Have you ever visited the western part of Hungary? More precisely the north-western region, also known as Fertő-region?
If not, I'll tell you why it is a good idea to do so.
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| Bluefranker - Kékfrankos - Blaufränkisch |
First of all - its a wine-region as well :-) OK, just kidding, but the famous 'Kékfrankos' or 'Blaufränkisch' is also part of the adventures waiting to be explored.
Than there are all those fantastic castles and ruins to wonder - part of which are on the Hungarian side, other part on the Austrian side. (Formerly belonged to Hungary too, but history went different.)
If you ask anyone on the Hungarian side, most will put their fingers on Fertőd to visit first - not without a reason:
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| castle at Fertőd |
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| castle at Fertőd - inner side |
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| winter-garden |
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| nice 'clock' isn't it? :-) |
While on the Austrian side (Burgenland) you may hear 'Eisenstadt' (known also as Kismarton for Hungarians) to not miss out. Even if those castles are on the separate side of the border now, belonged to the same family called Esterházy.
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| Esterhazy castle of Eisenstadt |
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| funny stucco on the wall of Esterhazy-castle in Eisenstadt |
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| the chapel of the castle |
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| this castle also has a nice huge garden - according to the standard in that age |
You can find amazing the historical old downtown of the city too:
Being on the countryside, there can be usual country-sights you find:
...and some unusual ones as well:
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| not a typical view for the 'downtown kid' |
Than, after spent two days at the wonderful
Fertőrákos, we went over to visit another beautiful pearl of the region:
Kőszeg. Also known as Güns in German, its a lovely small ~10-13k population city near the Austrian border of Hungary. A calm place, where people - complete foreigners - greet each other on the street and where the so called 'honesty cash' (becsületkassza) is still in practice:
People put their home-made products, fruits, vegetables or just the mushrooms or chestnut picked in the forest onto small cots or shelves in front of the house with prices on and along with a small petty-cash (sometimes just a jar). You can take anything you want and just put the proper amount into the petty cash or jar...
...and it works! Amazing and amusing to see and try it. Here's a part of our 'prey' - cost just a part of the shop-price!
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| porcini and chestnut - for just a few bucks! |
Not to mention, there are awesome restaurants around to try with many typical Hungarian dishes:
(too bad I used only a cellphone for those meal-shots)
After the nice lunch or dinner, feels good to have a nice walk around the old-town of Kőszeg:
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| the main square of Kőszeg |
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| city hall of Kőszeg |
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| historical old houses next to the main square - Kőszeg |
Once went over to Austria, visited some other castles and forts in Burgenland nearby - some in excellent good condition, active as a museum / hotel:
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| Fraknó / Forchtenstein |
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| watchdog - or watchcroc? :-) |
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| weapons of war |
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| Léka - Lockenhaus |
...and some, being not much more than a romantic looking ruin:
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| ruins of Lánzsér - Landsee |
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| ruins of Lánzsér - Landsee |
We also visited the city of Graz - even though the weather was not on our side that day, being clody and grey all day long - so I share here only one sole image of the famous clock-tower of the city.
But when you're in Graz and being an action-film fan like me, can't miss the nearby Thal - a small village just outside of the city, home of the Arnold Schwarzenegger museum - since its inside, it can save a cloudy or even a rainy day.
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| how the legend started... |
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| the governor's most famous role |
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| yes, this is the original one according to the plate |
But even if you are in such a small village like Rust - with no 'big attraction' - you can get surprised by looking up and find the storks still there in the beginning of October:
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| Rust |
So, if you have some spare time to spend and need a nice countryside option - this region of both sides of the border worth a look!
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| Rust |
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