Although I’d said before going to bed that wild horses wouldn’t drag me out of it in the morning, my neighbours had other ideas. So we were up and on the road again before 9am. Getting out of Hajdúszoboszló was nearly as hard as finding some place to stay in it. Actually, truth be told, there must be a ‘special’ way of reading signs in this part of the world – they are few and far between and those that do exist don’t make sense. One minute the town you want is just 20km away, then it’s 21km and then 22km!!!! And the mile markers have these peculiar +2 things that move them from 270 to 269 back to 271… all while travelling in the same direction. I am convinced that it’s time warp country!

So, although we were heading one way, we ended up in Nádudvar, home to the black-pottery cottage industry. I have seen a lot of pottery in my time in Hungary, but this was a first for me and it’s a grower! The town also has a small cemetery with graves of Russian soldiers killed in WWII. Some of them born in WWI only to die in WWII. What a waste. We were aiming for Hortobágy – home of the Hungarian cowboy. Ok, so I was hearing Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt in my head, and was having visions of Clint Eastwood riding into town. And was I ever wrong. Nope, these cowboys were fellas of another cut entirely! The guide book says it’s been milked by the Hungarian Tourism for everything it’s worth… and that’s true. More tat.. .but this time, tat that you could use, if you had a yard where you could cook the goulash and crack the whips!  Still, it was worth the trip. The town itself is in the middle of a huge national park, home to many different types of birds, including the bustard, which can be as tall as 1 meter and weigh as much as 20kg.

We took a trip on a railway into the park… half an hour in, half an hour to look around, half an hour back. It was a rackety old thing and had it managed to build up any speed at all, it would have been positively orgasmic. There were some serious twitchers in our midst (they actually have a uniform of sorts), but for the most part, it was just something to do. I can’t say it was high on my list but then I’d already gotten all those churches, and fair’s fair. Once in there though, it was gorgeous. So quiet. High reeds and rushes and acres and acres of yellow lily pads. A great place for a cycling trip… if you’re into that sort of thing!

Moving on and closer to home, we went looking for food  into Tiszafüred. Maybe it was because we were tired and it was hot and we were hungry, but things started to take on a little surrealness. Credit card swiped, taken away, forgotten; food ordered, billed for and never received; and what I thought were pickled apples turned out to be apple pickles… and yes, there’s huge difference. It was time to unwind and preferably away from the tourists. After lunch, we headed to Poroszló, parked the car and went for a dip in the Tisza.  It has been years and years and years since Hungary has had a coastline but it certainly knows how to make the most of the water it has. This spot was lovely. Mind you, even the strongest Hungarian sun can’t seem to make a dint on these whiter-than-white legs of mine…no matter how long I spend in it, or how hard I try.

Totally refreshed and ready to brave the city again, we headed back to Budapest. We had travelled over 900km since 6.15 on Thursday and had seen so much of the country. It was nice though, to sit, finally, and have a very large, cold beer at Pot Kulcs having dropped that car back at PM’s.

City trips are great. Weekends away are lovely. But you can’t beat a road trip for the freedom to stop wherever you like, whenever  you like. Next time though, we need to rethink the music!!!