Epic Europe

A local food and flea market is always too interesting to ignore, even if it involved navigating public bus on a Sunday in Pécs. On the way to our bus stop which was 1.8km from accommodation, we passed a bus stop with lots of people carrying empty shopping baskets. Then a bus pulled up and they all boarded. Thinking they must be going to the market we want to get to, we too boarded and asked the bus driver if he went to the market. Bus driver asked, "Plaza?". I remembered that one of the websites or blogs said something about the market being in a something that resembled the word plaza. So we nodded, and boarded. Following the bus route on our google map was very thrilling. The bus headed towards the market (yes!) Then the bus turned and is now moving away from the market (oh dear!) Now it's heading towards the market again (Yes!) This suspense was exacerbated by the people with shopping baskets getting off at different stops far away from the market.
Anyway, we did finally get to the open air market, and it was thronging with people. We entered at the flea market area and saw how big it was. Probably about 150m each row, and there were many many rows. Huge! We walked through looking for the fruit and vegetables section and somehow found what looked like an open air food court. Stalls of sausages, pickles, skewers of meats, etc. We started with a sausage stuffed into a toasted hollowed bread roll. Interestingly, the lady toasts the bread only when you place your order. Then she squeezes the sauce you've picked (tomato, mustard, mayonnaise or chilli) into the hollow, then stuffs the sausage into the sauce. One by one. The queue was building up behind us, but there was no hurry. She could have easily toasted 4-6 rolls at a time but she did it one order at a time. Our order was only for one roll. We then had a rice dish with some pork shin through it and another large piece of meat with some cucumber pickle on the side. We were too full for anything else so we took away a large skewer of a variety of sausages and more pickles. We were as interested watching the locals as the locals were watching us. They were all too happy to tell us about the various dishes and how to order. Everyone waited patiently in line, and the stall holders attended to our gestures and pointing whilst the locals helped interprete. It was a delightful local experience. We witnessed a dispute between stall holders which we think was about territory as one stall holder was encroaching into her neighbour's. Although that was done loudly with lots of waving of hands and frowning, the participants ended up smiling and laughing.
The afternoon was much more subdued with a walk around the historic area of Pécs looking at the cathedral, the mosque-church and the synagogue. Only the cathedral was opened as it was Sunday afternoon, and everything else was shut.
We ended the afternoon with a towering coffee and chocolate ice cream sundae.
As it is getting cold, we requested for the host to turn on the heaters. The host and his wife came to our apartment and not only turned on the heater but stayed an hour chatting with us and taking us upstairs to show us the other apartments that they rent out as Airbnb too.

Distance walked 7.9km.Read more