Pécs

The ride from Budapest to Pécs was about 3 hours long.  We were on the same bus we had for the city tour during the first week, which was pretty comfortable, and we stopped halfway at a gas station for a break.  Hungarian gas stations seem to be much better than American ones.  Even better than Wawa!  Well, in terms of cleanliness and stuff.  The food selection actually was awful.  There were a few sandwiches and then 60% of the rest of the food was chocolate.  And then there were a few racks of potato chips and pretzels.  I think I miss the American selection of junk food.

Entering the city of Pécs, it seemed much less urban than Budapest.  I didn’t notice trams or metro stations, and there were even hardly any buses.  It seemed more familiar, actually, because it was apparent that most people traveled by car.  There were parking lots and trees and open spaces. 

But then we entered the historical part of the city and it was like entering a different world!  The buildings were all sorts of different pastel colors, many of the streets were cobblestone, and pedestrians dominated cars in number. 

The bus ended up climbing a mountain via a winding road at speeds that kind of freaked me out a little, but the views were amazing.  Ignoring the almost hairpin turns and focusing on recording everything on my FlipVideo camera, I ended up getting a lot of cool footage- video coming soon!

We got to the top of the mountain and approached the TV Tower, only to be stopped by a group of people who were in the midst of filming a television commercial.  Two men in workout attire stopped us and asked us where we were from and why we were here and we discovered that they were promoting some sort of fitness event, and that apparently they were famous Hungarian fitness personalities.  Go figure.  It was the most random encounter ever.  They ended up inviting us to join them, and about half of our group participated in the event.  I recorded most of it and have already made a video, which I will be posting as soon as I can get it on YouTube.  Watching my fellow students do the warm-ups next to the athletic group of Hungarians was hilarious, and probably the best part of the day.

We later joined them on top of the TV Tower, and the views would’ve been spectacular if it weren’t so foggy.  I attempted to take photos, but none of them are very good.  It was also bitterly cold, and kind of a relief to get back on the bus and make our way back down the mountain.

The next stop was Hotel Patria, which was decorated 60’s-style.  We had about 40 minutes to settle in and relax before going off to explore the city with a McDaniel Budapest professor as our guide.

She showed us how to use landmarks to get back to the hotel, and then we walked over to a catholic cathedral, passing some kids doing parkour in an empty fountain.  A mass was being held, so we were unable to go inside the cathedral. 

Next, we went to a museum of zsolnay ceramics.  It was interesting, and some of the pieces were quite spectacular.  I got some photos before one of the guards got mad at me.  They didn’t tell us cameras weren’t allowed, so I didn’t know. 

After about 30 minutes there, we went to see an art installation.  I found it creepy, but after the art history professor explained it a bit, I could at least appreciate it.  Still, though, not a place I’d like to go alone at night.

One Hungarian Valentine's Day tradition (according to a thing I read somewhere...) involves putting a lock on a gate somewhere in the city to symbolize your love/commitment/whatever.  I obviously have no clue what I'm talking about, but we did see these locks, and they were super cool.  One of them even had my name on it.

We then went to the main square, which was breathtaking.  There was a catholic church with a history as a Turkish mosque that we passed by and would be returning to the next day.  The professor explained how to get back to hotel and told us when to be back for dinner, and then we had about 2 hours to explore by ourselves. 

We walked down Kiraly Utca, which means King Street.  Someone later compared it to Epcot, and I agreed that it didn’t even seem real.  When we got to the end of the street, we split up and I ended up going to a bakery with Luke, Laura, Catherine, Dylan, and Nick.  From there, we ventured into a cukrazda, where we each tried different kinds of cake and hung out until it was time to meet for dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant that was too fancy for my taste.  It came in three courses, and even though I ordered the vegetarian option, I didn’t like anything.  The salad was elaborate and had bits of tofu on top, which I initially thought were croutons.  I did at least try the tofu, but it seems that I am not a fan.  The main course was fried cheese and little fried mushroom ball things on top of a lot of cooked vegetables.  You’d think I’d like the cheese since I’m such a fan of mozzarella sticks, but that was not the case.  It was the same cheese in the mozzarella sticks I got at McDonald’s that made me sick.  Hungarian cheese is just weird.  Dessert was some kind of pineapple crepe.  This is why I don’t go to fancy restaurants. 

The next day, we ate breakfast in the hotel, which for me consisted of bread, cucumbers, and tea, and then went to see more sights.  First, was an archaeological site that was pretty cool, and was followed by an even bigger and cooler archaeological site of Christian catacombs. 

I got some great video footage and bought a keychain.  Laura and I were thirsty and bought water at the gift shop, too, but it was the nasty sparkling water that just makes you thirstier.  I don’t understand why people like it.  I didn’t even feel like I could pour it out outside for fear of killing the grass.  We also went to the Csontvary museum, which was actually really interesting.  His massive paintings were really big, obviously, but there was so much detail within them that I feel like you could write a 10 page paper about one of them (although, I don't know enough about art to do this).  He had one painting that reminded Laura of Middle Earth and one that reminded her of Rivendell- typical Laura.  Our final stop was the church from the day before, which we wandered around briefly, admiring the architecture and frescos. 

We got 90 minutes to ourselves before the bus ride home, and so we set off in search of French fries, which Laura and I were really craving for some reason.  Skipping Mcdonald’s, we ended up in a pub with some unfriendly waitresses.  It took them 40 minutes to make French fries and salads, and it took us 10 minutes to eat and get out of there before their eyes bored holes through our souls. 

We went to an ABC store to get food and drinks for the bus ride back, and that was the end of our experience in Pécs.

I still have this packet to do, though.  We were given a bunch of questions to answer and places/paintings to identify while we were there, but of course, I never had it with me when we needed it.