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HUNGARY - THE JOURNEY HOME |
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On a
beautifully misty, sunny autumn morning, we crossed from Őriszentpéter
on the Hungarian side of the border into
Slovenia at Our base for our short stay in Slovenia was Camp Dolina at Prebold near Celje, open all year round and kept by the Vozlič family whose hospitality knows no bounds; it was Tomaž (father) and Primož (son) who last year had fixed our memorable visit to Laško Brewery. We were greeted again like old friends; the long evening in the bar, with the Laško pivo flowing copiously was further enlivened by Tomaž's borovnica schnapps. If you ever visit Slovenia (and we hope you will) do make a point of staying at Dolina at Prebold. Autumn had truly set in now, blessed with benignly warm sunshine to light the golden autumn colours (Photo 1), and nights chill and dewy. One reason for the pause on our journey across Slovenia was to walk the 1660m high Alpine karstic pastures of Velika Planina (Great Upland) in the Kamniško-Savinjske Alps; again we were rewarded with crisp autumn weather conditions which gave stunning panoramic views across the Alpine peaks (Photo 2). Days like this stay in the memory for ever. Stowing kit in our camper with practiced efficiency, we continued the journey home from Postojna in western Slovenia, crossing into Italy at Trieste around the autostrada for a 2 day break at Venice. As last year, we stayed at Camping Miramare on the north-east tip of the Venetian Lagoon; you might like to visit their web site on www.camping-miramare.it We have always been grateful to our Belgian friends, Muriel and Dieter van Leemputten for recommending this excellent campsite, just 10 minutes' walk from the vaporetto landing stage at Punta Sabbioni. So George stayed safely in camp for 2 days, while we made the water-bus crossing of the Lagoon to San Marco, the perfect approach to Venice through the throng of boats with the classic skyline of familiar landmarks. But the bright autumn weather deserted us and for our 2 days stay, all of Venice's photographic potential was shrouded in drizzle. This year, we wandered the alleyways of Venice wearing boots, scarves and gortex, but in spite of this disappointment, we still managed a few photos (Photos 3~7) with the mistiness giving the city a Turner-esque air. There seemed even more restoration work taking place than usual to prevent this magical place sinking back into the mud of the lagoon, and with the autumn high tides, water welled up in St Mark's Square. The continuing journey through north Italy along the A4 autstrada was tediously stressful due to the convoys of heavy lorries from every country of eastern Europe combined with ever-present road works, speed restrictions, and contraflows. After a night's camp in the Italian Alps at Bardonecchia, we had chosen the route through the Alps via the Fréjus Tunnel, a rash decision since if it is not closed due to accidents or fires, the tolls are punitive: €40 did seem excessive for our small camper. Two further days of more relaxed driving on French autoroutes brought us to the Loire valley, and Camping Moulin Fort on the banks of the River Cher. This is a delightful spot and one to be recommended, especially in golden autumn sunshine. And so we reached the Channel, for the final stage of our journey home on UK's noticeably overcrowded roads, over 5,000 miles after setting out back in August.
The hospitality and friendliness we received could not have been bettered; so to all the Magyar people whom we met, we say a heart-felt köszönöm szépen. We have a frantically busy winter ahead of us, with much writing to catch up on as well as photographs to deal with and backlog of household jobs that never seems to lessen. But what of next year? Well there's an open question: will it be east again ... or south ... or possibly north? We'll keep you posted by means of the web site on the way our thoughts are developing, and as always, we should welcome suggestions. For now however ... Viszontlátásra. Sheila and Paul Published: Friday 28 October 2005
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Weeks
9~10 News - The journey home, via
Slovenia and Venice: 
Hodoš, the village where this time last year we had stood
peering into what was then this mysterious country called Hungary, and the
seeds had been sown for this year's trip; it was a nostalgic moment.
Was it all worth it? No doubt about it. We
have learnt so much about a country of which most of us know very little;
their history is tragically fascinating, and the Magyar culture is so
distinctive. In spite of learning some of their language, it is still one
of the most difficult ever encountered: 22 case-endings for nouns and no
prepositions, and with 14 different
vowel sounds indicated by accents, it is not surprising that even slight
mispronunciation evoked blank looks of non-comprehension - but we did try,
honestly. But, as always, it was the people whom we met and befriended who
made the
venture thoroughly worthwhile. Do visit Hungary and find out for yourself;
but from email correspondence with friends
we made, we gather that
temperatures in eastern Hungary at Túristvándi are already down to 0ºC.
