Hollókő, Hungary ... May 30, 2009

We visited Hollókő, a fabulously preserved Hungarian town about an hour from Budapest. We are told that the best time to visit is during a festival, but we figured it would be almost as good to visit in a less complex/crowded time. We basically had the town to ourselves. We first visited the castle, which has been very well maintained over the years, although is still in a semi-ruined state. We then walked through the small, automobile free, village. They have different shops selling handmade items of different sorts. We had a nice meal at the local restaurant and enjoyed the mariachi (is that what they are called, or since they are Hungarian are they called something else?) band (Ryan especially enjoyed it). We purchased a locally made basket before driving back to Budapest for the evening. Obviously there are pros and cons to having a village like this to yourself. On the one hand, it is nice and peaceful. On the other hand, I think we missed out on a lot of the local wares/culture since many of the buildings were shut off or closed. But we are learning far too late into our time in Hungary how wonderful some of the cities are that are so very close to us! Hollókő is one of those cities!