This past weekend, my girlfriends and I decided to head out to the Hungarian countryside to get out of the big city for a couple days. Last year, we realized that during January and February we barely left Budapest and that seemed to really stunt our emotional growth, especially with how gloomy Budapest can get in the winter months. To combat this, we planned a mid-February trip out to see the city of Pécs in southern Hungary.
Before getting to Pécs, all we knew about the town was this is where Pécsi sör is brewed, and don't worry--we did manage to get a couple pints of the stuff while in Pécs. But Pécs greeted us with a great mix of culture, delicious food and access to nature. Our first day in Pécs, we explored the old city, found a bunch of wonderful little gems in the city's sweet meandering streets. We got lunch at a little vegan cafe and then headed to a little ruin bar for a couple drinks before heading home and gossiping into the night.
On Monday, we started the day off by getting a lovely brunch at Nappali, a sweet little restaurant that came highly recommended to us. After this, Alicija stayed behind to get some work done, while Johanna, Sunna and I headed out on a mini-hike up the Mecsek hills. We first landed at "Laszlo's resting place" and then made it to the French Monument. From these two spots, we really could see out over the whole city and down the valley to the hills further out. It was beautiful weather and we were truly blessed to have the opportunity to go out and spend a warm sunny afternoon in the Hungarian hills.
After that, we headed back into the city to meet with Alicija and go for a walk to the old ceramic factory. The factory museum was closed, but the grounds still offered a wonderful place to wander around. Once finishing our walk about, we went to a sweet cafe run by a kind, older Hungarian family, where we were able to get curry, cake and coffee for less than 5 dollars. This was enough to sustain us for the long train ride back to Budapest. Overall, thankful for the marvelous company, the lovely city and the great time that I had in Pécs.
