The Real Guide Hungary [antikvár]

Pisitors who refer to Hungary as a Balkan country risk getting alecture on how this small, landlocked nation of 10,658,000 peoplediffers from "all those Slavs." Natives are strongly conscious ofHungary (likened by the poet Endre Ady to a ship sailing westwardsagainst the tide of history) and of themselves as Magyarsof a race thattransplanted itself from Central Asia into the heart of Europe, and a nationthat identifies with "Western values." There's currently an upsurge of demo-cratic and nationalist aspirations as Hungary prepares for free multi-partyelections in 1990, and a Papal tour the following year. Censorship and theIron Curtain have effectively ceased to exist, earning the Wesfs seal ofapproval (symbolized by President Bush's visit) and alarming the repressiveregimes in neighboring Romania and Czechoslovakiaall of which delightsordinary Hungarians and doesn't seem to bother the Kremlin.As a result youH encounter few of the clichés of Eastern European travel:no bread lines or overtly intrusive bureaucracy, or fear of secret police; andhardly a sign of Marx or Lenin, let alone a personality cult of Hungary's politi-cal leadership. Tourism is neither straitjacketed nor one-way; visitors cantravel wherever they please, while plenty of Magyars visit Western Europedespite the expense this entails. Westerners, on the other hand, will findHungary cheap: the moderately flush can afford a princely lifestyle, and eventhe impecunious can treat themselves frequently.Hungary's capital, Budapest, inspires a feeling of déja vu. Ifs not just thevast Gothic Parliament and other monuments of a bygone imperial era thatseem familiar, but the latest fashions on the streets, or a poster advertisingsomething that was all the rage back home a year before. In coffee houses,Turkish baths, and the fad for Habsburg bric-a-brac, there's a strong whiff ofMitteleuropathat ambient culture that welcomed Beethoven in Budapestand Hungarian-born Liszt in Vienna, currently being revived in a new form byrock stars, film directors, environmental activists, and millions of tourists,making Budapest the melting pot of East and WestAfter Budapest, Lake Balaton and the Danube Bend vie for popularity.The Balaton, with its string of brash resorts, styles itself as the "Nation'sPlayground," enjoying a fortuitous proximity to the Badacsony wine-producing region. The Danube Bend has more to offer in terms of sceneryand historic architecture, as do the Northern Uplands and Transdanubia.Sopron, Győr, and Pécs are rightfully the main attractions in Transdanubia,like the famous wine centers of Tokaj and Eger in the Uplands, but for castlebuffs the Zempléni range and the lowlands adjoining Yugoslavia have severaltreats in store. On the Great Plain Szeged hosts a major festival, while itsrival city, Debrecen, serves as the jumping-off point for the archaic Erdőhátregion and the mirage-haunted Hortobágy puszta, where a folkloric gatheringat Nagykálló and the equestrian Bridge Fair are staged to coincide withHungary's National Day, August 20. See the chapter introductions for moredetails about each region.