Still in town

After I concluded the previous post with a prospect of going back to Bér on Tuesday, we decided that having to be back in town by Thursday evening makes it totally silly to go down to the village just for two days.  So we stayed.

Yevgeny Koroliov

On Tuesday I had a concert in the Music Academy, which was Yevgeny Koroliov's 3rd  Bach recital out of 4. It was superb again, that guy is so proficient, but also insightful into the world of Bach. There were partitas, counterpoints, inventions and the English Suite on the program, and magnificent he definitely was.

The river mill

After a rest on the weekend we were refreshed to get on with chores in town that needed doing. In the meantime Gyuri, my new friend, wrote to me about coming up to town to do some geocaching and would I go with him? Gladly, I answered, so we went on the Wednesday to Csepel Island where neither of us has found too many of them so far. We have just parked the car up at Eva's, so we had to go and fetch it, but no bother. On Wednesday I went to pick him up from the station and off we went. The day started with a bit of a cockup, as he wanted to start from the South and I didn't work out a sensible route to get there. It took about 2 and half hours, when if we thought about it, we could have done it in 1 and half.

The Serbian Church

Finally we got there and the first cache was a disaster.  In a really scrappy, useless forest, the cache was nowhere to be seen. Still, he rang the owner, who registered the fact that it is gone and gave him the password. From then on the day improved. The next three was in and around Ráckeve, a small town on the island that was established by Serbian refugees centuries ago. Even today a large number of their descendants live there.

Muggins at the board about the forest at the first cache

First we went to a river mill, which is one of very few survivors of this form of mill, very popular in the past. There was a market around it, so it was difficult to get to, but we managed. Then we visited the Serbian church, which was unfortunately closed, so we could only see it from the outside. Finally, we went and saw a lovely old chateau which is a research institute, but that was closed too for refurbishment, so only an outside peek again.

The chateau that is now a research institute

Having finished with Ráckeve, we moved onto further North to Szigetszentmárton, which is in the heart of the island. We saw its lovely big church and went down to the Danube bank where the views were very pretty indeed.

Szigetszentmárton church

The next stop was by a sweet little chapel, rather too close to the big, nasty looking prison that is one of the largest facilities on the island. This was a bit of a detour, as we had to turn South a bit for it, so we had to pass the prison twice. Our route carried on Northwards, through the town of Tököl, where three more caches awaited.

The Danube at Szigetszentmárton

The first one of these took us round to the most important sites of the town, the second to a nearby little forest and its pretty picnic site, while the last one commemorated its once very important airfield, which is nowadays used for small, sporting planes only. It was at this airfield that the Russians arrested Pál Maléter, one of the heroes of the 1956 Revolution.

Little chapel South of Tököl

Having found and logged all those caches, we journeyed on to the nearby town of Halásztelek for another multi-cache, which took us round the town.  Just North of this place stands the largest radio antenna of the country at Lakihegy, with a cache at its foot. Standing just under it makes you feel very small. The diameter of the stabilizing cables keeping it upright exceeds the thickness of my arms. Amazing!

Cute little antique fire tender in the centre of Tököl

This having been our last cache I took Gyuri to a Metro station, so he could get to the railway station quicker than in the rush hour traffic jams, that would have been on offer in the car and I gather he got there in time to catch the 5:10 back to Békéscsaba safely. I was home by 5pm, which was at least a full hour before Roy was expecting me. A very good, relaxing day, with a tally of 13 caches and a means of getting to know my new friend better.  He seems an ideal caching partner, so we are planning to go caching together again fairly soon.

An enormous paper boat slowly rusting somewhere on Csepel Island

Thursday was quite busy too. I started with taking Roy's sample to the lab, followed by a visit to my hairdresser, which was seriously overdue.  I was starting to look like a haystack as she is difficult to catch. In the evening I had an Opera visit, which this season means the Erkel Theatre, as the Opera House is being renovated (again). A superb performance of Nabucco delighted Bozsa and me, so we were very happy indeed.

The forester's house near the picnic site

A church in Halásztelek looking like a yurt

An old water wheel

The radio aerial

Another pretty view of the river from the island

Today I have nothing specific on, so another relaxing day beckons. I think I should just take it easy and do nothing. This weekend is a 3-day one, due to the national holiday for the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution falling on a Monday. Not that I intend to attend any of the celebrations, as the jingoistic, chauvinistic and hypocritical nature of them puts me right off. I can remember the heroes of 1956 quietly at home, appreciating their sacrifice and working towards a better world that would honestly honour them as they deserve.  On Tuesday Roy has an appointment with the urologist again, after which - if all goes well - we are back in Bér.