Kalocsa, Hungary

Topic: The European Union

 

Many of the Eastern European countries have a set a goal to belong to the European Union. This morning, our guides offered some of the history on it.  After World War II, the Marshall plan restarted the Western European economies. In 1951, a number of countries began the European Coal and Steel Community allowing the free trade of these commodities across their borders. A key principle behind it's funding was to reduce the risk of a future European war over natural resources by removing the economic incentive. This was followed in 1958 by the formation of the European Economic Community, allowing more goods to be freely traded. In 1962, the European parliament was created. EU laws generally superseded national laws. The original members: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Brussels and Luxemburg have been joined through the years by other countries. In 1973, the U.K., Denmark and Ireland, in 1981 by Greece, in 1986 by Portugal and Spain and so on, today there are 28 countries in this economic zone. While theoretically, citizens of any EU country can work in any other country, the reality is different. For example, a Romanian has to be nominated by a corporation to work in the U.K and they must show that they can't find that particular skill from local residents. The Romanian will be granted a work permit that must be renewed equally. As Hunor told us: all countries are equal, but some are more equal, especially the older established members versus the new members.

Another agreement is the Treaty of Schengen, allowing the free movement of people without passport control among the 25 members. The country base is slightly different, for example this agreement includes Switzerland, but excludes Romania and Croatia. Every country has veto power for other countries to join. We experienced the strictness of entry this morning, when we were wakened at 6:15 AM to show our face to the border police of Hungary.

Finally, there is the Eurozone, consisting of 17 countries using the same currency, the Euro. The only Eurozone country we are visiting on this trip is the Slovak Republic.

 

Paprika

Hungary

Most of the people of Hungary live in the countryside. Of the 10 Million inhabitants, 1.7 million live in Budapest and there are several cities of about 150K, but the rest are in villages, similar to Kalocsa. This village was founded over 1000 years ago and is filled with individual houses, most owner-occupied. We stopped first at the Paprika Museum. Paprika originally came from Peru, spread from Spain and arrived in Hungary from the Turks. It became the dominant spice here after black pepper became expensive. There is both a hot and a sweet version of this pepper, the hot version usually is a pepper substitute, while the more common sweet version spices the typical Hungarian dish. Planted in April, harvest starts in August and continues until the first hard frost (which occurred about 10 days ago).

A few blocks away was a small folk art museum. Here a couple demonstrated typical Hungarian dance, and we visited a 200 year old peasant house. One of the rooms was particularly decorated with floral patterns on the walls, and a brick furnace opposite the kitchen fire on the other side.

We ended our day at a horse show with the horse dressed in traditional garb. The key weapon used from horseback was the whip which they could use to stun small game as well as warfare. They demonstrated their horsemanship on Hungarian half-blood horses (mixed with Arabian horses) with their whips through a series of games. The hit of the show was the seven year old boy in training on top of a donkey. We enjoyed a wagon trip out into the fields where we could see the cattle and horses on their pastureland and some typical thatch buildings. Overall, this was more a chance to see the Hungarian countryside than to have an exciting display of horsemanship.

That evening, we had our farewell dinner on the M/S River Concerto. The meals on board have been top-notch throughout. The first night, we had managed to turn a table of eight to a table of nine with the help of our waiters. We quickly learned to send someone early to claim this table, since they couldn't reserve it for us. After our meal, the crew entertained us with a "talent show" that was mostly silly comedy and dancing, but quite entertaining.