Day 48 Friday 8 July 2016

A sleep-in this morning until 8am (we would have missed the bus), no 6 am wakeup call this morning. We had a very nice breakfast of home-cured smoked pork neck, homemade salami, fresh hot capsicum, tomatoes, feta cheese, yogurt & toast. Starting with a shot of Palinka to cleanse the palate. We repacked our bags, leaving all the warm clothing in one bag as it is now summer (in the 30C’s), the weather is lovely, warm & sunny in Budapest (we left all those cold countries). We leave at 10am for the drive to Subotica where Bela & Gyorgyi have a house & spend most weekends at. The drive through the Hungarian countryside is beautiful, it is very flat land & there are farms & small forests, the main crops are wheat, sunflower (out in full yellow heads) & corn. After about an hour of driving we get off the Motorway & drive along a minor road through Soltvadkert (we didn’t know that we would go that way, we have friends living there so thought that we will just knock on their door but unfortunately they were at their house at Lake Balaton). Just before the Serbian border we turn off to a small town where Bela has a car parked at a friend’s house near the railway station, because Bela & his wife travel on the train usually as all Hungarian citizens aged 65 & over travel on all public transport free of charge so they haven’t the hassle to drive through Budapest’s busy roads. He drives his car & leads me across the border where there are only a few cars waiting to pass through passport control. In the no-man’s land between the two border posts a group of refugees are camped, waiting to be accepted somewhere in Europe. It is not long before we reach Subotica, a large former Hungarian city now in Serbia. After unloading the car we have a Palinka then a nice lunch, more chatting & a siesta before heading off on a short drive out to a local beauty spot, a large lake. We had an ice cream as we strolled along.

Lake Palic is the local site for strolling, boating & casual eating. There is a small nature park & a lot of hotels near the lake. We have a long walk, admiring some of the old buildings, one is notable, a narrow & tall lakeside villa that was formerly owned by a famous Hungarian cyclist. The building was confiscated during the communist regime, neglected & only recently handed back to the family in need of restoration. The sailing club has a collection of old boats, interestingly, most with English names. We finish our walk through the trees of the nature park then back to the lake as twilight starts.

Next is a visit to the Subotica city square, full of people & very beautiful old buildings artfully highlighted by lights, it does look very good. The fountain in the park is also very artfully lit, looks very dramatic of a night. Back to Bela’s house & a light supper & a nice red wine & very long chat until after 11 pm. Tereza & Bela reminisced about all the childhood adventures they had at the grandparent’s farm. Bed time. Another great day.