Transylvania

Every Hungarian has to climb the Székelykő once in a lifetime – as the old saying says. Well, I am proud to tell you that despite of all my horror of high places, I managed to get up this beautiful mountain, and the view was amazing. Getting down was far more interesting, as there were heavy rains and floods the week before, the soil was wet and extremely slippery – you had to hold on every tiny branch of tree not to end up sloping down on your back.

On arrival, we were received with the utmost hospitability imaginable: although the people living here are not well-to-do, they do everything so that you can really feel at home (in our case it is especially true, since we are Hungarians, too). It felt really good, after the whole-day journey from the Austrian border. Of course we made several stops during the day, but 3 people sitting in the back of the car… not the most convenient way of travelling. There are several trains from Budapest to Romania, and there are many cheap flights to Brasov or Bucharest as well, from all major European airports. Our accommodation was in one of the smaller villages, Torockó - right at the feet of Székelykő, in a nice old house with green folding shutters.






One of the traditional spices they use is tarragon, which has a really characteristic taste, and the other thing I loved about their cuisine was aubergine crème – tried to prepare it at home myself, but never reached the taste of the original one. They say, when Hungary's greatest king Mathias Corvinus married Beatrice in 1476, the daughter of the King of Naples, she brought with her many secrets of the Italian cuisine and also ingredients, which were added to the Transylvanian cuisine. Just like in Italy, gourmet cheeses, delicious sausages, and great wines are on the Transylvanian menu. Their cuisine might not be that famous, but it is nevertheless one of the greatest in the world.