Szentendre and Visegrád, Hungary

 

We went potholing, I mean, touring in the car again the other day, this time stopping off to visit Visegrád. The outstanding landmark of this quaint town on the banks of the Danube is a medieval castle on the hill overlooking the bend or knee of the Danube. His Lordship had intended us all to hike up from the town centre to the castle known as Fellegvár, meaning Cloud Castle. Her Ladyship took one look at the steep incline and was not remotely inclined to go along with that plan. The castle really is in the clouds! We drove up instead, parked at the nearby viewing tower and strolled downhill to the castle. I think we were all glad that we saved our energy for climbing the tower and the castle ramparts, and for admiring the wonderful views.

At the castle, His Lordship and I took stock of various aspects of medieval life…

… but this is one side of medieval life that I can certainly live without!

Later back down in town, we realised that the annual three day medieval festival, the International Palace Games, was in full swing. We caught the end of a parade with all participants decked out in full regalia, from medieval bands, to knights in shining armour, to maidens on horseback. What an unexpected treat!

Old meets new in this medieval queue for the ATM machine.

I’ve done my fair share of island-hopping in France, but I didn’t expect to be able to do so in Hungary. Of course, I had expected to see a few small islands in the Danube but I couldn’t believe the size of Szentendre Island: 31 km long and 56 km²! In spite of being just a stone’s throw from Budapest, this island is a beautiful nature reserve and is home to a wide variety of birdlife. Even the odd seagull has been spotted here. “With emphasis on the odd”, pipes up His Lordship. The cheeky so-and-so!

There are herds of the famous long-horned Hungarian grey cattle on the island which Her Ladyship was particularly anxious to see, but my focus was on hitting the beaches at the north end which I had previously spotted from Visegrád castle. Sure enough, they were worth the long, hot bike ride from the ferry port where we had parked the car. Well, Her Ladyship didn’t think so, she whinged practically all the way, but I was delighted when we finally made it. The beaches almost seemed ‘real’. Shells galore, and there were even a few reasonable waves. When a jet ski or motor boat sped past.

Just when I was beginning to feel at home on the shores of the Danube, His Lordship decided we should all go on a hike up the wooded hills near our base in Dömös. His suggestion was met with zero enthusiasm, but he somehow managed to convince Her Ladyship to join him. From the multitude of possible marked routes, they settled on the walk to a certain Király-Kút. Neither of the Oldies had a clue where, what or who Király-Kút was, but the deciding factor was that, according to the signs, it was only 6 km away.

The forest was beautiful, with plenty of idyllic picnic spots. As we had already come to notice on campsites, parks and beaches, here in the forest there were also the ubiquitous circles of stones provided for picnickers. These are for setting open fires over which the locals hang cauldrons from a chain on a tripod. I was surprised to see them in a forest where open flames are usually such a big no-no. Hungarians must be a very responsible lot!

Talking about food, you really don’t go hungry in Hungary. Even here in the middle of a forest, there are plenty of delicious treats on offer.

Back to our walk: as we progressed deeper and deeper into the forest, the whole experience became reminiscent of an Asterix adventure. First the cauldrons (ok, they were more likely full of goulash than magic potion, but still), then the very apparent evidence of herds of wild boar… we’d already long covered the 6 km and there still is no sign of the elusive Király-Kút … there were more and more wild boar tracks as we moved further into the forest … and more and more warning signs in incomprehensible Hungarian tacked to the trees, with no sign of a single other soul who could translate for us … our imaginations started running away with us … wild boar can be very aggressive when they have young to protect … and although His Lordship might have the physique of an Obelix, he is definitely not invincible …

To cut a long story short, Király-Kút was abandoned, and the Terrified Three turned on their heels and hared back to the safety of the village as fast as their tired little legs could carry them.

We still have no idea what Király-Kút is. We most likely never will. But we survived to tell the tale – once the Oldies had calmed their nerves with a couple of nice cool pints of Soproni.

Now that’s one Hungarian word they definitely understand!