Through blizzards to Pécs, European Cultural Capital 2010

In the morning there is a knock on the caravan door. Two policemen: “Who are you and what are you doing here?” After an explanation and a phone call to the police headquarters, a short stay at Hungary’s most famous square is permitted. To my relief the policemen leave with big smiles on their faces.

Not much later Zsolt Lipi’s Landrover appears. Zsolt is a friend of Simon Wintermans’ and he offered me a ride from Budapest to Pécs. Which is a good thing, as there is a lot of snow and the new motorway from Budapest to Pécs won’t open until April. It saves me the hassle of standing alongside a snowy regional road with my ‘Tow bar wanted’ cardboard sign without understanding the language.

Zsolt proves to be the perfect guide and tells me everything there is to know. He owns a company that sells cleaning materials and he knows a lot about Budapest, Pécs and Hungary in general. Halfway our trip we stop at a town called Paks, at an old inn for a bowl of traditional fish soup. The recipe comes from an old Hungarian community of land workers, shepherds and farmers that always had a steady supply of bell peppers, onions and potatoes.

When we continue our journey I am reminded of how densely populated the Netherlands really is. The road goes over miles and miles of massive snow covered fields with no houses at all. We spot many bird and deer species from the car.

When we briefly stop at a petrol station to refill the windscreen washer fluid we notice that the caravan is covered in a thick layer of dirty black ice. Zsolt is also confronted with the maximum possible speed for the car-caravan combination. At some point the caravan dangerously swings from left to right. I won’t mention our speed at that moment, but I am glad that we survived.

I also learn my first phrases in Hungarian: Szia Pécs, Európa Kulturális Fövárosa’ (Hello Pécs! European Cultural Capital) and Eqészségedre! (Cheers!). Especially the many different combinations of S- and O-sounds require a lot of practice.

Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon we enter the city of Pécs. We quickly rid the caravan of all the dirty ice and continue to Dom Square, where Simon and Kata Wintermans provide a very warm welcome with warm Hungarian wine. Eqészségedre! Szia Pécs, Európa Kulturális Fövárosa! Hurray!