Photo report: Trip to Bekescsaba!

Bekescsaba Sightseeing Train Tanking at Gas station

Coming to Hungary and want to explore a bit more than just the capital? Planning to go on a voyage outside of Budapest? Why not to go to Bekescsaba!

This is a photo report from my June adventure trip to Bekescsaba. City, which is located in the South East of Hungary, close to the Romanian border. It has been renowed for the Csabai sausage and other food processing industry products.

Historically, there has been also Slovak settlement and until today, it is possible to see the traces of Slovak ancestry in the streets of Békéscsaba (this is how you write it correctly with Hungarian accents). There is even a Slovak cultural house and a primary and secondary school, which have Slovak as the language of instruction. See more in the attached photo gallery.

Bekescsaba is the home of 2 major events – Beer festival and the Sausage festival. The latter will take place on the 22nd-25th October 2015, so save the date! The beer festival was a full experience as it featured not only zillions of different craft beers, but also pork knee (csülök) parade and promo events of local pan and sofa resellers. Find out more in the photogallery.

Why to set for a trip to Bekescsaba? It is not a tourist trap, it is a cool place to go and the locals are absolutely warm-hearted! Also, the city has won several green awards and I must say, rightfully. I have never seen a greener city!!

photo grid bekescsaba hungary is not just budapest trip

How to reach it? There are direct trains to Bekescsaba from Budapest Keleti pályaudvar, the journey takes around 3 hours. You can also go by car via the M5 highway to Kecskemét and then continue on a regional road no. 44 (which is not of the best quality and it is full of Romanian trucks, but reinforces the joy of finally arriving there).

Check out the pictures from my June trip to Bekescsaba. All pics have a description, so feel free to enlarge the picture to see details:

There is always more to read:  Sziget Festival 2016 - Final Day on the Island of Freedom
Bilingual road sign Bekescsaba in Hungarian and Békešská Čaba in Slovak
When entering Békéscsaba, you can get surprised that the sign is also in Slovak, saying: Békešská Čaba. This is because of the historical Slovak settlement from the 18th century.
Dead Tree statue - Bekescsaba WWI Memorial
Dead Tree Memorial for the Victims of the WWII and for Gyula Kulich. Unfortunatelly, you can read about him on Wikipedia only in Hungarian or in Esperanto (he was esperantist).
Dead Tree Memorial for Victims of WWII in Bekescsaba
The Dead Tree Memorial for the victims of the WWII is made of copper. It used to be bigger. But as you know, copper can be sold in scrapyards.
Beer festival poster
This is a flyer attracting visitors to come for the annual Beer and Pork Knee Festival in Bekescsaba. The design of the flyer is a bit simplistic, but has high information value. Yellow and 2 different shades of purple on green background represent a refreshing local design wave.
Communist architecture building in Békéscsaba
This building has attracted my attention, not only it looks like a cross section of a space ship, it shows the guts! See the pillar in the middle? Truly a surprising architectonic element.
Angel Water Well in Bekescsaba
This well has been a source of water supply and a popular hangout place for Csabai people of all ages. If you want to see the history of this place in pictures, check out this link: http://bit.ly/1LDX0mc
Mosaic houses on Andrassy in Bekescsaba
These houses on the Andrássy avenue are actually very cute with a little stone mosaic on the facade and green balconies. These have been built in the communist era, but unlike their higher counterparts, they will survive.
Peking áruház (Chinese shopping mall) in Békéscsaba
Touch of China on the Hungarian-Romanian border. You can see 2 things in this picture: how diverse and green the city of Bekescsaba is.
Bekescsaba - Andrassy út sign
Yes, Hungarians are very patriotic and therefore they do not need much creativity to name their streets. Simply, every city/village has streets named after big Hungarians. So…in every city, there is Andrássy!
Bekescsaba pigeons
The city is not only very green, but it is also full of birds. To attract or repel pigeons, the owners of this house put a stuffed pigeon on their window. There was also a live pigeon standing next to it, but it flew away before I managed to document it.
Bekescsaba neon fitness center
This building looked like an office, but do not get fooled. The place is for shaping the bodies of Csabai people to look like the guy on the neon on the facade. Good motivator!
Tire repair vending machine in Bekescsaba
A lot of bikes are ridden in Bekescsaba. This occasionaly brings flat tires, Continental has a solution – vending machine to sell tire repair kits. I have seen many vending machines in my life, be it sanitary products, condoms, cigarettes, fast food, but this is a really useful one! Cities of the world – get inspired by Bekescsaba!!
Brill Bisztró in Bekescsaba - main dish chicken with peas
This place was a random shot based on recommendations from Foursquare. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Both the starter and main were incredibly delicious! Worth a visit – Brill Bisztró in Bekescsaba!
Green main square in Bekescsaba
Yet another proof that this city is greener than a greenhouse! So many flowers and trees and strange statues – like this one with bells. Unfortunately they were too high to ring them.
Basketball hoops on the main square of Bekescsaba
The locals must have a big crush on basketball. Else I do not know how to explain the presence of 8 basketball hoops on the main square of Bekescsaba. And yes, another proof that the city is GREEN!
Páduai Szent Antal templom in Békéscsaba
This Church is the dominant of the Kossuth tér. Interestingly, there is another Páduai Szent Antal templom in the XIV. district in Budapest. But this one is much nicer!
Main square Széchenyi István tér in Békéscsaba
The main square of Bekescsaba in all its beauty. Despite the heat of 36C, there were people out enjoying themselves. Bekescsaba is no ghost city!!
Békéscsaba green
The competition starts now. What is this building? Notice – flower decorations!
Bekescsaba Körös Hotel ruin in sleeve
This hotel used to be the pride of Bekescsaba before the fall of communism. Now, it is owned by Dutch investors and in order not to spoil the beauty of the city and to prevent unauthorized people entering this ruin, it has been put in a protective sleeve.
Slovak dinner in Bekescsaba
Slovaks have been settling in Bekescsaba since the 18th century. They used to be even a majority in this town, now there is around 6% of population officially declaring themselves to be Slovak, but the numbers can be bigger. Local Slovak dinner.
House of Slovak Culture in Bekescsaba
The Slovak touch in Bekescsaba. It always feels funny to see “ú” in the middle of the word.
Bekescsaba Library
Omnipresent Hungarian flag. Library of the Békés region.
Bekescsaba statue
First coniferous tree that I saw in Bekescsaba and a funny statue next to the library.
Bekescsaba mill and Körös river with a boat
Mill and a boat on the Körös river (yes, the hotel was named after it). Notice – green!
Bekescsaba boat in the Körös river
This photo raises one question: How did the boat manage to get in the middle of the Körös river when the bridge behind it is actually not high enough?
Bekescsaba dirty house
Who on earth would decorate a house with a picture like this?
Bekescsaba detail of dirty house
Detail of the dirty house. It looks like a sun, but the meaning says something else.
Bekescsaba baby hatch
Sadly, you cannot enter the street leading to the baby hatch with a car. Happy that there are baby hatches in Hungary!
Building of Bekescsaba Slovak kindergarten, primary and secondary school and college
From kindergarten through primary and secondary school up to college and all in Slovak! Open Gate inspiration.
Craft beers at Bekescsaba Beer Festival
A little taste of local craft beers sold at the Beer festival. Left to right: elderberry, cherry and red ale.
Bekescsaba Sightseeing Train Tanking at Gas station
Even sightseeing trains have to fuel up!
New trendy hairstyle
The official beer of the Beer festival was Hunyadi Matyás. I took this picture to show you the latest male hairstyle trend. Anybody knows if there is some deeper symbolic in it?
Bekescsaba Beer Festival - Tankcsapda concert on the main stage
A very bad picture of the Tankcsapda concert. It was the highlight of the festival. Guess not much needs to be said about the popularity of this band. Their style reminds me of a Czech band called Kabát.
Bekescsaba anti-immigrant Fidesz billboard
The anti-immigrant campaign next to the circus and entertainment park. This billboard says: If you come to Hungary, you have to respect our laws. More about the campaign in my post here: http://bit.ly/1cJwTLw
Bekescsaba beer billboard Rákóczi
Rákóczi on the billboard says: Where I am, there is freedom. Funnily, it is just few meters away from the Anti-immigrant billboard erected by the government.
Bekescsaba statue
I am not sure whether this statue was erected for the children to play on or whether it is a valuable piece of art that I am too dumb to appreciate. But it is there, next to it generations of Csabai kids were playing.
Bekescsaba smart solution enclosed shelter for trash cans
Inside of this little shelter are the misbehaving kids of Bekescsaba. No, there are trash cans inside. It is actually quite a smart solution to prevent raids on trash cans and mess around it. Too sad this cannot be implemented in Budapest.
Bekescsaba anti-immigrant billboard Fidesz
One more sample of the anti-immigrant billboard. This one is informing the immigrants (e.g. me) that they have to respect Hungarian culture, if they come to Hungary. Luckily, many of them cannot understand Hungarian and are not even intending to stay in Hungary. Surprising, he?

 

References:

Angyalos kút (Angel water well) – timeline of pictures how this place looked like in history

Immigration billboards – article on why the ruling government party put up billboards warning immigrants and what was the reaction of Hungarians to this campaign

Brill bisztro – place to eat in when in Bekescsaba


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2 Replies to “Photo report: Trip to Bekescsaba!”

  1. Gorgeous! I’ve been to Budapest, but would love to explore some of the smaller towns as well 🙂

    1. Everybody goes to Budapest (and it is truly an amazing city), but Hungary has lot more to offer! Come one day to check out more of its beauties! 🙂

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