Weekend in Pécs (Part 2)

Saturday started all too early - it was the weekend and getting up before 10 should be banned - we got up at 8am, had a coffee and then drove into the countryside, towards the Croatian border.

We visited one small village near a national park, and on seeing a property for sale, we stopped and went to have a look around. A dear old lady, with thick glasses that covered most of her face came out and began telling us all about the house and the old farm buildings in the garden - of course, when I say she was telling us these things, she was really telling Aron and his father - she kept talking to me, and I kept standing there and nodding, throwing in the occasional "mmm ... okay". She must have been wondering "who is this mute with sunglasses?".

The sun was shining and everything seemed like a normal day - I felt a little ill actually, but Aron did too so we concluded that it was probably in connection with the beer from the previous night. We drove to another village, and stopped to look at some more houses. We then met someone who Aron's father knew through his work, and that's when normality left the building.

[In order to protect the innocent I've changed some of the details here]

Here was a short guy, probably in his late 50s/early 60s, with a beer belly and a thirst for drinking. It was very quickly apparent that he had spent some time smuggling cheese from Holland, because he quickly offered us a suitcase full of cheese. While Aron and his father spoke to cheese-smuggler, I was offered a range of drinks by another man in his 50s who looked constantly shocked - don't get me wrong, he had a happy expression on his face - it just looked as if he'd walked into a room to see 3 semi-naked models waiting for him. After drinking several shots of palinka, a coffee and a coke (it seemed to be the only words they knew ... okay, they didn't know coffee, but I know that's kavé from my many visits to different coffee shops) Aron indicated that it was about time to leave. Of course, first we had to hear a long story involving deers, a jeep, automatic weapons, alcohol, a farmer and the police. Afterwards, I learnt the Hungarian phrase "nem normalis" meaning "not normal".

I thought that the day couldn't get any stranger, but then we drove to the river (the Dráva), which was a lovely peaceful place - nature everywhere, and very few people. Some workers were explaining how they opening up some of the small pools and tributaries alongside the river, so that the local fish once again would have somewhere to lay eggs. It was nice. Then along came a guy dressed as a soldier with two german shephards - I say "dressed as" because there was little chance this guy was anything to do with the military. For a start he had no control over his dogs. As we walked off to another part of the river, and left him to "patrol" the woods we caught a glimpse of a stray dog in the forrest. A few minutes later, we heard the sounds of dogs fighting and it was clear that one dog was losing. It was horrible really. By the time we made it back through to woods the stray dog had disappeared, however from what the "soldier" said, the dog wouldn't last long. That guy was a jerk (and I'm being very polite when I use that term) and we left as soon as possible. Once again I could hear Aron and his Dad chatting, and the phrase "nem normalis" seemed to be repeated many times in the conversation.

Gypsy Steak

By this time it was early afternoon, and we were all rather hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant in a town on the way home. After some discussions, I left my choice of food up to Aron and his father, who selected the gypsy steak for me. After the recent experiences, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in these small towns and villages, however Aron and his father assured me that it wasn't made of gypsy. Which was a relief, because even though I'll try a lot of things I draw the line at cannibalism. I'm pleased to say that the steak tasted great, however there was so much food (english chips and a salad) that I couldn't eat everything.

Decorate by Grandmothers

Later in the evening, once we'd got back to Pécs and some sense of normality, we went out for something to eat and a few drinks. We found a restaurant in a basement (Aron assured me it was good), which looked as if it had been decorated with only furniture and ornaments from your grandmother's house - it was really quite charming. We ate some kind of spicy, paprika/tomato soup, which was covered by a bread "hat", that you eat with the soup, which was really nice. Afterwards we went to a few different bars and, partly because the University semester was just starting, they were busy and there was a really good atmosphere.

The Lock Wall in Pécs

The next day I took the train back to Budapest, but all in all I'd recommend Pécs - it was a lovely town and definitely worth a weekend visit. I can't say I can recommend the towns and villages near the Croatian border, but maybe we were unlucky, maybe their not all crazy.