November 23: Mohacs / Pecs, Serbia

Our ship docked this morning in Mohacs (pronounced moe-hatch). The tours left at 9 am: a tour of Pecs (pronounced Pay-ch) for either Regular or Gentle Walkers, or the Szekszard Wine Tasting. I chose the Pecs excursion, which would include a visit to the Zsolnay Porcelain Museum and the historic Cella Septichora, a UNESCO World Heritage site that includes the remains of 1,600 year old burial chambers.

This is the only port in the EU on our cruise, so after breakfast but before the tour, I

walked to a nearby bank ATM so I could get some Euros for tipping our guides. The machine I went to was only in Hungarian and I couldn’t get it to work, so I’ll try again later.

This town is across the Danube River from the largest island in Hungary, which is home to the Busó tradition (pronounced boo-show). Every February they have a five day festival that features three “characters,” and we passed a statue of these characters on a traffic circle and saw costumes and masks in various shops. Many people come dressed up as them.

Today’s fun facts:

• Hungary has a population of around 10 million, with other Hungarians living in neighboring countries. The capital is Budapest.

• There is lots of agriculture, including paprika. They have 50 kinds, from sweet to hot.

• Hungarian is the second most difficult language in the world (Chinese is first), and they have 42 letters.

• All students have to learn a second language. German and English are the most popular.

• They don’t get much snow anymore. Last year it only snowed twice.

• The currency is the Forint. About 330 HUF is $1, and 1,000 HUF is $3 or about 2.6 euro.

Hello: szia (see-ah)

• Good morning/afternoon: jó napot (yo na pote)

• Thank you: köszönöm (kugh sa nome)

• Thanks: köszi köszi (kugh see kugh see)

  
  

Our first stop was at the Zsolnay Porcelain Factory in Pécs (pronounced Pay-ch), which was started in 1853. It began as a small company and grew to become the largest company in Austro-Hungary in 1914. They won numerous awards, and over the years have changed their production to include very modern designs. The museum held many pieces from different periods in their history.

They gave us time to walk around in the shops, but there were only a few open since it was a Sunday.

Then we took the bus into the city center and had free time. Just a caution: if the tour guide tells you to meet back at 11:30, she means 11:30. Leaving the entire group standing until 11:38 as you stroll up to join the group is not really cool, just saying.

After that, we walked to the Cella Septichora and saw the remains of the walls of a 4th century cathedral. Then we went out to the castle courtyard and past the city walls. Afterward, we got back onto the bus to meet our ship. Our ship had moved during the day, so we met it at the new location in Baja Város.

The buses couldn’t go all the way out to where the ship was, so they had little trolley trains, which the guides all called Choo-Choo Trains. Most of us just walked out. Right next to the ship was a tower that you could climb and get some great photos.

Back on the ship, there was a unique station at the lunch buffet, a Pho Soup Station. You filled the bowl with cabbage, bok choy, bean sprouts, mushroom, and shrimp, and then brought it to the chef and they added the rice noodles and broth. It was pretty good!

They have tea time every day at 4 pm, but I only made it once. They had a few more desserts, but not many, and just one kind of tea.

At the port talk, the cruise director said he got a strange call at 2 am, someone reporting that there was a “streaker” on the ship. Lisa started laughing, and so did Milos (the entertainer). Evidently last night Lisa had fallen on the dance floor while dancing, and when Milos reached down to help her up, he split his pants! LOL! So the “streaker” report suddenly made sense.