Page 258 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Hungary

256  HUNGAR Y REGION B Y REGION THE GREA T PLAIN  257

u Hortobágy & and Hungary’s best. It organizes church, was built around 1480. s Szatmárcseke
Hortobágy Csikós riding performances (see Partially destroyed during raids 27 km (17 miles) southeast of
National Park box, p239), and provides riding by Vlachs (Romanians) in 1587, Vásárosnamény. Road Map G2.
it was left to rot until 1720, when
lessons for visitors in summer.
* 1,600. @ from Vásárosnamény,
Hortobágyi Nemzeti Park While much of Hortobágy it was restored in the Baroque Fehérgyarmat.
Road Map F3. @ n Tourinform, HNP National Park is open all year style by the Minorite Order.
Visitor Centre, Petőfi tér 9, Hortobágy, round, some parts have limited The István Báthory Museum At Szatmárcseke, the Protestant
(052) 58 93 21. Open National Park: access. The park’s adminis tration next door holds a number of cemetery is a unique sight
8am–4pm daily; May, Jun & Sep: and visitors’ centre is in the charm- artifacts from around the worth visiting. Almost all the
9am–5pm daily; Jul & Aug: 9am–6pm ing village of Hortobágy itself. region, including a vast section grave markers are 2-m- (6.5-ft-)
daily; Dec: 10am–2pm daily. & 8 The village has three small on Count István Báthory, Prince high boats, preserving, it is
7 0 - = ∑ hnp.hu hotels and the 17th-century of Transylvania, from 1488 to thought, the ancient Finno-
Hortobágy Csárda restaurant, 1511, and the Báthory family. Ugric custom of burying the
This enormous national park was which serves Hungary’s national The other historic church of dead in boats. The tomb of
the first to be cre ated in Hungary, dish, goulash (gulyás leves), which the town is the Calvinist poet Ferenc Kölcsey (1790–
in 1973, and remains the largest, originated in the Puszta. There is church on Egyház utca, a late 1838) is on a hill in the centre
stret ching over 820 sq km also a small Shepherds’ Museum Gothic building built by István of the cemetery, surrounded
(317 sq miles) from Lake Tisza (Pásztor múzeum) with fascinating The miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary in Báthory. This church, built as by white Neo-Classical
The Mediterranean beach at the spa to Debrecen. It was added to facts about the life of the Puszta the Greek Catholic church in Máriapócs the Báthory Mauso leum, is columns. The poet lived
complex in Hajdúszoboszló UNESCO’s World Heritage List in shepherd. The unique Nine- a master piece of medi- in the village in the early
1999. The vast plain, known locally Arch Bridge (Kilen clyukú híd), o Máriapócs eval archi tecture. The 19th century and wrote
y Hajdúszoboszló as the Puszta (mean ing “empti- built in 1827–33 to designs 31 km (19 miles) from Nyíregyháza. nave consists of one many of his famous
20 km (12 miles) west of Debrecen. ness”), is the nesting site of as by Ferenc Povolny, crosses the Road Map F3. * 2,300. single large hall, with poems here, including
Road Map F3. * 24,000. £ from many as 152 species of bird, River Hortobágy and once @ from Nyíregyháza. @ from a small tower in its the words of the
Debrecen, Budapest. @ from including great bustards, herons, formed part of the main road Nyíregy háza, Nyírbátor. _ 15 Aug southwestern corner Hungarian National
Debrecen, Budapest. n Tourinform, storks and spoonbills, while up from Budapest to Debrecen. (Assump tion Day). and the two-storey Anthem, written in
Szent István park 1–3, (52) 55 89 28. to 342 different bird species have sacristy at the north- 1823. An exhibition
∑ hajduszoboszlo.hu been spotted here in migration, O Hortobágy Vadaspark In 1696 an icon of the Virgin eastern side. Two in the Cultural Centre
including tens of thousands of Tel (30) 564 57 73. Open Apr–Oct: Mary in the twin-domed Greek István Báthorys rest commemorates the
The most popular spa resort screeching cranes, which can 10am–4pm Mon–Fri (book ahead); Catholic church in Máriapócs here: the Lord Chief time Kölcsey spent in
on the Great Plain and the be seen in late September. Nov–Mar: bus departs from the was seen weeping. The icon Justice of Hungary and Szatmárcseke.
largest thermal bath complex Cattle, horses, buffalo, the visitor centre at 10am, noon & 2pm was immediately taken to author of psalms in a Some 10 km
in Hungary, the waters here Hungarian racka (a long-haired Sat & Sun. & Vienna (to St Stephen’s Cathe- stone tomb and, next (6 miles) south, on the
have been attracting visitors sheep), parlagi (a goat) and G Hortobágy Máta Stud Farm dral) and replaced with a replica. to him, under red banks of the River Túr,
since the 1920s. The extensive mangalica pig continue to Czinege J. utca 1, Hortobágy. When the replica wept again in marble, the earlier is the tiny village of
Hajdúszoboszló Medicinal Spa be herded by semi-nomadic Tel (52) 58 93 68. Open 9am–7pm 1715 and in 1905, the fate of Count István Báthory. Túristvándi, known
(Hajdúszoboszló Gyógy fűrdő) farmers here, as they have for daily. & 8 riding lessons, other Máriapócs as a place of for its 18th-century
has been modernized, with almost 1,000 years. activities by appointment. pilgrimage was sealed. Today, as E István Báthory Fresco from the wooden water mill.
giant water slides, wave pools, The Hortobágyi Vadaspark E Shepherds’ Museum many as one million Catholics Museum Calvinist church Although it is no
an artificial Mediterranean serves as a reserve for wild Petőfi tér 1, Hortobágy. Tel (52) 36 make the trip every year, many Károlyi Mihály utca 21. in Csaroda longer used as a
beach and children’s play areas animal species that populated 90 40. Open Mar, Apr & Oct & Nov: on or around Assumption Day Tel (42) 51 02 18. Open mill, visitors may
complementing the traditional the region before the encroach- 10am–4pm daily; May, Jun & Sep: (15 August), when the village is Apr–Sep: 10am–6pm Tue–Sun; Oct– see the wheels and the
spa waters. The latter are brown, ment of civili zation. Visitors can 9am–5pm daily, Jul & Aug: 9am–6pm literally besieged by the faithful. Mar: 8am–4pm Mon–Fri, weekends millstones at work.
very salty and contain iodine take a safari tour to get up close daily. Closed Dec–mid-Mar. & by appointment. 8 Hungarian (in
and bromine. Sufferers of to wolves, jackals, pelicans and E Greek Catholic church German by prior arrangement). 7
rheumatism swear by their more. Hortobágy Máta Stud i Nyíregyháza Kossuth tér 25. Tel (42) 38 51 42.
curative effect, and they are also Farm riding centre located inside Open 7:30am–7pm. 7 a Csaroda
said to help cure gynaecological the park is an 18th-century stud See pp258–9.
disorders. Non-water-related p Nyírbátor 15 km (9 miles) east of Vásáros-
activities include restaurants, namény. Road Map G2. * 560.
cafés and the István Bocskai 36 km (22 miles) from Nyíregyháza. @ from Vásárosnamény, Tákos,
Museum, which has an Road Map G3. * 12,500. £ from Fehérgyarmat.
exhibition of the town’s history, Nyíregyháza, Debrecen. @ from
including the story of how the Nyíregyháza, Debrecen. Standing on a hill surrounded
waters were discovered during by Csaroda Creek, the Calvinist
the search for oil (see p167). This small town is inextricably Church at Csaroda was built
linked to the notoriously in late Romanesque style in
 Hajdúszoboszló Medicinal Spa bloody Báthory family, who the 13th century. In 1640, its
Szent István Park 1–3. Tel (52) 55 85 owned it in the Middle Ages. walls were whitewashed
58. Thermal baths: Open 7am–7pm Besides bloodlust and murder, and decorated with flowers.
daily; Aqua Park: Open Jun–Aug: however, the Báthorys left two Restoration of the church
10am– 6pm daily (to 7pm 5 Jul– magnificent churches to revealed the original medieval
10 Aug); open at weekends off-season Nyírbátor’s citizens. One of frescoes depicting Saints Peter Boat-shaped grave markers in the cemetery
when weather permits. & 7 The 19th-century Nine-Arch Bridge in Hortobágy these, a Roman Catholic and Paul, among others. in Szatmárcseke
For hotels and restaurants see pp264–269 and pp276–285

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