Central Europe - The Medieval Village of Holloko

Self-Guided Tour of Central Europe, Day 3 of 12
UNESCO World Heritage Site #2 on this tour



Holloko (more properly, Hollókõ) is a medieval village about 2 hours northeast of Budapest by bus. It is practically a museum of old feudal life several centuries back, where earthen houses still line the village's two streets, and old ladies in traditional dresses sit under the shade on the porch and greet passers-by in a language not understood by probably 80% of the visitors. Except it is not a museum, but a living village with real people.





The Sights:

The main sights are the village, the people, and the castle, in this particular order IMHO.



You begin to appreciate the village of Holloko once you've seen some typical towns and villages in Europe. Most "old" town and villages have buildings in 17th-18th century Baroque style. Even older ones may have a complete 16th century Renaissance town square. And some may have a couple of Gothic towers or churches dating from the 14th century.





Holloko village though, is timeless. Regardless of what may be in fashion in the outside world, its physical isolation ensured that the village would carry on with its own unique style. Through the centuries, its houses had the same crude rock foundations and thick earthen walls. No trace of a renaissance facade or a baroque schoolhouse. The only "progress" through the centuries is the conversion from thatched roofs to tiles for fire prevention ever since a great fire burned down the village a century ago.



You can recognize the medieval layout of the village, starting from the old church at the centre of the village. There are only two streets, and all properties are divided into thin, long strips running at right-angle to the streets. There were the essential facilities of a doctor's clinic, a post office, a nursery school, and a general store. Anything more and you'll have to leave the 17th century and drive to the closest town.



Much of the village has now become catered to tourism, with an array of handicraft shops, quaint little house-museums, and two restaurants. My wife bought a wooden toy for about HUF500 (CAD$3). Just as I wondered whether they get enough visitors to keep the shops alive, two bus loads of elementary school students arrive to learn the history of their ancestors.





We went to two of these quaint museums. The first one was the exhibition of a wood carver's work. Not worth the HUF250 in my opinion.



The second was the Weaver's House, where the real exhibit was an old lady of at least 70 years. Upon paying the HUF250 entrance fee, she would put on a show of operating her traditional weaver's loom in a nimbleness that totally belies her age. The gift shop next door sells her work among other tapestry and embroidery items. Later on at the village entrance we actually saw her picture on a brochure of the local tourist agency, so apparently she's some sort of village celebrity.




The Falumuzeum (Village Museum) was on top of our list of places to visit, but it seemed closed down for some reason. We could only take a picture in front of the funny entrance to the basement.



The medieval village may be charming, but it wouldn't be complete without a castle to rule over it. So after lunch we took a 15-minute walk to the top of a nearby hill where a 13th century castle ruin still stands.



The ruin has been recently partially-restored, with rock and wooden staircases leading the visitor to the top for a great view of the hills of northern Hungary. The romance of a medieval castle ruin with a wonderful panoramic view was my wife's favorite part.




One side of the hill overlooked the Bukk national park, and on the other side lied the tiny village of Holloko, and the cattle grazing in the fields next to it. The kids on the school field trip were having a great time; there was even a play area where kids can duke it out with foam spears and shields.





The Food:

Var Etterem
Kossuth Lajos ut 93/95, Holloko

Missing a real breakfast that morning, we had an early lunch at the shaded garden of Var Etterem (castle restaurant), which was a great idea.



Hmm...real Hungarian gulyas, with so much meat and spices unlike the watery goulash I get at home. Tender grey beef with a mild paprika sauce and a kind of flour dumpling in a cheese sauce.



My wife had stuffed cabbages with sour cream. Soft, mild and quite tasty.

I forgot what the final bill was, but the two entrees cost about HUF2800 (CAD$18), so even after a beer and a soft drink it couldn't have been very expensive.



Accommodation:

We didn't stay there. But in case you're interested, you can rent a traditional village house from the website below. That would sound like a really interesting experience.
http://www.hollokotourism.hu/



Transportation:

The daily scheduled bus from Budapest leaves at 08:30 from the Stadionok bus terminal, which is served by a Metro station. So we had to get up early and catch some sleep on the bus. The two-hour bus ride goes through the Budapest suburbs then some lovely small towns and countryside. The bus was modern and comfortable and cost about HUF1720 (CAD$11) one way. When we got off at the final stop, the two of us made up two-thirds of the clientelle.

The return bus departs at 16:00. Missing it would mean spending the night in Holloko, so before we got off the bus at Holloko we asked the driver where to get on the return bus. It turned out that the same driver would transport us back, with the return bus-stop a mere 50 metres away. The bus would arrive at Budapest at 18:00.



Links:

Bus Schedules - http://www.volanbusz.hu
Holloko Village - http://www.holloko.hu
Holloko Castle - http://www.hollokoivar.hu
Holloko's Local Tourist Agency - http://www.hollokotourism.hu/

Central Europe - The Raw Beauty of Budapest

Self-Guided Tour of Central Europe, Days 1 to 3 of 12
UNESCO World Heritage Site #1 on this tour



Budapest, the first stop on our tour of Central Europe, was a mystery to us. We heard rumours of a beautiful World Heritage city centre, with a culture and language very different from the rest of Europe, but knowing so little about Hungary we didn't bring with us any expectations. Which was great because when we left, we brought back memories of a city more beautiful than anything we heard about, and of great food, great architecture, and hot Turkish baths.



The Sights:

If there is one thing a visitor shouldn't miss on any trip to Budapest, it is the night scenary. Incredible, incredible night scenary. Certainly one of the most beautiful in the world. It is for this reason alone that Budapest is my wife's favorite place (even over Prague and Vienna) on our trip.



Budapest's beauty is so raw and powerful, which in my mind is due to the concentration of her most impressive sights along the banks of the Danube. On the Buda side there are the palace complex, the fisherman's bastion and Matyas church atop the castle hill. On the Pest side stand the spectacular parliament and an array of riverfront buildings with their 19th century grandiose. The illuminated curves of the Szechenyi chain bridge join the two sides. After dinner on our last night in Budapest, we took a leisurely walk starting from the parliament, along the Pest side of the Danube bank, then across the chain bridge to the Buda side. It was probably the most breathtaking night scenary I had ever seen, the type where you take a deep breath, hold it, forget to breath and almost pass out.




And there's more. The night scenary from the Fisherman's Bastion is equally impressive. Between its marble arches and doorways, one can get a wonderful panorama of the entire Pest, dominated by the gothic spires and dome of the grandly-lit parliament on the left side and the chain bridge on the right. It was a very romantic place, with the dim yellow light reflecting off the fanciful white castle walls and towers. And after about 22:00 at night, there are hardly any tourists left except for a few pairs who are too busy to mind others. Also, climbing the bastion's upper level was free at night, which I found astonishing since the scenary and the atmosphere was simply out of this world.






That's not to say Budapest is not impressive in the daytime. The moment I emerged out of Batthany Ter metro station, my eyes couldn't move away from the white marble spires of the parliament. Even though it was across the river, the mere size of the complex made it look as if it was on the opposite side of the road.



The parliament was not the only architectural spectacle on the Pest side. One early evening we started from the Opera metro station on Andrassy avenue and zigzagged towards the parliament. Everything from the Victorian-era subway station to the Opera house to the nameless statues and frescos on any of the buildings lining the Andrassy were objects of beauty.





And if you like beautiful architecture and frescos, the Buda side has even more, starting with the Matyas church. Certainly this was one of the most striking church interiors I've seen, with its bold colours and details more than making up for its relative small size. The warmth of the gold red and blue fresco patterns contradicts the dark, solemn lighting, and produces ... a comfy place to rest from the 28 degree afternoon sun outside. Hah! My wife had a hard time getting me to move.





Right outside the church is the Fisherman's Bastion, not as incredibly romantic as in the evening, but still a beautiful place for pictures and a wonderful view of Pest. As mentioned above, you need to pay (something like HUF600) to climb to the second level in the daytime, so wait until the evening when it's free.



Escaping from the afternoon heat, we went underground to the Buda Castle Labyrinth. It's not easy to find, and we passed by the entrance not realizing it was the entrance. The catacombs was once a storage chamber in the medieval ages, fortified with concrete in the 20th century and now converted into a mini underground themepark. An hour-long walk took us through a Lascaux imitation, stone statues, and a fountain flowing with red wine for the visitor's refreshment. The most fun was a chamber with no lights, and visitors had to navigate and move forward following a chain nailed to the side of the chamber, eventually leading to the exit. Not really worthy of the HUF1600 entrance fee, but a passable diversion on a hot day.




Last but not least, there are the baths which Budapest is famous for.

Sorry I have no pictures to show, since we went to the Rudas bath at 23:00 at night and did not take our camera. But I assure you, having a good hotspring bath while star gazing through the vents of the ancient Turkish dome is more than worth the HUF2200 entrance fee. For nice pictures, go to the official site at http://www.spasbudapest.com.



Basically, we took our flip-flops and towels and hopped on Tram 19 to Dobrentel Ter. Upon paying the entrance fee, we were given a ticket and were directed to the locker room. Each person claims one locker, which is a tall wooden stall inside which you can change into your swim wear. After changing, you simply leave your belongings inside, take the locker key and head to the baths. There was one big central pool under the Turkish dome, with lukewarm water. In the four corners of the room there are four small pools of various temperature. The hotspring lover in me went for the hottest pool where I had to slowly immerse into the 42-degrees water over a couple minutes. After 10 minutes or so I climbed out and sweated like a pig, which was exactly the kind of hotspring I needed after a long day of walking.

One last note, the website said that if you leave within 2 hours, you get part of your entrance fee back (HUF600 when I checked before the trip). But that didn't seem to apply to night bathing. Oh well.


The Food:

A La Carte
29 Iskola, Budapest I
http://www.budapesthotelstart.com/budapestinfo/alacarte.en.html

The night we arrive, we were too tired to walk around and went to a little restaurant right across from our apartment called "A La Carte". The food was good; the service was not. For anything we tried to order from the regular menu, the waiter would say "NO, we have our special soup/fish/wine..." and then go on a speech. We asked what the prices were for these "specials", and the price difference was noticeable but wasn't huge and so we did tried these so-called specials. Everything was good, it was just that the price was slightly inflated and we didn't appreciate our waiter's special service.



Fish soup (Halaszle), a Hungarian favorite. Intense fish (not fishy!) flavor, strong spices, peppery and very good with bread. My wife loved it.



I had a spicy broth with sausages and vegetables. I remember it being good but I can't remember much else so it couldn't have been really that good.



The 2-person main course was three kinds of grilled fish - catfish, salmon, and I forgot the third. Good, but not spectacular.

With a beer (Gösser tastes good!) and a cocktail (made with Tokaji Aszu, they said), two soups, and a main course for 2, the bill came to about HUF7500 (~CAD$47) after tips.

If you intend on trying our waiter's "special menu", A La Carte's address is 29 Iskola, near Batthyany Ter on the Buda side.


Budavari Matyas
Hess Andras ter 4, Budapest I
http://www.budavarimatyasetterem.hu

This was one of our two best meals on this trip. Incredible foie gras. Excellent.

We didn't even plan on going to this place. The original plan was to take an afternoon nap then head to Tabani Kakas on Attila utca, but it was closed for some unknown reason. So we wandered up castle hill, passed by this place and saw the foie gras pricing on their menu, checked the prices on neighboring Fortuna House (http://www.fortuna-restaurant.hu), then decided to come back to this place.

There was a stage for live music, but the musicians had left by the time we arrived (around 20:30). We didn't mind much, as our main purpose was to sample the famous Hungarian goose liver.



First course was stuffed mushrooms with goose liver puree. Crispy batter, moist and flavorful inside. Mmmm...but it gets better.



For main course we ordered two foie gras dishes to share. This is breaded foie gras with grilled vegetables. Flavorful, moist, and not too oily, but still a little less flavorful than I expected. Veggies were excellent.



This was the best dish. Seared foie gras, hungarian style. Incredible texture and flavor...perfect medium-cooked combined with a thick, fruity sauce to balance out the oiliness. Three large medallions of goose liver, each as thick as my finger, at only HUF3300 (CAD$20).

With beers, the entire bill for the night, including tips, came to about HUF12000, which is not even CAD$80. At a very prestigious location too, right across from the Hilton and three minutes walk to the Fisherman's Bastion for some amazing night scenary. We wouldn't even have discovered the magic of the Fisherman's Bastion at night had we not have dinner there.



Central Market Hall
Vamhaz Korut 1-3
http://www.csapi.hu/



We also went to the Central Market Hall to bring some foie gras home and check out the local produce. Goose livers everywhere! Probably half of the stalls on the lower lever were meat stalls, and goose liver was the spotlight. Hundreds of whole livers, each shaped like a small loaf of bread, were stacked on top of each other waiting for buyers. Knowing that customs won't let us bring uncooked ones home, we settled for some canned liver puree for our parents.





We also bought a bottle of Tokaji Aszu 3 Puttonyos. Even the bottle label tells the story of Louis XIV's famous quote: "Wine of Kings, King of Wines." I have to agree with old Louie, as my wife and I, not even being regular drinkers, finished about 2/3 of it one evening. This bottle cost about HUF1300 (CAD$8) at the Central Market Hall. But later we found it at the Spar supermarket selling for less than HUF1000. Money well spent anyway.





Transportation:

We took Easyjet from London Gatwick and landed at Budapest's Ferihegy terminal 1. It was a very modern terminal with an English-speaking info centre, but most importantly an ATM accepting all major credit cards, as well as my Canadian bank-issued ATM card. After getting some local currency, we bought single-trip bus tickets from the newspaper shop. Bus 200 stops just outside the terminal, with a clearly marked bus-stop and a posted timetable.



At the time of writing, there is a whole array of transit tickets, the pricing of which you can find on Wikitravel (http://wikitravel.org/en/Budapest). We bought single trip tickets (HUF230) to take Bus 200 to the Kobanya-Kispest metro station, then bought a booklet of 20 tickets (HUF2050) at the BKV (Budapest's public transit company) counter for the rest of our stay. For our busy Day 2, we bought 1-Day tickets (HUF1350) at the BKV counter at the Batthyany Ter metro station. Sound confusing enough? This is all because BKV's 1-Day and 3-Day tickets' validity start from midnight on the day of use, NOT from the exact time of use. So if you're arriving in the late afternoon like we did, there is little point in buying a Day Ticket since it will expire in a few hour's time. Also, Day Tickets are pricy and you'll need to take 6 trips in a day to make a 1-Day ticket worthwhile. In this regard, the public transit in Vienna and Prague are much, much friendlier.



On our departure, we bought train tickets to Vienna at a hard-to-find international ticket counter at the Keleti train station. Roughly 13 Euros per person, which is way cheaper than the 23.5 Euros that the train company (MAV) quoted by email. CAD$20 for a comfy 3 hour train ride was very reasonable.


Accommodation:



We rented a historic-looking apartment on the Buda side of the Danube just off Batthyany Ter, with a 14-feet ceiling, a loft that can sleep another two if necesary, and a full kitchen with gas range. It was one minute walking distance to a Spar supermarket, two minutes to the Metro (Batthyany Ter) and Tram 19 (which runs along the Danube), and three minutes to the riverbank of the Danube. It was also practically right across from the impressive neo-gothic parliament building on the other side of the Danube. Right above the apartment was the castle district, with the grand palace complex in the distance. All that surrounding beauty and convenience for about HUF11000 (~CAD$67) per night.




Our Ideas for Day Trips:

1) Our choice was the medieval village of Holloko, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 2 hours away by bus. It's a great place if you like rustic villages and medieval castles. Please see my Holloko page for details.

2) Esztergom is a town situated at the entrace to the Danube Bend upstream from Budapest. It also boasts Hungary's largest basilica and the oldest royal court. It's 1.5 hours by bus, and you can take a leisurely afternoon ferry through the Danube Bend and back in Budapest in 4 hours.

3) Vysehrad is another town on the Danube Bend, a little closer than Esztergom and accessible by both bus and ferry. The big attraction is the medieval castle and its hilltop view of the Danube Bend. The ferry from Esztergom stops at Vysehrad en route to Budapest.

4) Szentendre is probably the most popular place for day trips. It looks like a picturesque little town, with a large open-air museum of traditional village houses. It's less than an hour away by HEV (suburban rail) from Batthyany Ter.


Miscellaneous Comments:

The yogurt here is so good!! Smooth, creamy, like marscapone cheese....mmmm.



My wife had an excellent sausage roll at a small bakery situated on the left side of the tracks of the Keleti train station (if you're coming up the escalator and facing the trains). For the remainder of the trip she tried to look for the same kind of sausage roll in Austria and the Czech Republic, but none came even close. She claims the sausage had the same flavor as those used by Kobeya (http://www.kobeya.co.jp) in Japan. Sound strange? But I have to agree with her after a bite!


Links to Transportation and Sights:

Bus 200 (connecting Airport to Metro) - http://www.bkv.hu/english/busz/200.html
Budapest's Public Transit - http://www.bkv.hu
Train Schedules - http://www.elvira.hu
Long Distance Bus Schedules - http://www.volanbusz.hu/english
Buda Castle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda_Castle
Matyas Church - http://www.matyas-templom.hu/
Buda Labyrinth - http://www.labirintus.com/
History Museum - http://www.btm.hu/
National Gallery - http://www.mng.hu
Parliament of Hungary - http://www.mkogy.hu/parl_en.htm
Central Market - http://www.csapi.hu/
Roman Aquincum - http://www.aquincum.hu/menuoldalangol.htm
House of Hungarian Wine - http://www.magyarborokhaza.hu/
Public Baths - http://www.spasbudapest.com/


Other Interesting Restaurants We Didn't Try:

http://tabanikakas.freeweb.hu/
http://tabaniterasz.hu
http://www.fortuna-restaurant.hu/


Cheap Accommodation Links:
(Double Room with Private Bathroom)

http://www.agapeguesthouse.com
http://www.artsiter.com/budapestapartments/index.html
http://www.taymer.battanet.hu/vacanze.htm
http://www.budapestcheapflats.com/html/alkotmany.htm
http://www.trav.com/wri-9128/BudaCastleApartment
http://www.rentalsystems.com/book/budapestapart
http://www.budapestrooms.com/galamb/index.php
http://www.holidaycafe.info