Pecs Transformed

The first week of June the sleepy little university-town of Pecs transformed overnight. Wooden sheds appeared on the leafy promenade in front of the cathedral where families lazily stroll. Tom and I witnessed the assembly of these small log huts. We are used to seeing signs, banners, and leaflets announcing events and not understanding anything, but this got our attention and we began to ask our Hungarian friends what was going on. The lack of specificity was amazing. All we could understand was that a festival was starting and would be going on all summer and that there would be lots of “noshing and drinking.”

Later we discovered it was a theater festival, a week-long presentation of plays from all over Hungary. One every night and then one production would be proclaimed a winner. We recognized Hamlet and The Crucible, but knew better than to attend a play in Hungarian. No problem, because music was also performed every night at various outdoor venues.

The main stage is set in front of St. Peter’s Basilica and all the shows are free. Down either side of the stage are the wooden sheds selling wine by the glass or bottle. Each “pince” or cellar is a vineyard from Villanyi. And we know how I like Villanyi; well now, I don’t even have to go to Villanyi. It came to me--and the rest of Pecs.

Below the wine sellers is the food. Another row of wooden sheds houses various outdoor kitchens selling traditional Hungarian-style barbeque: pig knuckles with horseradish, sausages, chicken skewers, and pork cutlets with onions. Picnic tables and benches are in front, and locals bring their families for a good, yet inexpensive meal where they also run into friends and neighbors.

This happening was just in time for my brother Bill and his girlfriend Denise’s visit. Bill likes a party and all we had to do was step outside of our apartment to the nearby park. Things got particularly lively at night. Music in the air, wine for the drinking, food for the munching, and people for the watching. We left Bill and Denise one night at midnight with a colleague-friend of mine Lazlo. One thing that particularly struck me was that no police are around. A couple of security men, not wearing guns, fit in with the crowd. No one is afraid of riots or mass public drunkenness and hysteria. Young people are out on the lawn, on the steps of the cathedral, on the park benches, or on the wall of the fountain. Yes, you can spot drunken people and you see young people passing a bottle around, but there is no sense of public hysteria or rage. What’s so amazing is that this happens every night.

I have to mention in closing this wonderful Hungarian dessert, similar to a Mexican churro, that is called kurtos-kalacs.

It is dough spun around a metal cylinder that is then placed near burning coals and rotated. After it is browned, they roll it in cinnamon or sugar for topping. Yum! Because it isn’t deep fried, it is bound to be healthy. Tom’s favorite along with 10 million Hungarians.