Moving on again. We packed up and said goodbye to Eger, although we did seem to be taking quite a lot of it (in the form of wine) with us.
The first place we were heading for was Tokay, a famous wine growing area (!!)
The journey was a rather pleasant one, we followed the river Tisza a fair bit of the way, passing some lovely fishing, boating and picnicking places.
At one point we had to cross the river on a ferry, well they called it a ferry but it seemed more like a raft someone had cobbled together in their back yard, still we made it across safely enough. We got to Tokay, rather an attractive little town, producing some very famous wines. We found our way to the cellar we were looking for and in a spirit of martyrdom Maria offered to do the rest of driving. This meant John could taste away to his hearts content. We left the place with our wine stock increased by a few bottles and some palinka added as well
Then back across the Tisza and on to Hortobagy. The temperature meanwhile was steadily rising and by the time we got there it was 35 degrees (in the shade). All we could do was collapse in a coolish room and wait for evening. We wanted to go to the bridge fair, so we did a quick recky trip to find out about the possibility of parking close by, the prospect of a walk in temperatures as high as 35 did not appeal.
We got up bright and early this morning, still warm but not unbearable and a little bit of cloud around. We set off promptly and so could park very close.
We took the day easy, stopping for a rest frequently and drinking plenty of water. It was very interesting, a real mix of things for sale, from complete rubbish to some beautifully crafted items.
Maria kept on hankering after a bogracs
( a cooking pot you use on an open fire outdoors) but as John said, how were we going to get it back and just how often does she need to make stew or soup for 40?
I really wanted a whip like some of the horsemen had, Maria claimed I’d only make a nuisance of myself with it. I disagreed and discussed it with a nice horseman called Attila,
who gave me his name and address and told me to look him up next time I was here and he’d organise some horsy activities for me.
 I got a kulacs (a sort of flask to carry drinks in) to keep me going, I just hope John will give me some decent palinka to put in it…
We did a bit more shopping and stayed until the end of the folk dancing
and then John said we’d better go back so he could check if Maria had bankrupted him yet.