Day 9 - Tuesday, May 6, 2025 - Kalosca, Hungary

By Ellen Outten

 


Today was a really good day.  We sailed all morning and I managed to be at Wayne on one out of 4 cribbage games.  The two day total is Wayne 4, Ellen 3! And, No, he doesn't let me win!

We left the ship at 1:30 this afternoon for a tour of Kalosca Hungary.  Our first stop was at Bakodpuszta Idegenforgalmi Centrum Hivatalos Oldala.   Man, these Hungarian words!  They have 44 letters in their alphabet!  The Bakod Horse Farm (translation) was where we saw a horse riding show.  

We were greeted with wine, bread with lard and some seasonings (yum) and treated to a fantastic horse show.  I'm thinking about you Jeanne and Nicole.  






During the horseshow, we saw riders with  horses four-inhand, and horses ten-in-hand.  It really was an unforgettable experience.  Hungarian grey cattle were driven as well.  And there was a donkey with a rider for some comedy relief.






From there we went to St. Mary Cathedral.  For those of you who have been following a long and ticking off the number of churches I've visited...you could be thinking, WOW, that's a lot...is there anything else.  Well, it's not like going to a church in 99% of the U.S.  The beauty and magnificence these churches are amazing.  They could be government buildings or train stations for all I care, I'd gladly see them if they were as amazing as the churches I've seen.  There has never been a religious service at the time I was there not have I been asked to participate in one against my faith.  European countries and the age of the edifice and the grandeur is splendid, regardless.







The organ loft 

A fresco on the ceiling 

Wayne, totally engrossed in the concert.  Video on FB.

Speaking to that, the first church was built around 1010, the second at the beginning of the 13th century. The church, damaged by the Tatars, was rebuilt. In 1602, the church burned down. The main cathedral, which I saw today, was built between 1735-54 in the Baroque style. The remains of St. Pius are kept here.  And Franz Liste has played here seven times.  The organ in the lift has 4,681 pipes.  We were treated to a 20 minute organ recital that was tremendous no matter what Wayne's face says he thought of it.  The acoustics are fantastic.  I'll download a shirt video clip on Facebook if it can't upload here.  The organist played Organ Suite III, Trumpet Voluntary Op.6, No. 5.  I enjoyed every minute.

Outside the church, Franz Liste statute


The Archbishop's Palace next to the church 

Szentháromság column, stands in front of the Archbishop's Palace. The statue was made in 1786 for the city of Kalocsa. Three small statues include Saint Sebastian, Saint Florian, and Saint Anthony of Padua.

Back in board the ship, we had an enjoyable dinner and I'm ready for tomorrow.  We dock in downtown Budapest on the Pest side of the he Danube and we're off to explore at 9:30 am.





  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day. 25 - Thursday, May 22, 2025 - Amsterdam to Phoenix

By Ellen Outten
 The day started at 7:30 with a ride from the hotel to the airport. NOTE to myself:  always order.rhe taxi for 1/2 hour earlier than you need it.. it showed up at about 7:35 am and traffic was heavy on the way to Schipol airport.  We had plenty of time, but regardless, it's better to be there early. The flight boarded a little late, but there's so many checks for international gates.  Immigration to leave the country, security for baggage.  We made it to the gate about an hour in advance.   I flew first class home.  There's nothing like it.  The seats are sooo much better.  And if my flight had been an evening flight, I know I would have slept.  God bless lay down seats.  I paid for the first class upgrade and what happens, Wayne gets an upgrade at the airport for free.  He didn't even know he had been upgraded until we were at the gate We arrived 25 minutes late but still had two hours to get to our new gate.  It too...
Read more

Day 3 - Wednesday April 30, 2025-Bucharest Romania

By Ellen Outten
Image
Parliament building, the third largest building in the world. Today, with perfect weather (high temp was about 77 degrees with a light breeze and all sun), we left the hotel at 9:00 a.m. on a tour of Bucharest. Our first stop was in the parking lot across the street from the third largest building in the world. This is their Parliament building. The first largest is the Pentagon and the second building is in Thailand. While we didn't go inside it was interesting to stand across the street and see the immenseness of this building. Interesting streetlight and the iron work Across the street from the Parliament is a pretty street with 44 water fountains running down the middle of the street. From there we went to the "Dimitrie Gusti" National Village Museum.  The outdoor museum is  devoted to Romanian village life, with hundreds of peasant farms & homes. The fence is so intricately woven  Typical entrance to a farmhouse.  The opening on the left is for people, the o...
Read more

Day 2 - Tuesday July 18 - Lake Lucerne

By Ellen Outten
Image
   Our hotel for the next two nights. We arrived at the Zurich airport at 7:45 am Tuesday which meant 10:45pm Monday in Mesa AZ.  We had been traveling since 7am. We were fed very well on the plane (9 hour flight from Chicago), both with a dinner 2 hours of boarding and then about 2 hours before landing, we were served breakfast.  The flight was uneventful which is a lovely word when it comes to air travel.  Odyssey Tours sent a driver to pick us up and drive us the one hour to Lake Lucerne.   We met a very nice couple, Patty and Joe from Kentucky that were on the same flight.   We walked around the property, which sits right on the lake, and since it was only about 9:30 am, we had to wait for our rooms.  So, what else is there to do?  Out of whack on time zones, we had a few local beers.  After all it was still 2 am AZ time!                        Snow on the mountain...
Read more