Hortobagy
Hortobagy is in the Eastern Plain and in the Hortobagy National Park and we came here for some birdwatching.
We stayed at Puszta Camping in Hortobágy, a somewhat barren site but the thermal swimming pool is almost ready, a newish set of facilities is open (with slightly farty thermal hot water), there are new picnic tables and chairs waiting to be distributed and men are working on things. Perhaps it will be nice when it is finished, but at present it isn’t good value at 20 euro per night. With the benefit of hindsight it would be better to stay at the much better site at Tiszafured and come up to Hortobagy for the day.
The town itself is very small, no bank and no supermarkets but there is an National Park information office where we were assisted by very helpful staff ( unusual in most european toursit offices in our experience) and where you buy tickets for the national park. There is a small museum too and a market aimed at parting tourists from their money - the sort of market where you will have to barter and where the starting prices are ridiculous.
We stayed at Puszta Camping in Hortobágy, a somewhat barren site but the thermal swimming pool is almost ready, a newish set of facilities is open (with slightly farty thermal hot water), there are new picnic tables and chairs waiting to be distributed and men are working on things. Perhaps it will be nice when it is finished, but at present it isn’t good value at 20 euro per night. With the benefit of hindsight it would be better to stay at the much better site at Tiszafured and come up to Hortobagy for the day.
The town itself is very small, no bank and no supermarkets but there is an National Park information office where we were assisted by very helpful staff ( unusual in most european toursit offices in our experience) and where you buy tickets for the national park. There is a small museum too and a market aimed at parting tourists from their money - the sort of market where you will have to barter and where the starting prices are ridiculous.
Our river crossing
We headed to Hortobagy from Tokaj and reckoned to spend a few days in the area which is – you guessed it – a World Heritage Site because of its birdlife and ‘wild west’ culture. The latter is distinctly Mongolian – they and the later Tatars came this way a few times and since it is flat as a pancake some of them may well have decided to stay. The Garmin opted to take us what she regarded as the quickest route and this was generally a very pretty ride through the Hungarian countryside but our hearts nearly stopped when she told us to proceed and take the ferry. The ferry was a platform that was pulled across the river by a cable – fortunately its load was 10 tons and we got across no problem – the fee was 500 HUF, about £1.50. It was a very efficient system, quick “load and go” both ways, perhaps there was a timetable to keep to.
We were able to park the van at the Hortobágy-halastó fishponds and then took our bikes to look at birds. Lots of herons (grey, purple, night, squacco) and Egrets (Little and Great), Red-Backed Shrikes, Marsh Harriers (including a youngster on the road being fed by parents), a family of Bearded Reedlings, loads of Whiskered Terns and a few Black Terns, lots of Bean Geese, some swans and various ducks. We were out there for five hours in the boiling sun so no surprise that we were feeling a touch toasted by the time we got back.
Also at Hortobagy it was possible to see shows showing traditional Hungarian horsemanship and local cowboys but this seemed to us to be a tourist spectacle that we would be happy o miss and so we did.
We were able to park the van at the Hortobágy-halastó fishponds and then took our bikes to look at birds. Lots of herons (grey, purple, night, squacco) and Egrets (Little and Great), Red-Backed Shrikes, Marsh Harriers (including a youngster on the road being fed by parents), a family of Bearded Reedlings, loads of Whiskered Terns and a few Black Terns, lots of Bean Geese, some swans and various ducks. We were out there for five hours in the boiling sun so no surprise that we were feeling a touch toasted by the time we got back.
Also at Hortobagy it was possible to see shows showing traditional Hungarian horsemanship and local cowboys but this seemed to us to be a tourist spectacle that we would be happy o miss and so we did.
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