Sept. 20, 2011
Time to go to Hungary! Here is a short teaser trailer of scenes taken over the the next four days. Hopefully it will entice you. The blog continues with 70 videos and many many photos. Enjoy!
The 1 am alarm came very quickly. we all had ourselves packed and at the hotel lobby by 1:45 am. Niko and David had us loaded up and we were off to the airport by 2 am. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4 am for Munich. We arrived at the airport by 2:3o am. Being that most of the flights leave Tbilisi this early, the airport was packed. After saying our goodbyes to Niko and David, and getting through security, we had enough time to grab a quick something to drink. Even though the past 5 days were extremely busy and over loaded with more sensory experiences than the average person could digest, we managed to take it all in. We sat in the Tbilisi airport completely contented with our first experience of Georgia. We have a wonderful new place to fondly remember, new Georgians friends to think about, and a destination to hopefully return to soon. Thank you Georgia!
We left Tbilisi on time. Our 4 hour flight to Munich was smooth, so napping wasn't hard. We arrived on time in Munich at 6 am. We were all hungry, so Darrell was on the look out for something good to eat. Being that we were now in Germany and that it was Oktoberfest season, Darrell found the Dallmayr restaurant for us to have an authentic Oktoberfest breakfast complete with freshly made Weisswurst (pork & veal bratwurst), pretzels, Black Forest ham, and Hofbrau Bier!
The Dallmayr breakfast sat very well with all of us. We browsed around the airport to pass the rest of the 4 hour layover. One could easily tell that this was an airport in Germany for the number of cars displayed.
The flight to Budapest was full. Luckily the flight was only an hour. It was a clear day and perfect for a quick flight.
We landed about 25 minutes late and we were discontentedly surprised that the EuropCar van we rented ended up being a EuropCar panel van with no windows and was more a mobile EuropCar billboard than something practical for our needs. We opted to not take the panel van and had Hertz get us a wagon. It was off from the Budapest airport into the city. The drive took about 25 minutes and we got our first glimpses of Hungary on the drive
The rental delay made us very late for our lunch reservations at Gundel Restaurant in downtown Budapest. We finally arrived for lunch an hour and a half late. The restaurant was nearly empty when were seated. Darrell selected a few wines and we each ordered something different from the menu. The service was attentive and the restaurant was graced with beautiful adornments. The food was good, but Darrell was somewhat disappointed at his first experience eating at this renown restaurant.
After lunch we made a short drive to the offices and home of a relative of mine, Lilla Valko. Lilla set up a tasting of some interesting unique to Hungary products for us. We were all impressed with the Honeys, jams, and Mangalitsa "bacon" chocolate we tasted. We may import some of the items to offer at Corti Brothers.
The afternoon flew by and by the time we finished the tasting it was 6pm. We had a good 2 hour 15 minute drive out of Budapest to the Tokaj wine region, so it was time to say goodbye to Lilla and her mother Judith and hit the Hungarian highway. We were amazed at how well the Hungarian highway was maintained. The average speed limit was 130 kpm (80 mph), but there were times traffic was moving at 150 kph, so there were a few moments where I was pacing traffic and found us comfortably moving along at 90-95 mph. It was like driving on glass the time we were on the major highway. Not a bump in the road. We arrived in the town of Tarcal, which is on the west side of Tokaj Hill. We checked into the Gróf Degenfeld Castle Hotel, which was to be our home for the next 3 days. It was dark when we arrived, so we dropped our luggage in our rooms and went down into the dinning room for a light dinner and then it was off to bed. We would have to wait for morning to see the grounds.