Hungary

We got up this morning docked at Mohacs, the southern entry point to Hungary on the Danube. Since we were entering the European Union from Serbia, the Hungarian customs police did a "face check" with our passports.This was the first time anybody really seemed to care since we got here.

After breakfast we got on the bus and drove to Pecs with a fortress on the hill, and a big church built on an extensive early Christian burial ground. The archaeological artifacts and ruins have been turned into an underground museum, with heavy glass skylights so one can look down into them from the sidewalk.

Many buildings here and elsewhere in Hungary and around the world have very brightly colored tile roofs. The tiles are made by a special process invented here by the Zsolnay family, and the formula has been kept a secret for many years , kept secret even from the Germans and the Russians.

We walked around for awhile, even outside the fortress walls which are nicely restored and integrated into the traffic pattern.

We ended up eating lunch in a restaurant connected to a famous sparkling wine factory where they are making and aging millions of bottles of wine. Of course we had a tour of the cellars before lunch and tasting.

After lunch we drove to Kolacsa, a town famous for the growing of Paprika, the Hungarian national flavor. They say that almost every Hungarian dish has some paprika in it. Opa Dave and I opted out of the walking tour of another church and a paprika museum, walking around some neighborhoods instead looking for a certain German type of architecture. We got on board the Avalon Imagery for the final night and sailed upstream to Budapest.