A journey to Hungary, that's what we wanted to do for a long time. What is better to imagine what kind of country the Puli originates from then visiting yourselves? We heared about the Puszta, but being able to actually walk on it seemed to us like a very good prospect.

We had a little less than four weeks time to travel, so there were a lot of possibilities. We planned a circular tour and we wanted to reach the Hortobágy Puszta. First we crossed the northern part of the country, then we returned home via the southern part.

We wondered if there would be a dogshow while we were in Hungary. And yes, there was a show in Debrecen. And it was during the time that we would be there. On the internet we met the secretary of the Puli-Pumi-Mudi Club of Hungary. He did everything for us so we could be in the show. We even got his appartment during the time we were in Debrecen. This was very close to the Puszta!

In the end there wasn't too much time left for the return-journey. But we did visit Pécs though. That was all the way down south of the country.

What follows is a comprehensive desciption of our jouney. It's done in four parts. First the outward journey onto Debrecen in two parts, after that our stay in Debrecen and finaly the return-journey.

The outward journey (1)

There was a lot of coming and going to make our car ready for the trip. All the camping things and luggage had to fit in the car. We installed a ventilator and also a net right behind the front seats. That's the place where Toby and Terry would stay during the journey. The trunk, where they usually are while we drive, was too far in the back and the ventilation isn't very good there.

All these doings were very confusing for Terry. She didn't know what was going on and she stayed close to us. Every time she could, she jumped in the car. Wow, the bosses were leaving and they should not forget her.

The day we left home we were awake very early, because we wanted to reach Austria the first day. We reached the border in Esternberg, close to Passau, when it was four 'o clock. We pitched our tent and enjoyed the nice weather.

The next day we quickly continued, because this day we wanted to reach Hungary. That was not a problem, when it was about two 'o clock we reached the border in Sopron.

The first thing we did was looking for a camping in Szombathely. Friends of us gave us some citymaps with campings on it. They marked the campings which they knew where good, so finding a decent camping was not that difficult. We did no reservations, but that was not a problem at all.

In the evening we ate our first 'real' Hungarian meal. We also heard too loud 'real' Hungarian music.

The next day we went for a walk in the town. The synagogue in Moorish-Oriental style was one of the things impressed us a lot.

We also visited the great botanical garden and after that we went to Fertöd via Köszeg. There we went to the palace of the Eszterházys. It was beautiful, but unfortunately we could not go inside, because it was closing-day.

We stayed one more night on the camping of Szombathely, but the day after it was high time to go. We drove to Ajka, where once again we easily found a camping. At the end of the day we went to the swimming pool to cool our heads.

The next day was august 11th 1999. That day there was a total eclipse of the sun in Europe. We found out about that while we were preparing our trip. We were very lucky, not only were we going to see the event, it was while on vacation. And what's more, the eclipse was better and lasted longer than in Belgium.

When we woke up that day, the sky was cloudy. Not a bit of blue sky at all, only grey. We hoped that soon it would get better and left the camping. The day before, on our way to Ajka, we saw a hill. This seemed to us as a good place. But we were not alone, the hill was the only high place in the surroundings. We left quite early in the morning and that was the reason we were lucky to stand on top of the hill. But we were stuck between the other cars as well.

At noon the sky was bright. The clouds were all gone! We watched the moon getting further in front of the sun (of course we used special eclipse-glasses to look at this). The more the moment of total eclipse came closer, the darker it got. We left Toby and Terry in the car while we looked at the sun. From time to time we went to the car (that was not very far away from us) to see if they were okay. They fell asleep because of the incomming darkness!

Finaly the moment of total eclipse was there, at 10h51 the sun was completely behind the moon. We could see the beautifull corona. It was very quit, everybody was speechless...

(photo  ©1999 Lorenzo Comolli)

When the sun got back, the crowd applaused. This was a moment we would never forget. And what about Toby en Terry? They were fast asleep and dreaming. The whole afternoon one could see they did not act normal. They thought it had been a very short night.

In the afternoon we also went to Cserszegtomaj, close to Lake Balaton. We visited a Puli-kennel there. We fount the adress on the internet and went by 'just like that'. That was not a problem for these people. We saw some of the Pulis of the kennel. There were also Pumis. Alltogether we got a very good reception, remember we didn't contact them before and we were totaly foreign strangers.

And after another night in the tent, the day after it was time to load the car. Terry and Toby watched this from inside the tent just until the tent itself needed to be placed in the trunk...

First we went to Lake Balaton, and we also visited the peninsula Tihany. There was a market and someone offered us a Puli-puppy. We were not really interested. Toby and Terry neither, they don't understand Hungarian barking. 

After that we went to Székesfehérvár, one of the oldest and most traditional cities of Hungary. Some of the houses in the inner town are build in the typical zopf style. Below is a picture of the church of St. Janos.

And once more we went further on. This time the direction was the Lake Velence. This lake is 10 kilometers long, the average width is 2.4 kilometers and it's only 1.6 meters deep. The western part is a bird-reservation with over 100 spieces of birds. We found a camping spot right besides the lake. There was only about one meter between the tent and the water! At night there was a lot of wind, call it storm. Fortunately we were not floating on the lake the next day.

On the internet we had found information about a statuepark near Budapest. It's an open-air museum with statues that were 'saved' after the communism was overthrown. When that happened most of the statues were destroyed. The name of the park is 'Szoborpark' and it can be found somewhere southwest of Budapest. It's really worth the visit when you're in the neighbourhood.

We didn't visit Budapest, we only drove through it. This was an experience on it's own. It was very busy and in no time we were trapped in a queue. After a lot of searching we found the right way to cross the Danube so we could see the wonderful parliament. We also found the worldfamous chainbridge and Gellérthotel. This way we crossed the Danube once more. So we were on the rigth side of the river now. We tried to get away from Budapest when suddenly we were about to cross the river once more. This shouldn't happen, we were on the right side! By using very dangerous and completely illegal manoeuvres we got on the other side of the road. Someone saw our misery and stopped us to ask where we wanted to go. He showed us the right way. If that person hadn't been there, we were still in Budapest...

Once we left this hectic city we continued unto Szentendre. This town is famous for it's painters, sculptors and musicians who came there from 1928 on. With it's nice zig-zag streets, colourful houses, narrow alleys and different churchtowers, it's one of the most visited touristic places near the Danube Bend. We wandered the streets for hours and on top of that we had a very delicious meal.

We found a camping in Leányfalu, near the Danube. There were bungalows on legs, as a precaution against possible floods. Nice prospect for our tent...

Fortunately it stayed dry and so the next day we could visit the Danube Bend without a problem. The area is located to the north of Budapest and some places are really worth a visit.

First we went to Visegrád, which means 'high castle'. The fortress on top of the Várhegy mountain probably offers the best view on the Danube Bend. 

We also went to visit Esztergom. It was in this city that 1000 years ago the Hungarian State was founded. It's also the cradle of Hungarian Christianity. The country's first king, St. Stephen (975-1038), was born, crowned and buried here. The biggest Hungarian Cathedral can be found on top of the hill. It's the thirth biggest church in Europe.

But we were more interested in another church, in fact church-ruins. We found that in Zsámbék. The H. Johannes-church was build in the 13th century by the Brothers of Premontre. Later the Turkish damaged the church real bad. As time went by, parts were rebuild, but in 1763 an earthquake destroyed it once more. After that the church was never rebuild again. Nevertheless ceremonies still take place in the ruins. While we were there a marriage took place. Let's hope this marriage has more luck than the church...

The next day we visited the biggest etnographic open-air museum in Hungary. There are 340 buildings to see there, complete with interiors from past times. The terrain is separated into four different regions.

There's a lot to see, like a Greek-Catholic church and a Calvinistic graveyard. A school with house of the teacher. Also a lot of farms, some of which are typicaly long ones as found on the Puszta.

The next day we took the ferry near Vác. This way we crossed the Danube for the first time (Budapest not counted) and got to the eastern part of the country. A report about that part of our journey can be found here.

Home   Outward journey (2)   Our stay in Debrecen   Return-journey