Hungary heart

Budapest, Hungary’s stunning capital city, has become a short-break favourite in recent years, but there are plenty of lovely places near the Hungarian capital that deserve attention too. Szentendre is one such place. Within easy reach of the city centre – just 35 minutes from Batthanyi Ter on the local HEV train network – it is an oasis of calm and serenity, perfect for a day-trip away from the tourist crowds in Budapest or for a longer stay, if peace and quiet is what you are looking for.

On a recent trip over to Hungary for a family wedding, we chose to stay in Szentendre for the four days of our visit. It is a town that has become very familiar to me over the years of visiting my maternal grandparents in Budapest as a child and it has been interesting to see its stature grow as a tourist destination in its own right. From its humble beginnings as a tiny settlement on the Dunakanyar (the bend in the river Danube), today it has a population of around 20,000 and plenty to occupy visitors with its attractive narrow cobbled streets, inviting pavement cafes and coffee shops, long promenade along the banks of the Danube and numerous churches, museums and art galleries.

Culturally diverse, from the 16th century onwards Szentendre was considered the central point for Hungary’s Serb community, which joined an already established Bulgarian population who had been living in the town and surrounding villages since the Middle Ages.

In the 18th century, after the liberation of Hungary from the Turks, there was another influx of newcomers to Szentendre with Croatian, Slovak, German and Greek settlers moving in alongside the Magyar inhabitants. The influence of this rich mix of cultures and styles is apparent in Szentendre’s architecture and atmosphere, in the bright colours of the buildings and, in particular, the presence of places of worship of various faiths.

We based ourselves in a small guesthouse, the Bukkos Hotel, in the centre of Szentendre, which was fairly basic but clean, comfortable and welcoming.

Taking a stroll out on the Saturday morning we visited the weekend market which was a great way of experiencing the real, everyday life of a place – it was full of the local people doing their weekly shopping – while also providing an excellent opportunity to sample local specialities, particularly the food and wine.

Szentendre is well-known as an important artists’ colony: from the late 19th century onwards, many celebrated sculptors, painters and craftsmen settled there. In artistic terms, Szentendre is Hungary’s equivalent to St Ives in Cornwall or Staithes on the North Yorkshire coast and this is reflected in the number and variety of small galleries you can discover during a stroll around the inviting side-streets, showing the work of the many artists associated with the town.

We happened upon a small gallery presenting the life and works of the painter Béla Czóbel (1885-1976), a friend of Pablo Picasso and student of Henri Matisse, who lived in Paris and Szentendre alternately from the 1940s onwards.

He and his wife, artist Mária Modok (1896-1971), belonged to the post-Impressionist movement. A visit to this intimate museum, which traces Czóbel’s beginnings in the small town of Nagybánya (now part of Romania) through his time in Paris and Szentendre, is highly recommended.

Another must-see gallery – and the largest in Szentendre – is the Kovács Margit Museum. A ceramicist and sculptor, Kovács (1902-1977) produced statuettes, pots, plates, wall plaques and tiled murals during her career; her works were influenced by folklore and Bible stories and have a charming innocence.

On the outskirts of Szentendre is the extensive open-air museum of Skanzen, that has brought together buildings from all over Hungary from different geographical areas and historical periods and reconstructed them in situ. There are several entire villages – including family homes, churches, schoolrooms, barns and mills – on the 150 acre site and each building contains the original furniture and fittings.

This really is history come to life. I have been visiting Skanzen since I was a child in the 1970s and it is a place my own children have come to love.

You can now travel around the various “regions” by train on a recently completed railway. A whole day can easily be spent exploring Skanzen: there are plenty of places to stop off for refreshments with well-informed and friendly guides on hand to give extra information. The beauty of basing yourself in Szentendre for a break is that you are never more than half an hour away from the bright lights and bustle of Budapest. On a glorious early June morning we headed off to the Romai Furdo – one of Budapest’s many wonderful outdoor swimming pools.

The Romai Furdo is on the outskirts of the city, along the banks of the Danube, and only 20 minutes by train from Szentendre. In 2000 the three main pools were modernised with slides, chutes and water rapids – plenty to keep everyone occupied. After a day of water-based activities, on the way back you could drop in to the neighbouring extensive Roman remains of Acquincum – a Roman military town.

Another ideal day trip is to board a riverboat in Szentendre and cruise slowly north along the Danube to visit – Visegrad and Esztergom. The town of Visegrad has an impressive medieval fortified castle up on a hill.

Esztergom, on the border with Slovakia, is one of the oldest towns in Hungary and was the country’s capital city from the 10th century until the mid-13th century. It is the primate of Catholicism in Hungary, a place of pilgrimage, and its cathedral, the Esztergom Basilica, is the largest church in the country. You can spend a very peaceful day travelling between, and exploring, Visegrad and Eszetergom by boat at a gentle pace.

GETTING THERE

* Direct flights to Budapest are available from Manchester with Jet2.com

* Bukkos Guesthouse, Szentendre, Tel 0036 26 312 021 www.bukkoshotel.hu

* Skanzen Outdoor Museum, www.skanzen.hu