Wine Carneval, Breakdancers, and 'Take THAT EMS!!'
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2010
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31
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Trip End
May 15, 2011
Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar, Hungary
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Today we didn't go to the main square though, well, not at first. Closer to us was the Debrecen University, and next to that in the Big Forrest was the Wine Carnival. This annual event draws hundreds of people from all around and lasts for three days. It features all sorts of wine related festivities, the most popular of course being wine tasting. Wine is available in all shades and tastes, as well as prices, from different regions, companies both large and small, and in varying quantities. Of course there is a big stage set up with one live band playing after the other, and plenty of food vendors to fill any empty space that might remain on the side of the pond or playground. The three of us (Kinga, my grandmother, and I) bought a glass of Tokaji Harslevelu, a half-sweet white wine, each from the Grof Degenfeld Szolobirtok (name of the winery). Next, Kinga bought a cotton candy that rivaled the humongous one she got in Split, Croatia (Croatian cotton candy link). We also bought a cheese sampling plate, but couldn’t eat half of it so we don’t recommend that move to other travelers, then again, at $1.95 for half a kilo it’s worth the adventure.
After the Wine Carnival we headed over to Debrecen University because I wanted to take some pictures of the enormous fountain in front of the building. Kinga couldn’t take the suspense, so she sat for the duration of my photo adventure. Then we headed back to the Wine Carnival and eventually over to the main square by the Great Church, where we bought more kurtoskalacs (chimney cake delicacy of Hungary) and saw a break-dancing group made up of three girls. We had never seen an all girls break-dancing group before, and by the looks of the crowd they drew, neither had anyone else either, and were interested to see what they could do. They turned out to be quite good. We called it a night after more kurtoskalacs and a half hour bus ride.
BTW: In this censored blog all we can write is "take THAT E.M.S. (and all other nonbelievers)!!" The staff of Eastern Mountain Sports (and several other people) told me that my raincoat was beyond repair, that the entire waterproof zipper would have to be replaced by a non-waterproof zipper and then it wouldn’t even be worth using, and the entire ordeal would cost around $50. Great. I firmly believed that it was possible and that if I just found the right size zipper to cannibalize, I could do it myself for free in 30min. Today I finally found the right sized zipper in my grandmother’s sewing box and finished the job. Take that nonbelievers!!
