Twofer: Pécs, and Hungarian Hospitality

Pécs's mosque-turned-church, Gázi Kászim pasa

The morning of our group trip to Pécs (“Pay-tch”) was marked for most of us with the sound of our alarm clock going off far too early. Bleary eyed, we were all gathered by seven to catch a train early enough that would take us the 3 hours towards Hungary's Croatian border in time to see the early-closing former mosque of Gázi Kászim pasa. This mosque, now a Catholic church, bears witness to its origins with its unique Islamic architecture, featuring not only a dome structure but also fascinating geometric designs adorning its interior.

"Your love for me is like a padlock: restricting,
and requiring the liberal use of bolt cutters to escape."

Pécs, selected as one of 2010's European Capitals of Culture, sported much more to see than just the mosque, however. Having received remarkably little damage during the world wars, Pécs exhibits its pre-20th century architecture with little of the whitewashing done by Soviet postwar restoration projects. Pécs, then, had a unique style all its own which made exploring it a treat, whether it be to find the ceramics museum showing off a special glazing technique developed in Pécs, or simply to find a nice café or street side pastry stand. One of the surprises we came across while exploring Pécs were the result of a local tradition dictating that newly engaged couples symbolize their love by locking a padlock onto one of various fences throughout the city.

Pécs appears to be the site of the Hungarians'
National Strategic Quaintness Reserves

Perhaps the most fascinating site in Pécs would be the Cella Septichora, an early Christian burial site dating too not long after the conversion of Constantine in the late 4th century AD. Also a UNESCO World Heritage site, this crypt is unique not only for being in excellent condition today but also for representing a blend of early-Christian, Roman, and local burial tradition. As visitors to this necropolis, we not only were permitted to explore the remains of the tombs and the foundations of the buildings that once stood above them, we also got to see the very well preserved wall paintings that originally adorned the tombs, with some of the iconography still being recognizable today. To add a bit of mystery to this equation, archaeologists still aren't completely sure about the history of this burial site: most of the tombs were found inexplicably empty.

Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. It looks all
Eastern-ey inside. Nifty.

After visiting the crypts, many of us continued on to visit the immediately adjacent cathedral, notable for having a style uniquely different to our eyes from most other cathedrals and from any building exhibiting a Gothic style. While much could be said of the ornate sculpture work on the cathedral doors or of the uniquely Hungarian architecture and art adorning its interior, we hope the reader will forgive us if we instead decide to spend a bit of time praising the wonderful Hungarian hospitality we experienced at Pécs and elsewhere.

A lot has been said over the years about that famous hospitality, but it really should be mentioned again just how well we’ve been treated here. I mean, we must come across as a bunch of loud, obnoxious American tourists whose restaurant orders range from “point to menu and speak English patronizingly slowly and loudly” to “use a few words of woefully broken and mispronounced Hungarian, also patronizingly.” For all the cultural differences we’ve met when eating out––like a more relaxed speed of service, a much quieter restaurant environment, and a whole lot more cigarette smoke than we’re used to––the Hungarians who have served us have been wonderfully welcoming and accommodating. They’ll play along with our language troubles, bring us tap water (which is apparently an American concept), and split the check. At first, we found their service a bit terse, and worried that maybe we were offending or bothering waitstaff. But after some time immersed in Hungarian culture, it became obvious what was really going on.

A bit of background: Hungary sits at a crossroads for Asia and Europe, and for hundreds of years up until about 20 years ago, found itself being “liberated” by, among others, Turks, Austrians, and Soviets, who never really felt the need to leave after the end of a campaign. Hungary also lies at the bottom of the Carpathian Basin, which can sort of trap in fog and smog, and leave the cities below looking a bit gray and gloomy. The combined result of all this is a bit of national pessimism, which is readily obvious with a stroll through the National Gallery’s halls of beautiful but dark paintings, each seeming to focus on a new invading army, or a brave group of heroes defending their position as long as they can, but with the same ending.

Digressions aside, what does this have to do with service, again? I’m glad you asked! This pessimism seems to come through in a very, very dry, subtle sense of humor. A few nights ago at a wonderful Scottish pub, one of our party of ten asked––immediately after we all placed our orders––if we could get split checks for the evening. The waiter looked a bit distraught, then simply replied, “No.” If we hadn’t been looking for the faintest wry smile he cracked, we might have assumed him to be rude and curt. Similarly, one of our group didn’t realize the waiter had snuck in to take orders on the other side of the table while he was joking around about what extravagant order he might place: “I’m gonna get the champagne inside the hot chocolate, and then all of that on top of a cake, and...”, he rattled off. When the waiter got round the table to take his order, he put on one of the best deadpans I have ever seen and simply said, “Well I already know what you’re having.” 

For what is certainly a very different service industry culture, it might be easy to feel a bit lost in the pessimism, pragmatism, and occasional (very) dry wit. But looking beyond that and opening ourselves up to the new experience, we’ve come to enjoy the relaxed dining pace, down-to-earth service, and, of course, breakfast meats.


-Thomas & Tommy