This weekend, we borrowed my brother-in-law’s car (DaeWoo with 120k kilometers for the car fans in the family), stocked it full with three kids in the backseat and a trunk full of Gabi’s packing and took off for Gyula in southern Hungary.
Gyula is Gabi’s New Glarus. For those not in-the-know, my father’s family first came to America and put down roots in New Glarus, Wisconsin, a small Swiss-village tourist town. Gabi’s father’s family moved from Gyula to Budapest in the 1950’s, just after her father was born. Most of her father’s relatives still live in Gyula. There is even an active farm still in the family. We spent the weekend visiting about dozen relatives in four separate families around the town.
The drive is about three hours (more with potty breaks, coffee breaks, ice cream breaks and the like). The scenery is the flattest, most verdant land I have ever seen in Europe. It looks more like central Indiana than anything else, though the towns are clearly all quite ancient.
Gyula is a bit of a tourist town. It has a small fortress in the center, along with some thermal baths and a nice walking street for shopping, restaurants, cafes and pubs. While it’s all quite nice, it’s not really a very famous place by any means.
Gabi’s Godfather with Baby Aaron.
Gabi’s Godmother with Baby Aaron.
Gabi and Cousins Anita and Monika (with Baby Aaron)
Cousins with their parents.
The parents run an active farm with eight giant hothouses, full with Hungarian paprika. I made the great mistake of biting into one. Ouch!!
Dan-dan and his cousin Martin inspecting the sheep stalls.
