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This
is always a good time of the year to travel around
the countryside. The colours, warm days and cool
nights make driving unusually agreeable, particularly
if the main roads can be avoided. In these conditions
I continued my journey around the nether regions
of Hungary with an overheated BMW and an under-heated
interpreter.
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| Gyula is an enchanting little town which
is strangely un-Hungarian. The trees and the river
area make it a genuinely enjoyable town to wander
round. The little river walk area, for some reason
quite unknown to logic, reminded me of San Antonio,
but the reconstructed fort did not have the reality
of the Alamo, but then John Wayne, Davy Crockett,
Jim Bowie et al never became all American heroes in
Gyula. We stayed at the Hotel Corvin,( Jókai
u. 9-11Tel: (66) 362.218) which is a brand new small
hotel with well thought out rooms in a modern style
with plenty of almost blending pastel colours. The
owners are enthusiastic about their new baby and live
on the premises to ensure all go well for their guests.
After what can only be described as a better forgotten
meal at the Indonesian restaurant I had a couple of
drinks in a large billiard bar in the centre of town
and reflected that in San Antonio I could have had
a hell of a lot more fun. |
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| Szeged always seems to me to be the
jolliest town outside Budapest. When we arrived on
a sunny Tuesday afternoon there were two bands playing
outside, and the central shopping streets positively
heaved with people. I parked outside the decrepit
looking Royal Hotel l(6720 Kölcsey u. 1-3,Tel:
(62) 475.275) and went in search of advice as to where
to stay. Much to my surprise I was redirected back
to the Royal, on my last visit I had stayed at the
Tisza Hotel which had left me with a consuming desire
not to go back. I had also visited the three star
concrete nasty called the Hotel Hungaria. Once inside
the Royal became better by the minute. It is no longer
state owned and the reception was friendly and the
rooms recently redecorated and with most modern conveniences. |
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| As usual I asked around for recommendations
as to where to eat and the Royal hotel was suggested.
In true 'know it all' style I decided that this could
not possibly be true so I set off in search of a gastronomic
feast. After a frustrating stroll around Szeged I
crept into the Royal Hotel restaurant. Much to my
surprise the Royal Hotel Restaurant turned out to
be a large elegant restaurant with pink table clothes,
an interesting wooded ceiling and real flowers. There
was a band which despite being scrounging gypsies
broke into jazz and light classical music. |
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| Certainly one of the best restaurant
bands I have come across for a long while. The menu
is broadly based with a few good game selections,
including the 'Hare pie', which although listed as
a main, I had as a starter and proved to be delicious
with real home-made sauce. The steak tartar, listed
as a starter, I had as a main and although the meat
was good it was already mixed and I could have done
the job better. They finished me off with a gigantic
portion of Sómloyi. The service is remarkably
slick and the food seemed remarkably well presented.
I have yet to find a better restaurant, in Hungary,
outside Budapest. |
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| After dinner I wandered off in search
of a drink to wash down the sómloyi and headed
to The Laguna (hid u 6) which is a cocktail bar with
an extensive cocktail menu and uses familiar names
but the product seldom bares much resemblance to the
real thing. Some of the offerings were a trifle strange.
Does Mr. Zwack really drink his Unicun mixed with
brandy and chocolate liqueur? And maybe everything
that Woody Allen does could be explained by his penchant
for drinking scotch, ouzo, white rum and lemonade.
The hundreds of friendly fish, who supervise the bar
from dozens of tanks, must have many a tale too tell
if people actually drink these concoctions. After
a Mai-Tai which tasted like a puszta cocktail and
looked like the water of the nearby Tisza I went in
search of sanity and a drink I could understand. Thus
I ended up in the Osztrák Sörphlie (Tisza
lajos krt. 67). This is a very genuine beer bar in
a shallow cellar with friendly normal people, and
not a staring fish in sight. |
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Between Pecs and Lake Balaton is the
Castle Hotel (Tel:: (82) 370.801) at Gálosfa.
This is supposed to be a stately residence built by
the Festetics family in the 18th. Century. The location,
in an unspoilt village in a valley, is truly rural.
The birds sing, the cows moo and the dogs bark. This
is a wonderful spot with most country pursuits available,
in particularly riding. I wandered down to the local
boozer, after a very indifferent meal at the Castle,
but decided that I could forgo the experience of a
drink in this particular kótchma (pub). Non
of the furniture looked undamaged and the few locals,
still standing, seemed to be running out of comprehension
of each others slurred conversation. Unfortunately,
unlike Weepy, they did not have anybody to take them
home. The Castle hotel is an idyllic spot but take
somebody you love, or a group to amuse you, that is
unless you want to contemplate a monastic existence.
C YA |
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| Fine Dining in:
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