budapest, but hang in there, we'll get there. To get to Lake Balaton from Maribor, one drives for about a half-hour through Croatia, so I expect Elysee and I can claim having also visited that recently ill-fated country.
Lake Balaton is, outside of Scandinavia, the largest freshwater lake in Europe. A long finger-like lake of a little more than 50 miles, but a narrow 10 miles at its widest, it is also shallow, averaging a mere nine feet in depth. Nevertheless, it has long been Hungary’s summer vacation destination and has that mixture of tackiness and refinement often associated with lake and beachside resorts. In Balaton’s case, it takes some searching to find the latter. Because we were starting from the end of the lake furthest from Budapest, one decision we had to make was which shore to drive on, north or south. The south has the advantage of better roads, an autoroute, but that also brings more summer vacationers and the inevitable carnival resort atmosphere. From our reading, it appeared that the north shore was nicer and less hectic, and this proved to be the case.

Another feature of the Balaton locale is its reputation as a major Hungarian wine- producing region, and the north side is sprinkled with hillside vineyards that add a pleasant view all along the lakeside drive. As the day was getting on and the weather rainy off and on, we stopped for the night at Hotel Volan in Badacsony; really more a restored upscale villa than a hotel. Once more the value was astonishing. For about $58 we received a very nice room overlooking the lake, with breakfast. That evening, after a stroll along the lakefront, looking at the ferries going from one side of the lake to the other as well as the local marina with many sailboats, we hade a fine dinner at an outdoor restaurant with a very tasty bottle of Hungarian wine. It was a 1999 Szeremley from the Tihany region further along the lake’s north shore and cost an amazing $7. The next day we found a wine store and managed to purchase three bottles, about all we could carry to Budapest considering the other baggage space needed. Hungary is a country of very good and inexpensive wine.

A word about the Hungarian (magyarorszag) language: I usually, even if in a country for a small time, try to learn a few courteous phrases to get me through the day. Especially how to order a beer, find the men’s room and find a place for the night, all the while returning greetings and thanks in the local language. I gave up on Hungarian right away. I simply concluded that having arrived at the age of 70 years I was entitled to pass on without ever attempting to speak Hungarian. It is correctly said that Hungarian ranks up there with Japanese and Arabic as the most difficult language to learn. Personally, I would add Irish to that, a language that has been described as a cross between Norwegian and Hebrew. Hungarian is right up there. The language has no widespread European antecedents such as Latin or Slav, and evolved from an obscure Finish tribal tongue so long ago that the Hungarians and the Finns cannot understand each other. Many words have the same sound but different meanings and consonants are strung together sometimes five in a row without a vowel and, all sorts of accenting symbols that make reading road signs while traveling at normal speed very difficult. For example, Elysee was navigating and kept me bearing towards the town of Nagykanizsa a city on our route and on all the road signs, when she finally said “ just keep on the road to Nagasaki.” The name for a police station is, Rendorkapitanysag. In an emergency, by the time you get that word out you will no longer need help. My real favorite though is Sajtburger, which is pronounced shiteburger. It means cheese.
In my opinion, if you happen to be in Hungary for only for a long weekend or perhaps even a few days more, there are more interesting places to see and things to do, than going to Lake Balaton.
BUT BUY THE WINE.

SLOVENIA SIDE TRIPS- HUNGARY-PART THREE

TITO'S UNIFORM BEING WORN BY THE INVISIBLE MAN


TOWN SQUARE WITH 14TH CENTURY MARIBOR CASTLE AND STATUE OF ST. FLORIAN

TOMBSTONE OF RABBI ABRAHAM 1376

( Excerpt from my book: OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, AMAZON.COM)

Leaving our comfortable guest house nearby Celje after a satisfying breakfast, except for the instant coffee, we set off for Maribor, Slovenia’s second largest city (about 110,000.) The morning coffee, very important to starting Elysee’s day, as it is for many Americans including myself, was the nasty European Nescafe type. This loathsome brew, common throughout Europe, thankfully is becoming less popular. It is a sour-tasting imitation of coffee, sure to start your day with a frown and an acidic stomach. We promised ourselves that the first thing we would do in Maribor would be to search out a civilized cup of coffee.

Arriving in the old quarter of the city situated alongside the Drava River, we parked quickly and strode towards the old square. The square features a statue of St. Florian and also is the site of Maribor castle, begun in the 14th century and for once not built on a hilltop. Maribor, like many towns at the time, financed its growth and development from a large Jewish community and grew wealthy on timber, wine and the port developed on the Drava river. As happened throughout Europe in the later part of the 15th century, exemplified mostly by Spain with the Jewish expulsion in the 1490s, the Jewish community was also expelled from Maribor during the same period. The town thereafter competed with similar river locales for the commercial lead in Eastern Slovenia, but gained a leap ahead with the arrival of the railroad in 1846. Maribor became the first town in Slovenia to have a direct rail link to the imperial capital in Vienna, and developed as a major stopover on the line between Budapest, Vienna and Trieste. In the age of railroads, gaining this important position on the main line was critical, and Maribor increased in importance as other competing cities declined.

Aside from the fact that Maribor is home to Slovenia’s second university, the city offers only two particularly interesting features for a half-day stopover. First, as the region is a major Slovenian wine-producing region there are many opportunities to taste and purchase the vintages. There is a nest of underground wine cellars covering a vast area that can store seven million liters of wine. The 160-year-old cellars are filled with oak barrels, that are kept at a constant naturally arrived at 15c. Secondly, and where we spent most of the day, is the Maribor museum housed in the former castle, just opposite the iconic statue of St. Florian that dominates the center square. The museum, establish in 1903, contains some of the richest collections of “Sloveniana,” organized into historical, commercial, cultural and ethnographic displays. It has a collection of military uniforms from the 18th century onwards, culminating with a display of Marshal Tito’s uniform. Accompanying this are displays of period dress, mostly of the Austrian bourgeoisies. Also, an extensive collection of Romantic, Baroque and Rococo art, routinely religious and church carvings (you really have to like this stuff, which I do not), and a loggia that contains tombstones from the Jewish era in the 14th century. Altogether a very nicely displayed collection and well worth a visit if you just happen to be in Northeastern Slovenia. As an aside, it is interesting to note that our visit occurred on a Friday and the beginning of the European “I quit work for the month of August”, and yet we were the only people in the museum. I was left with the impression that the Maribors don’t really care much for all this. After all it was mostly Austrian history and culture, not Slovenian.

A final note: Maribor, being an important manufacturing city for Germany in WWII, was extensively bomb-damaged from allied air-raids. Almost two thirds of the city was lost. After the war the city was a center for Yugoslavian industry, and it now has many “SocialRealistic” housing developments of a singularly unappealing appearance. You can sense the socialist past today in the quietness of the people and the remaining vestiges of run-down infrastructure; but, times are changing.

SLOVENIA SIDE TRIPS-HUNGARY PART TWO

AN EVIL EYED WITCH FROM VALVASOR'S COLLECTION
A TRIPLE SETTEE BEHIND THE TABLE IS THE BRIDE AND GROOM FIVE MINUTE WAITING CHAIR

LOOK CAREFULLY TO SEE ELYSEE SHEEPISHLY PEEKING FROM BEHIND THE BUSHES

Excerpt from my book, OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, AMAZON.COM

While at Bogensperk Castle we were introduced to the Slovenian custom of the five-minute waiting period just before the marriage takes place. The bride and groom are seated, surrounded by their immediate family, and five minutes of silence ensues. During this period the bride and groom are to think separately and silently about their marriage and either can have a change of mind at this point and cancel the entire proceedings. We were told by our guide that on only one occasion did the bride change her mind, but in her case she would not even come into the castle and no one knew where on the grounds she was hiding. That marriage never occurred.

Leaving Bogensperk Castle behind we drove on to Celje (chel-yea), an important town of about 42,000 people that was originally a Roman center of activity and in the 15th century the home of the Counts of Celje, the last holdouts before the Habsburgs united all Slovenia under their rule. It was here that Elysee and I made an important discovery; the historic icon of a McDonalds
restaurant. I know what you are thinking, how tacky! But do you realize we had not had a single hamburger since we left the USA almost two months ago? They are not on any menu, and are unavailable in Bled. Without a single moment of guilt we plunged our faces into french fries and double cheeseburgers and were awash in Coke. Two mad and crazed Americans, ketchup dripping from the corners of their mouths, greedily protecting their plastic trays from preying pigeons. The fries, to our amazement, were identical in flavor to those in the states. After a walkabout in town and examining the remains of Roman walls, we headed a few miles west to a roadside “Gostisce,” the Slovenian equivalent of a B&B where we spent the night in a large guest room, including breakfast, for the equivalent of $30. One could move to Slovenia and stay in guest houses all the time; forget mortgage payments. Think about it! $900 a month with breakfast; and you won’t have to make the bed.

SLOVENIA SIDE TRIPS- HUNGARY

BOGENSPERK CASTLE; SITS ALONE AND ISOLATED IN A MOUNTAINTOP


BANQUET HALL ARRANGED FOR A WEDDING

(Excerpts from my book OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, Amazon.com)

As I have noted before, a major factor in Elysee and I deciding to spend a summer in Slovenia, is it being excellently situated to enable side trips to other countries. It is possible to easily drive from Bled to Budapest in six or seven hours. In our case, being in no hurry, we took several days stopping overnight at Celje, Slovenia, visiting Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city (110 thousand) and then stopping overnight again in the Lake Balaton region of Hungary. From there we drove on into Budapest. The following day we met up with our friends from Florida, Char and Al Love, for several days of adventure.

First things first. We did not begin with the intention of staying in Celje. But, as is our style we took back roads in our general direction, being open minded about seeing and learning more about this great country of Slovenia. Not too long after leaving Bled we saw a road sign beckoning us to visit Bogensperk Castle. I'm not a "gotta see this castle" type of person. You can waste your life visiting castle ruins in Europe and die not having finished the job. In fact, had we known the castle was a long ride up a lonely mountain road, and somewhat out of our way, we would have declined. But once committed, we determined to see it through and came at road's end to the entrance of the castle, finding that we were the only ones there to take a tour with a very bored summer intern. The castle dates from 1511, being built by the feudal lords von wagen. They built their castle on an enormous rock because their previous property had been destroyed in an earthquake. The castle reached it glory during the end of the 17th century when the Slovenian scientist and historian Janez Valvasor lived and worked there., Valvasor, a former soldier, previously had traveled throughout Europe and North Africa, and was a man of the world. However, during his 20 years at the castle he adopted a studious life, undertaking many research projects, the most famous being the 3,532 page history of Carniola released in 1689. He trained his workers to in copperplate pripnting and produced exquisite, detailed prints of life at that time including painstaking folio pages. This monumental work about Valvasor's Carniola region is an invaluable source today about the life and times of the late 17th century.

Being an inquisitive man of scientific bent, he also disproved what many peasants thought to be mysterious witchcraft; for example, the inexplicable rising and falling of the nearby lakes which peasantry believed to be induced by witches. He learned of a series of underground lakes and limestone caves that rose and fell according to scientific factors such as periodic rainfall and drought. For documenting his findings scientifically and disproving witchcraft, Valvasor was admitted to the prestigious London Royal Society, a distinct honor for a person so far removed from the mainstream of commerce and knowledge. He was self-funded and his endeavors brought him to the brink of bankruptcy and in 1692 he sold all of his property, dying a year after. A copy of Valvasor's monumental work is on display.