We have been so busy with travelling and touring wineries that I haven't had a moment to finalize any of my blog post drafts. Almost a month into our trip, I feel like those adventures are a world away. Now, I sit in an adorable, tiny apartment in the Austrian Alps...listening to the annoying, incessant high pitched whir of a power washer. Austria is picture perfect with manicured lawns, meticulously cared for planters of flowers and clean driveways and roads. I can see why now, they power wash everything for many hours.
Other than the current annoyance, this trip has been incredible. I last left you at the Castle in Slovakia, from which we hit the magical town of Estergom, Hungary with its exquisite cathedral dome. I got to have another one of my epic dome freak outs (referencing the panic attack I had in the Duomo in Florence, Italy a couple of years ago), when I heard a large group of teenagers on a school trip beneath me as I wound upwards in an ever tighter, steep stairwell and pictured being wedged in, no way out, and BAM mom is losing her sh*t. I quickly peeled layers of cloths off, spontaneous sweat dripped into my eyes and I bolted. I was already part way back down when I heard my son and husband shouting that the exit was at the top and down a different stairwell. I needed a very large glass of wine after that. Luckily Hungary has fabulous wines.
Having judged at a large International Wine Competition in NY, I've had the opportunity to taste some of the dry wines of Hungary (correct, they have much more than just the famous sweet Tokaji), but the quality and price was shocking now actually being in Hungary. A great wine is about $1 per glass at a restaurant and a really amazing glass of aged, reserve wine is $2. In the store they are $5 for incredible wines. It is a good thing I am a professional drinker or I wouldn't have survived the massive injestion of wines I felt I needed to consume at those prices.
At the end of our 1st week of the trip, we were in Budapest where I was the only USA judge at VinAora International Wine Competition and one of only 11 women judges; it was an incredible honor.
Budapest has never called me. I've traveled to other parts of the world, been lured to far off destinations, but for some reason Budapest seemed like a part of the world reserved for backpackers that like to stay in hostels and go to raves. OK maybe I've seen too many movies, but you get my point. Boy was I wrong! Well, technically not about the backpackers, but about Budapest not being for me. Budapest is so much FOR me that I immediately started to fantasize about how to live there for a while. It is at once elegant and fragile with the pre-war majesty proudly presented on the facades of every building clashing with the evidence and wear of the wars chinking away at the plaster and stone; the new optimism after communism is apparent and the combination is electric. It is a place filled with opulence, yet comfortable and friendly.
From Budapest we headed out into the countryside of Hungary. I was sad to leave the gorgeous city, unsure what we would find as our wine tour extravaganza picked up steam, but we excitedly clicked 'Eger' into our GPS and headed into the unknown.
Eger, Hungary won all the awards for adorable in our book. The charm of the Hungarian countryside can not be denied and the town was perfection. Once we found it that is. GPS is an amazing tool...until it plays a practical joke on you.
Not understanding how to enter a Hungarian address into GPS, we blindly followed our talking car. As "you have arrived at your destination" was announced, we looked at each other questioningly. You see, most of our trip has been arranged by my friend and now Fairy God Father who also employed the help of his friends, so this section of the trip was arranged by someone I have never met, named Jozsef. Jozsef is an ex-diplomat and was the Hungarian Ambassador to several South American countries so I assumed we were in very capible hands, however, never having met the man, his idea of "you will stay with my friend" could very well mean at the location we were parked in-front of and not a quaint winery like we imagined.
An older man walked out of his modest home to greet us. Dressed in well used overalls and boots, he inquisitively looked at us. Chickens clucked behind me as I stood next to the car and asked, like a child, if by chance he spoke English... by simply saying "English???", he shook his head and stood on the steps of his porch staring at me. I looked around at the barn nearby and then at my husband and child in the car, the movie Texas Chainsaw Masacre popped into my head and I fumbled with the paper in my hand. "Uhhhhhhh...do you know Jozsef???" I lamely asked the man who had just told me he didn't speak English. His eyes lit up and he came closer, clearly he knew Jozsef! Success I thought and pulled my phone out and attempted to Google Translate that Jozsef said we would stay with him. He read the translated message on my phone and looked at me clearly confused and slowly, but deliberately shook his head no. I tried to rephrase the statement, maybe, hopefully, he was going to send us to another location and we wouldn't actually be sleeping in this strange farmer's home. "Jozsef sent us to you, we are from USA, did he tell you about us?" he read the message on my phone and again he shook his head no. I decided this could not be right and said 'Danke' (the only German word I knew hoping maybe he spoke a little German too), jumped in the car and told my family that even if that was the right place, we were not staying there.
Another awkward encounter, one spilled coffee and some WiFi later, we were in-front of a charming little winery asking to be let in... "because Jozsef said we would be staying with you". I was feeling like a complete ass at this point and made a mental note to stop telling people that, after all we'd only an hour ago almost moved in with some poor old farmer who was probably calling his friend 'Jozsef' and asking why he had sent a weird family of Americans to stay with him. Luckily the winery welcomed us in and we called it a day with a bottle of wine in their courtyard.
Staying in a winery, as we have now done several times on this trip, is super fun as they give you the keys to the tasting room to have at their selection of treats. I can't imagine doing this with our own winery, but man do I love it at someone else's! It was one of many little things that made Hungary feel very friendly. That and the bountiful meals with delicious food, nothing makes me as happy as wine and food... shown by the plump form I was sausaging into jeans. Needless to say, they serve far more than just Goulash. The people are warm and helpful (despite their stern looks that our Slovakian winemaker friend would call "Russian faces") and the atmosphere is nothing short of delightful. I was intrigued and enchanted.
After Edger, we hit Tokaj and then Villany then Lake Balaton then Heligenbrunn then to Langegg then finally to our escape from the wine tour intensive for a respite in Hallstatt, where I am currently writing this. I will follow this post up with individual ones about all the wineries we have been to, the incredible winemakers that took time to be with us and the once in a lifetime experiences we were able to have because they did, in-fact, know Jozsef. But for now, the dizzying view of the great Alps and a delicious glass of Gruner Veltliner await me.
Cheers and remember, before anything else, Wine First.
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