My first trip to Hungary since 1996 was a good experience. A ten hour flight to London Heathrow airport and two more to Budapest made it a long day.
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By chance I found out about our 47 year high-school reunion in Budapest and I was able to meet some of my high-school classmates that I haven’t seen for 47 years!
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By the time I got to Hungary I had my new Hungarian call-sign: HA5AZE, and I got a DunaX” four band vertical. Made 5 by 8, 5 by 9 contacts all over Europe the first time I turned on my Yaesu FT-897. I could extend the full bandwidth with my Yaesu FC-700 tuner, even on my G5RV I purchased later for the low bands from A&B. It performed well also and I had a chance to talk with hams all over the Carpathian basin on 3,768 , and 3,618 MHz, no problem.
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Went to Zagyvarékas, a village on the Zagyva river about 100 km from Budapest, to see cousins and family-friends. It was a joyful time to meet them, all of whom I met the first time. Their hospitality was genuine and we had great conversations about hard work and life in the country-side.
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In August, we went through Harkány, a town of thermal baths. We arrived in Osiek (Eszék) mid-day and took a tour around the city and along the Dráva. We crossed the Danube at four and in about an hour we were in Sombor (Zombor), where my cousin was waiting for us, whom I haven’t seen for over forty years. He gave us a nice tour around Sombor.
Then we drove to Bács, my birthplace. Here we went to the cemetery to pay our respect at our grandparents’ grave, then went to see the old fortress. Next morning we said farewell to Sombor and drove to the Hungarian border.
Mohács is a nice town, with a sad historical connotation; Hungary lost the battle with the Ottoman Turks in 1526 here, beginning the 150 year division and Turkish rule. In Villány, a great wine-country and town we picked up two bottles of fine wine. At Siklós, where we took a tour of the fortress. By nightfall we were in Harkány again. We spent the better part of next day at the thermal pools of Harkány. This concluded our „Southern trip” that lasted for five days.
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On our way back to Budapest from Transylvania, (next page) we stopped in Debrecen and spent a day and a half. We walked through the the main square, in front of the Great Church, called „Nagytemplom”, and checked out a gun-shop, called „Nimród Vadászbolt”. The guns on display were exquisite! There was a three barrel shotgun-rifle combination for 1.7 million HUF, the price of a small car! The view from the top of the bell-tower was great. From Debrecen we went straight to Miskolc, to the Castle of Diósgyőr and the thermal cave baths of Miskolctapolca. The experience in the warm pools in the caves was an unforgettable one. That concluded our one week trip to the „East”.
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