The Real Guide Hungary [antikvár]

Pisitors who refer to Hungary as a Balkan country risk getting a lecture on how this small, landlocked nation of 10,658,000 people differs from "all those Slavs." Natives are strongly conscious of Hungary (likened by the poet Endre Ady to a ship sailing westwards against the tide of history) and of themselves as Magyars—of a race that transplanted itself from Central Asia into the heart of Europe, and a nation that identifies with "Western values." There's currently an upsurge of demo- cratic and nationalist aspirations as Hungary prepares for free multi-party elections in 1990, and a Papal tour the following year. Censorship and the Iron Curtain have effectively ceased to exist, earning the Wesfs seal of approval (symbolized by President Bush's visit) and alarming the repressive regimes in neighboring Romania and Czechoslovakia—all of which delights ordinary 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; and hardly 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 can travel wherever they please, while plenty of Magyars visit Western Europe despite the expense this entails. Westerners, on the other hand, will find Hungary cheap: the moderately flush can afford a princely lifestyle, and even the impecunious can treat themselves frequently. Hungary's capital, Budapest, inspires a feeling of déja vu. Ifs not just the vast Gothic Parliament and other monuments of a bygone imperial era that seem familiar, but the latest fashions on the streets, or a poster advertising something 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 of Mitteleuropa—that ambient culture that welcomed Beethoven in Budapest and Hungarian-born Liszt in Vienna, currently being revived in a new form by rock stars, film directors, environmental activists, and millions of tourists, making Budapest the melting pot of East and West After Budapest, Lake Balaton and the Danube Bend vie for popularity. The Balaton, with its string of brash resorts, styles itself as the "Nation's Playground," enjoying a fortuitous proximity to the Badacsony wine- producing region. The Danube Bend has more to offer in terms of scenery and 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 castle buffs the Zempléni range and the lowlands adjoining Yugoslavia have several treats in store. On the Great Plain Szeged hosts a major festival, while its rival city, Debrecen, serves as the jumping-off point for the archaic Erdőhát region and the mirage-haunted Hortobágy puszta, where a folkloric gathering at Nagykálló and the equestrian Bridge Fair are staged to coincide with Hungary's National Day, August 20. See the chapter introductions for more details about each region.