Szinbad Panzio Pecs

Firstly - the important stuff. According to BBC World News the top
story viewed on the BBC website today - the fact that Thargomindi
(spelling?) in outback Australia is being taken over by kangaroos and
emus every evening in the wake of the worst drought in 50 years. So
this must be why foreigners think we have kangaroos in our backyards!!!



I have just come from the city of Pécs which has been nominated as the
Pecs, Hungary bigkevoz

... pictures of earlier places and these are now lost forever.

We got in to the room before we noticed it was gone and then had to make our way over to the police station to report it but when we finally got there at about 11 we were told to return in the morning when an interpreter would be available.

This meant missing our morning train but we went back and lodged the report and got the all important crime number for the insurance. All in all a bad night in Pecs...

... stuff. The next day we went across to another town called Abaliget where we had heard there were some impressive caves. Impressive was not the word... Conrete floors, hand rails and stalegmites reaching a staggering 1.5m tall... There was even a rock that was supposed to resemble Father Christmas' face. Exciting stuff.

... stories from the Bible. I found it quite fascinating, but the boys chose to wait for me outside.

We continued to wander the town. It will be interesting to see how it changes in the coming years. The pedestrian areas are quite enjoyable, but virtually devoid of tourists. The shopkeepers appear bored and seem to be patiently waiting for the influx of tourists coming in 2010. Although we didn't get the true feeling of the ...

... Hungary. There is a wall of locks where the students place a lock to express their loyalty to the town. Unfortunately the rain set in for the afternoon and after persisting with our sightseeing for a while we retreated to the mall and then to a little pizzeria for an early dinner. When we got back to the farm the rain had cleared so we went for a short walk in Kiskassa.

... which in the early 1900's was mostly of German descent. He and his Hungarian wife run the farm and have chickens, goats, pigs, geese and many types of vegetable, fruit and nuts. The buildings have thick walls made of a mud/straw mix. As well as hosting paid guests, they also host "Woofers" - travellers who can work on the farm for board and food. At the moment they have two workers from Belgium.

... couldnt tell.) Most of my memories consisted of eating icecream cones and walking around a city wall. Well, the ice cream was as good as ever (bigger scoops here than anywhere) and the city is beautiful.It was a 2 day holiday which made all the stores closed (another reason the Koczkas were such a blessing for us,) but that also meant cool craft fair and low traffic on the road. Definately glad to be here.

... not able to pinpoint, which the wine cellar owner stated was due to the traditional ways Hungarian wine is still made. While walking back to the central square from the Cathedral we stumbled upon a little gate that was covered with padlocks, in fact there were so many padlocks that I could barely make out the iron bars of the fence behind the bulging mass of metal locks. I vaguely remembered reading about the padlocks of lovers found across Pecs, but ...

... must-see...open on Sunday from 12-6' sights were also closed. However it wasn't all bad. Pecs is a beautiful town and we could easily explore the outdoor sights in the afternoon. We had an excellent Italian dinner. The hotel that we stayed at was great and the manager even arranged for us to have a breakfast to go since we had an early morning train to catch.

... his face. He stuck his head in the window and started yelling something at us, we quickly realised (to our relief) that he wasn't actually angry with us, he was lost and wanted to know if we could help him. We pulled out the map but it wasn't really useful so he stormed off again (to our bigger relief). Oh the excitement you have driving around foreign countries in a little red van! Now we are in a really lovely town called Pecs, which has quite a strong Turkish influence and ...