The pick of Pécs
After getting their fill of spas and vineyards, the Oldies felt ready to tackle another city, this time Pécs, close to the Croatian border and only 25km from Harkány. What a beautiful town. I just loved Pécs cathedral. Being a bird, churches don’t normally ring my bell, but it was brilliant to be at the top of the tower – up high, with the wind in my feathers, enjoying the magnificent views. I could have stayed up there all day long! The Oldies were well impressed with the neo-Romanesque décor inside the church too. So, well worth a visit all round.
Otherwise the town of Pécs offers so much – the museums en masse, more churches, the theatre, the old town walls, the wonderful town and county halls, and of course, the famous Zsolnay fountain. I got up close and personal with this creature… a great way to cool down!
His Lordship preferred this fountain to chill out in. Not that I objected. In this heat, any source of water was most welcome, although Her Ladyship was more interested in the Pecsi beer. In fact, it scored particularly high on her list of top Hungarian beers. She seems determined to try them all, I can tell you!
I was quite puzzled by the Mosque of Pasha Qasim. Don’t get me wrong. It is stunning and makes an amazing centre piece in the main town square. The original mosque dating from the mid-16th century was converted into a Roman Catholic church in the 18th century, complete with typical church roof, steeple, the works, which was fair enough, seeing as the Turks had been ousted by then. But what I don’t understand, though, it that was later converted back again, with many of the original features restored – the windows, the domed roof, and so on – in spite of continuing to serve as a Catholic Church. For me, it was plain weird to enter a mosque and see Christian paintings, murals and paraphernalia inside. A bit like finding a cuckoo in your nest!
There was so much to see in Pécs that we had to return another day to visit the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, just a few kilometres outside the city centre. This is quite something! The site of the world-famous ceramics factory was completely redeveloped when Pécs became European Capital of Culture in 2010. It is a huge complex on over five hectares, with museums, shops selling local handcrafts, a planetarium, a puppet theatre… the list goes on. Oh, and yes, the Zsolnay factory itself. The ceramics are not quite my cup of tea, but there’s no denying the fact that they are colourful!
Just walking around the Zsolnay complex takes hours. In fact, we never actually got around to visiting any of the museums. You could spend days there. It looked to me that some local children were enlisted to help decorate some of the walls around the complex. I loved all their designs – flowers, insects, all kinds of animals – but this owl was by far my favourite. I met this big bird too…
Back in Harkány, I noticed a curious local habit. That of parking one’s inflatables outside a bar or café when stopping off for a drink on the way home from the spa. I felt rather sorry for the poor dolphins, whales, penguins and unicorns left out on the street like that. I’m sure glad I’m not an inflatable seagull!
I decided I’d just park myself here instead …
… and flirt with the locals.
