In Hungary: Through the Carpathians

Last weekend friend Tammy and I headed to Hungary from north-central Ukraine. That's a 525-mile trip that took two full days. Here's a typical sight, a little farm right along the road in southwest Ukraine near the Hungarian border. (Click to enlarge photos.)

Notice the haystacks, storks' nest and horse-drawn wagon. I was excited about the little pond and reflection in it. It's just a big puddle, Tammy said. That's what's neat about traveling with a small-town Iowa girl: rooted in reality.



Zoom on in to the storks' nest, a common sight along the way.

These are my travels since February 10th, when I departed Rostov. After great visits in Kharkov and Kiev, I joined friend Tammy in Zhitomer and over the weekend we drove here to Hungary. Tammy has made this trip dozens of times over the years and she knows every pothole in the road and where those mischievous traffic police are lurking.

We overnighted at the foot of the Carpathians and then Sunday morning after church - we had our own little service at 8:00 - we headed south into the mountains.



Reminded me of the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania.


Zooming on in for a closer look.


After the mountains, things level off quickly with the occasional bump such as that, above. As we approached the border, signage was in Ukrainian plus Hungarian. No surprise there.


Welcome to Hungary. In Hungarian, Ukrainian, German and. . . what's that on the bottom? Looks ever so familiar!


Earlier this week, Tammy and housemate Edith treated me to a tour around Debrecen. Edith spotted the Hungarian flag, above, flying with the flag of the European Union.


Zooming on in to the Hungarian flag: Red, white and green. The red stands for strength, the white for faithfulness, the green for hope.


How about you, dear blog reader? Ever been to Hungary? Eaten anything *paprikash* or had tripe soup? We deserve to know!