Woke up to another beautiful morning. It’s lovely before it gets too hot, there’s something to be said for the European idea of getting up early in the morning, having a little siesta during the hottest part of the day and then out and about late afternoon and evening.
We were going out for the day to a village called Holloko, somewhere between here and Eger. Maria found out about it on the web, apparently it’s a World Heritage site for it’s preservation of folklore. None of us were sure exactly what to expect.
We had to drive out through Pest, an experience John did not enjoy, the Hungarian drivers are nuts, courteous with it but nuts, lane markings, traffic lights and rules of the road in general seem to be taken as for guidance only.
Once we were out of Budapest it was a pleasant drive and when we got to Holloko it was lovely. The weather was hot (27degrees) but not unbearable, and the village very attractive. A lovely old church
and some nice old cottages.
Maria went all dewy eyed. A lot of the houses have craftworkers living in them, woodworkers, potters, embroiderers, doll makers etc.
One of Maria’s highlights was the doll museum, full of dolls in costumes from various parts of Hungary. It was strange, it looked like the dolls were mass produced dolls acquired from where ever they could, the dolls were then dressed with tremendous care and accuracy, with very detailed and intricate embroidery etc. There are only a few doll makers left and Maria had a lot of difficulty choosing a doll to buy, she wanted about 3, John’s wallet is certainly taking a battering.
Maria drove us back into Pest, which she claimed was very brave.
 We decided to eat in the Brasserie tonight so we could say hello to Zolti, he was very pleased (and surprised) to see us. It seems that the hotel has a new manager (apparently English) who seems to be taking a new broom approach to the job. He has in Particular been getting rid of older staff, so Feri Bacsi (who was the head waiter in the restaurant) has been given early retirement (somewhat against his will) together with various others. General morale seems rather low, we hope this doesn’t mean the Gellert will lose its unique qualities and become just another Hilton or Crowne Plaza. We’ll have to wait and see.
Off to Eger via Mezokovesd tomorrow, hope the weather isn’t too hot.