Tiszafüred & Hortobágyi Horse Festival

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well and managing to cope with the temperatures and finding ways to cool down. Ice cream and a cool swim in a lake or river are great ways, in my opinion.

We have been in Hungary for 2 days now and we are staying with two very dear acquaintances of Mario and his family. We are being spoiled here and getting valuable tips and tricks about the area and what is worth seeing.

Even on the way here, the Hungarian Puszta showed its vastness. It reminds me a lot of northern Germany - you can see very far and there are small farms and many fields everywhere. Sunflowers and hay/straw are particularly abundant.

On our first evening, Petra and Kurt invited us to dinner and showed us a part of the traditional Hungarian cuisine. The next day, we were excited to be in time for the annual riding and horse festival in Hortobágyi in the region. These were until last night and yesterday morning we decided to go there.

Said and done!

So we set off and started walking blindly from the parking lot, trusting Google Maps.

Unfortunately, we ended up in a dead end or rather a dead bridge. So we had to walk all the way back and pick up the pace, hoping not to miss the shows.

In the end, we finally made it to the event venue. Luckily, we arrived early enough so we didn't miss all the performances.

The acrobats were the best for me! When I used to listen to Bibi and Tina, I imagined Mikosch and his Hungarian companions exactly like this. We both felt like riding again.

We also saw a horse and carriage race and the traditional Hungarian shepherds.

They were cracking their whips in the arena and creating a great atmosphere.

The whips and the sounds reminded me a lot of "Fasnet" and made me a little homesick for the Black Forest. Special greetings to you all! 🖖

Then we headed back with a stopover in a sunflower field.

Here are a few beautiful sunflowers:

For dinner, we fired up the grill and enjoyed a delicious meal in almost 30 degrees Celsius.

Today was (hopefully) the hottest day with 41 degrees Celsius in the sun and 35 degrees Celsius in the shade. I may have gotten a new sunburn tattoo on my back yesterday, where my arm length couldn't reach. So, to avoid getting overheated, I spent the day moving back and forth between the hammock in the shade and the cold outdoor shower.

In the meantime, I did a little yoga under some plum trees and the three of us played a bit of Uno. Every move is sweaty in this heat.

For dinner, we had fried white pumpkin from the neighbor's garden and fresh watermelon from the field next door as dessert.

Tomorrow, we are going to Oradea to visit my former Romanian colleagues from ebm. That's going to be fun.

On Wednesday, we will take a day trip to Budapest and I will probably only check in again on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.

Until then, take care and stay cool.

Yours, Britta