This morning we woke up in Mohacs, Hungary. It was an early day because our destination was 45 minutes away from where we docked in Mohacs. A local tour guide joined us on the bus and gave us information about Hungary and a little history along the way. Many guides that we have had so far have alluded to the fact that most of the Slavic countries surrounding Hungary (Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia) have languages that are similar and can communicate but no one understands Hungarian! It is one of the hardest languages to learn. Our Hungarian guide also admitted that words in a Hungarian sentence don’t necessarily have to go in order…kind of like how Yoda speaks! In fact, she thinks that many aliens in movies are speaking Hungarian..
The first king of Hungary was St. Stephan in the year 1000. Fun fact: years after he died, his stone grave was opened before he was canonized a saint and they found that one of his hands was mummified so it was removed and is a greatly revered relic. It is kept in the Basilica of St. Stephen in Budapest.
After World War II Hungary became a satellite state of the Soviet Union but eventually became a democratic government in 1989. Hungary joined the EU in 2004 and is preparing to adopt the Euro. Their currency currently is the Forint.
Our destination was Pecs (cs in Hungarian makes the sh sound). It is an ancient city founded by the Romans and was selected to be a European Capital of Culture. It is a beautiful city in the hills of Hungary.
We made our way to the Sts. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral Basilica (we’re now in back Catholic country). It was originally built in the Roman period and you can see ruins under glass near the church. The cathedral that we saw was built in the 1800’s. We were lucky enough to be treated to an amazing organ concert while we were there. The organ has 6101 pipes!
Pecs is the home of the world famous Zsolnay ceramics. The decorative ceramic company was established in 1873. Many churches in Hungary have colorful ceramic roofs made by Zsolnay because they are weatherproof yet beautiful. We had a short time to shop in Pecs so we set off to find the Zsolnay store. There was only one woman working there and her English was limited but she managed to get us in and out rapidly with our treasures all securely wrapped!
Wine tasting was the next order of business. Hungary has a lot of vineyards and they drink a lot of wine. We tasted two white wines and a Cabernet Franc with pretty substantial pours. I think the object was to have us all sleep on the bus ride back to the ship.
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