Sunday in Pecs

Sunday, July 27, 2014--Pecs Hungary

Last night after posting my blog entry, we decided to postpone having the peaches our landlord gave us and our wine we had bought.  With the cooler air, we decided to go out and explore the city more.  It was a good decision.  People were out everywhere having a good time.  And the shadows from the setting sun made it perfect for getting photos of the old buildings and monuments in the city.  We walked to get an orientation for many of the areas we would be revisiting today.  Pecs is a very beautiful and charming city.

As we went to the patio to have our peaches and wine after our walk, it was getting dark.  We sat there watching the silhouette of a cart walking across the roofline of the home next door, talking about how tall the rose bush is that provides the blossoms for the living room of our apartment, etc.  Then the landlord saw us and came out to turn on colored lights that are strung around the area where we were.  It was a very peaceful and pleasant experience just relaxing, talking, eating the fresh peaches, and drinking the wine.

Today, after taking our time to get up and out of the apartment, we headed east of the older part of town to the buildings that housed the Zsolnay Porcelain factory for over a hundred years.  Today, only a small portion still houses the factory.  The remainder has been turned into two uses--as a cultural center with a gallery, a planetarium, a Zsolnay porcelain museum, etc., and as the classrooms for the College of Arts and Humanities of the university here in Pecs.  There are many nice buildings and smaller structures, and lots of uses of glazed decorative tiles from the factory to decorate them.

Back in the downtown area, we stopped at the Aranygaluska Gyorsetterem, a restaurant my guidebook had recommended in this way:  "Working-class heroes gather here for the generously portioned, cafeteria meals...."  And the portions were huge.  We each ordered beef in paprika sauce with potato noodles (which looked just like this dish from a photo in another blog).  On a large plate, the server scooped up 4 huge serving-size spoonfulls of noodles and 3 of the same size scoops of the meet.  We also ordered vegetable soup, and it came in a large bowl that was probably about 3 cups (0.75 l) of soup.  It was difficult to eat it all.  It was like homemade food, but for our tastes, it was salted a bit too much (which may be the common procedure here).

The rest of the afternoon, we explored and took photos of the synagogue, the cathedral, the ancient city walls, etc.  We toured the medieval remains of the original buildings of the university.  We saw the ruins of old Christian mausoleums that have been named a World Heritage Site.

We are now back at the apartment.  I will make us dinner from things in the refrigerator--cold cuts, cheese, bread, etc.  And we will probably eat it out on the patio tonight after making a final stroll through the city as it cools down and becomes evening.
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We did go out, and we had a great time.  We sat on the main square watching people pass by, and while we were there a band began setting up.  They are called the Boss Street Brass Band, and they are great!!  The crowd grew, and they performed a variety of pieces--some Hungarian and others, like the Ghostbusters Song, not.  They had a bit of a New Orleans jazz band sound with a Hungarian flavor.  Here are links to their website and to some YouTube videos:

http://bossstreetbrassband.com/releases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik0SE9tjr0Q

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2XNJEjv9NpTb6okXCTHEsw

After that, we returned home.  We went to the patio to eat open-faced sandwiches, the final peaches from our landlord, and the last bottle of wine we had bought here.  It was a nice end to a good day.