Day 9: Hortobagy and first evening in Romania

Highlights Map

While we do not necessarily like the hotel we do like the views from the balcony. They are quite expansive over a forest and we see quite a few birds while eating breakfast from the provisions. We are taken in especially by the wood pigeons that forage in the garden right below our balcony.

We have done the trip to Cluj from Budapest a few times before but this time we plan something different to drive through the puszta and visit Hortobagy National Park that we really wanted to visit a few times before.

The first stop is near a csarda (inn) that we thought we might eat lunch at but is closed today. There is also a trail nearby that we decide to visit and is supposed to have a colony of bee-eaters according to the signs.

Unfortunately they are not here today, it seems they already left for the fall but we can at least see their nest holes. And a black stork flies overhead which is a nice bonus.

The trails here are quite flat and seem to go forever but because they are not marked and there is no map we have no idea where they go and we also are a bit harried so we move on to the next spot in the park that we are aware about.

The next trail is supposed to lead to a farm museum but there is no parking really on the side of the highway. And the road to it is full of potholes that are filled from the rain, not something that we would like our relative to trail. We cannot even walk to it without getting muddy so we explore the area a bit before deciding to return.

What we liked on this short jaunt into the puszta is that we see lots of cows, we especially try to determine if they are the special cows that are supposed to be here but they are too far away to see clearly.

And then we arrive in Hortobagy town proper. This is the first town or place in Hortobagy National Park that has some tourists and even some souvenirs stands.

The souvenirs are quite interesting but there are not a lot of other people browsing the goods so we decide to move on before the sellers decide to become more aggressive.

Here there is also a lively charda, the famous Hortobagy Inn. It has a huge menu it takes some time to get through it all and then to decide between all the local specialties.

In the end we choose more or less at random from the traditional section and both dishes are reasonably good and very filling and we enjoy them as we sit at the outside tables.

We sit outside as for whatever reason they do not sit anyone inside and we also like to be outside in the sun. But we still enter the inn and it looks quite traditional and we can see how it would be used even in past centuries as a crossroads inn.

There is lots and lots of space here to sit and the details on the walls are quite interesting, lots and lots of bovine skulls.

As we exit we see a commotion in the distance on the road and we raise from our table to take a closer look. It is a cattle drive, they are taking lots and lots of cattle right past our inn with the herders on horseback.

And they are passing quite close, we are surprised how few people are interested in the drive but maybe it is something that is happening daily and they are used to it, who knows?

Next we decide to walk to the nearby famous bridge, a nine arched bridge shown in all photos of Hortobagy. Unfortunately it seems the trail on this side has been flooded and not yet repaired so the views are not that good. We decide therefore to also try the other side which seems more likely to have better views.

And at the end of the short is a pedestrian bridge which really has some impressive views of the bridge. This is the location for all the photos of the bridge as far as we can determine as it is the best view.

The river is not that large now and we check it for birds but none are visible. There are lots of Rooks in the sky however and on the fields nearby.

We then return towards the village through the traditional, probably reconstructed, area. Even here, in a national park, to our surprise the maps shown are not showing the territory of actual Hungary but the one of “Old” Hungary when it was a kingdom holding lands that are now part of surrounding countries. This is the equivalent in our mind of seeing in Germany maps of Nazi Germany everywhere or in Russia of the Soviet Union, nothing good comes of yearning for territory of other countries only war and misery as Russia plainly has shown.

In one of the buildings we find the visitor center which has an interesting exhibit about traditional handicrafts in the area. We like the bakery exhibit but unfortunately we cannot find any real bakery outside to buy some goods.

Last stop here is the Hortobagy Bird Hospital which is advertising itself with a stork on the roof. We try to decide if the stork is free and still here or a rescue but there is no way to get a definitive answer really.

The hospital seems to be quite busy with lots of birds in multiple cages, we like that they save even pigeons, there is a cage dedicated to them and they seem to be very well taken care off.

There is one last trailhead we explore, it is quite well marked but it says you have to pay a fee and with no way to do it, and not enough time really to do a serios hike we continue on towards the border.

Passing the border control is quite easy as we use the new border control post on the divided highway and then it is a short drive to Oradea. Here we get detoured a bit due to construction but we make it through continuing to Cluj.

We do not have time to stop today but we still enjoy the varied landscapes and small towns and villages we pass on the way through Cluj. We always wonder how there is lots of money for grand churches while houses nearby seem to be barely maintained but that is how it has been since medieval times and even before.

We also like the castle like houses of the Gypsy community, or at least that is what is assumed, they are quite different from the usual houses in the region.

We arrive late in the evening in Cluj and we stay for the first nights in an Airbnb right in the downtown square. It is a great location and today we even have a concert going on right outside our window. Suprisingly the windows block the sound completely but we leave them open for a while to enjoy the music before finally closing them and going to sleep after this very long day.