hortobágy - the hungarian plain

i was lucky enough to be invited to the hortobágy (whore-toe-bodge) by another CETP teacher last week. we were met by her contact teacher, kata, and kata's boyfriend, bill (a british guy who has somehow managed to live in hungary for 20 years) and we all went on an 'excursion' to the great plains national park.

the horse drawn wagon

the famous hungarian longhorn cattle

(pay no attention to the german woman talking throughout the video. she said some interesting stuff, i'm sure, but with her thick accent and my inability to focus through the wind and rain, i didn't catch much of it.)

kata and carla

mangalica pigs - they have curly hair, they're raised for their meat, usually for sausages, which is very low in cholesterol and apparently pretty tasty. (german-hungarian lady pictured)

me and carla

we stopped in the hortobagy restaurant and had a traditional hungarian meal. of course i started it off with some gulyas, which was delish!

in some places we were allowed to get out of the wagons to look around and take pictures.

little did we know that it would be the coldest and rainiest day of the summer... there were some italian people in our wagon with us. they had some little kids who were miserable in the wind and rain but took it like champs and had a good time anyway.

after the hour-long ride we looked through the shops and stands of the semi-annual market they hold there. it was slim pickins since the weather was so bad. we also stopped in some little old lady kiosks along the way. here are some traditional handmade things...

hand carved longhorns (for over $500!)

doilies, table cloths, whathaveyou

pottery shop

a good day: a bit damp and a bit freezing, but good company and good attitudes made up for it tenfold. i was glad to spend time with an american, happy to meet a nice hungarian lady, and amused at the britsh guy's antics, opinions, words, and accent.