Pécs
On our way from Budapest to Slovenia we stopped for a night in Pécs (pronounced “paich”), a small college town given good reviews (i.e., “talked up”) by Lonely Planet. While the town was nice, we felt a little let down by the hype, feeling as though the precious night could have been better spent in Budapest or Slovenia, both places we loved and wished we had more time in.
City center Pécs
It wasn’t that Pecs isn’t a very nice city; it’s just that when compared to the beautiful and lively streets of Budapest, the old buildings and handful of pedestrian streets of Pécs can’t compare. We were told by an apologetic hostel manager that the town is a university town and because it was the middle of finals the city was unusually dead. It did have some nice sites, including a church/mosque that was repeatedly changed by the various invading armies, who didn’t even bother to remove the other religion’s symbols, and some beautiful church doors.
The Mosque Church
Really cool doors
We did try to make the best of the situation – catching a beautiful sunset over the city from the cliffs that surround the city, and then watching an Irish/Hungarian rock band called “Paddy and the Rats” perform in the town square later that night. They (and their fans) were a lot of fun, and through the singer’s heavy accent we were even able to understand a few of the songs. Freedom!
Sunset from the hills
A unique way of trying to reach Jesus…
At the show
Our attempt at embedding a video from the show:
that video is incredible.
FREEDOOOOOMMM!