July Update 26/7/08 Rovinj, Croatia (9,069 km) 
A cursory glance at the Mog and we were waved through the border into Hungary, our 8th country so far. Almost instantly things changed. Gone were the pretty horse and cart combinations with friendly farmers and mountains of hay. Gone were the women and children hoeing rows of vegetables in fields partitioned off by ancient, invisible boundaries. Also gone were the children calling out and waving at us as we passed. All were replaced by huge, hedge-less fields with crops efficiently harvested by giant machines. No one smiled or waved at us anymore.
We trundled across the Great Plain, a huge expanse between Budapest and Romania, where the land stretches out to the horizon unbroken by hills. In the middle of this area, back in 1980, a river was dammed and a series of lakes created. The area is now a national park and one of the best bird watching regions in Europe. We stopped at Tisafüred for a couple of nights with the idea of canoeing the lakes and swimming. The site was horrendously busy, filled with screaming children, noisy groups of drunken youths and row upon row of crimson bodies lying on the lake shore. We moved on hoping that this wasn’t going to be the standard for the rest of Hungary or indeed the summer.
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The commercial farming methods did provide a stunning display of sunflowers along the way. |
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The campsite at Silvesvâred was the complete opposite! We were welcomed by a chap whose only words in English were, “Soooper machina” coupled with a double thumbs-up and a huge smile! The small town is famous for breeding Lipizzaner horses and I wanted to see them in action – there are various events during the year to show what these wonderful horses can do. I wandered round the tiny (and a bit smelly!) museum while Oz took his mountain bike up the nearest big hill. The museum backs onto the stables and part of the entrance ticket allows you to wander round. I sauntered in and came face-to-muzzle with a HUGE white horse! There were four magnificent stallions in loose-boxes. The horses were originally bred for the Spanish Riding School and are considered the finest riding horses in the world. All Lipizzaners originate from just six families and each horse's pedigree is proudly displayed outside his stable. After the museum I caught the narrow gage railway for a bit of fun and chugged up the hill and back surrounded by uniformed scouts.
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I wasn't allowed to photograph the horses so this is a photo I have borrowed from a source on the internet!Click to enlarge |
We waved goodbye to the chap at the campsite who continued to give us a double thumbs-up every time we saw him even if this required putting down various implements he was carrying at the time and took a very pretty road to Vác. It was at this point we were particularly brave and decided to catch the ferry over the Danube instead of make the long detour to the road bridge. We had no idea if the ferry either took cars at all or would be able to cope with our size! All was fine when we arrived and drove straight on without any problems.
The Danube bend is the point in Hungary where the Danube flows in southwards from Slovakia and suddenly makes a big loop before heading off southwards again to Budapest. It was to the bottom of the loop we were headed. We found a lovely campsite at Dömös only a few metres from the river providing stunning views of the bend and settled in. We planned on canoeing the river down to Vác and then catching the train back but this never happened! All of a sudden we were too relaxed to do anything and just chilled out for a few days.
Oz had a birthday during our time at Dömös and we celebrated by a long walk around the town visiting the palace and castle. It was at the castle that we stumbled upon a show of archery and medieval swordsmanship which was great fun (if a little staged!). At one point the archers mounted the seating, stood literally behind our back and shot arrows over our heads to the targets in the courtyard! We then walked up to the top of the hill and to the summer toboggan run. This was so much fun we had three goes! You are pulled up the hill on your individual toboggan – a plastic tea-tray affair with runners and a rudimentary brake comprising a felt pad and leaver! We became braver and braver and on the last run neither of us used the brake at all! We had befriended some of the other campers at the site and in particular a Dutch couple – when we returned from tobogganing we return found a lovely birthday note and present of some outdoor candles on our table. We ended the day with cake and birthday candles.
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A fine time was had on Oz's birthday! Click on an image to enlarge |
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One night during the stay we were loudly awoken by an incredible thunderstorm. The lightening was so bright it lit up the Mog through the curtains as if it was broad daylight outside. The thunder grew louder and louder and, using our incredibly scientific measurements of how far the storm was from us, showed that it was less than “one elephant” away! Really rather exciting!
On the way to Budapest we stopped off in Vác as we had driven straight though on the way to Dömös. Oz particularly wanted to see the Vác Mummies. By some quirk of chance the good people of Vác were preserved by a combination of perfect climatic conditions within the crypt and an absent-minded nature of the locals! From 1731 to 1800 the public, dignitaries and priests were buried within the crypt below the Dominican church but for reasons lost by the mists of time the crypt was bricked up in 1801 and immediately forgotten about. The consistently cool, year-round temperature and low ventilation provided the perfect environment for mummification and perfectly preserved both the bodies and their clothes. The secret burial site was only re-discovered in 1994 when renovation work started on the church above. 262 bodies were exhumed and 166 identified by town records. The museum exhibits clothing, jewellery, shoes and beautifully decorated coffins of the deceased along with three preserved mummies in the clothing they were buried in. The display boards explain the history of the church and details of both the buried and the finds.
Each coffin had a traditional shape with matching large lid and sits upon bun feet. The coffins were stacked according to size order with the larger males at the bottom and the tiny child coffins on the top. Each coffin was predominantly painted in a pastel blue, yellow, brown or deep red and decorated with images of Christ on the cross, ivy and skull and crossbones – the name and dates of the occupier usually displayed on the side. The decorated edges of the women’s aprons were left overhanging the sides of the coffin and the shrouds likewise.
The mummies and coffins at Vác. |
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After a rather good (but expensive) lunch we carried on to Budapest where I got rather cross with authority, the Mog ended up in the Mercedes garage and then we met Lenin... more very soon!