Pécs

It was autumn break, and we decided to go to Pécs.

It’s pronounced Paych, like if you combined ‘pay’ and ‘ch’ into one smooth syllable.

We don’t presently have a car, so we opted on rail travel instead. And we love trains–something we didn’t really have back in Canada.

We taxied in the morning to the station, took two trains, one bus and walked a whole lot of kilometres (about four or five) to get to our destination. In all, six hours by rail. But the view, oh the view of Hungary from the train was magic. Flat, cultivated farmlands with clumps of trees or bushes here or there. A bit of forest, and a lot of open spaces. Just lovely. And the autumn colours . . . Our taxi chauffeur put it well. He said fall is a second spring for trees: leaves become flowers for a second time. What a thought!

Back to Pécs. We knew we had arrived because as we neared the medieval heart of the city we hit cobblestones. We climbed up the sloping streets toward Szent István tér / plaza and wandered about until we found our hotel on király utca. The Palatinus Grand Hotel. A three-star wonder built in 1913 and opened to guests in 1915. It was the site of a historic residence and factory before that. If the majestic mouldings on the ceiling and tasteful marble work didn’t work their magic, the hotel’s history certainly did. We had a lovely stay–which included breakfast. I’ve never seen so many scrambled eggs in a buffet. The real deal, no less. No milk or additives to fluff up the scramble here.

But the sights of Pécs? We had a list of to-dos from two guidebooks. What Hungarians visiting Pécs should see, the book said. I must admit, though, that wandering here is enough. Winding streets, cobble here, buildings of the Romantic era there. Uneven, curving winding narrow roadways, and a great variety of windows framed with all sorts of detailed stonework. Walking about for two days filled our hearts and minds with wonder. How can such history exist right before our eyes? You can see and touch stones from medieval gates. We soaked it all up. See the Instagram snaps at page bottom. They barely do the views justice.

Now back to Szeged with the weekend to go and we’re back to work. We had painted an autumn to-do list and pasted it on our wall. We’ve done nearly everything on it, including tasting mulled wine, jumping in leaves and waking up early to walk the foggy streets. Hoping that your autumn is warm and welcoming, and leaves you feeling cozy like a sip of rich cocoa from a classic Swiss-owned cukrászda. Thank you, Caflisch of Pécs (est. 1789).

Keep warm, and until next time–

Go walk in some autumn leaves! (And look at the linked pictures at the bottom of the webpage!)