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Boat Trip to Szentendre in 2006

Szentendre, one of Hungary's most precious historical, natural and cultural sites, welcomed more than 350 CEU Summer University students and guests this month. Participants, faculty and guests spent three hot summer Sundays in the cozy, Mediterranean air of the Danube shores, overcoming the short 20 km from Budapest on a two-hour-long cruise up the river stream.





This town of 21,000 inhabitants is a "compulsory destination of pilgrimage" for all inquisitive and art-loving visitors of Hungary. Having served as a major vine-growing location as well as a home for Turkish, Greek, Central and Eastern European populations for centuries, Szentendre offers entertainment for adherents of agriculture, history, architecture, wine-making, the fine arts, and even confections. Picturesque and far from ordinary, this town has become a favored get-away for the guests of Summer University.



The group set off from Vigado ter at 10:30 on Sunday morning. The guests boarded, accepting small packets of snacks with unexpecting smiles, as the yacht lazily cradled. Behind the Hungarian flag flapping on the deck ascended the Gellert hill, the Statue of Liberty holding her shield of tree bark above it. The Parliament, its right corner still braced with construction, brooded over the Danube a little way before the nose of the yacht. Participants had prepared for the journey with swim suits, cameras and decks of cards. A warming, dewed breeze swept through the railing.


The group arrived in Szentendre just in time for lunch. The paved streets and passageways baked with the noon sunshine. Life was streaming through and through: merchants cooed to the passers-by from wooden, straw-hooded stands, and visitors glided from shop to shop, unable to choose one lascivious merchandise over another. From the central square could be heard traditional Native American music-a vocal, woodwind and percussion performance accompanied by dance.



In the narrow passageways branching from the square, the air was steaming with the fragrance of spices and Hungarian culinary specialties. A favored attraction in Szentendre was the Szabo Marzipan shop and museum owned by the Szabo dynasty, where visitors may view the exquisite makings of these distinguished Hungarian confectioners and even see the craftsmen at work.





At the end of the day, among the historical wonders and culinary temptations, Szentendre was a fantastic spot to take a stroll or simply lie on the stone bulwark along the Danube shore, bathe in the sunshine and think about just how far down the river stream one's abandoned the frets of course works and exams.