Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Baja, Hungary

Baja is pronounced, "BAH-yah." The "a" sounds like the "a" in "father." Baja is my husband's home town, and I am staying in his childhood home with his sister and niece. The family have owned this place for at least four generations. It is a wondrous thought to me!

The house is traditional brick faced with stucco and topped with a tile roof. Like all the other houses one wall affronts the sidewalk and a gated wall continues across the driveway. This gate is solid, and can open to let a car enter, or, a smaller door in the gate opens to admit persons. Inside is a courtyard with a grassy area surrounded by rooms of the house. There is a large back garden with fruit trees, bushes, grassy area and an area for some kind of crop. The whole garden is joined by other neighbors' gardens on each side and the back. Trees and bushes obscure the adjacent properties. The result is that each block is enclosed by a continuous wall and the center of the block is a huge garden divided by fences. It is lovely and private and birds provide a constant concert.

This town is the end of the line for the bus I took. It is a medium sized town, smaller than my home town of Castle Rock, Colorado. It probably hasn't grown much in the past 40 years. But it is on the Danube ("Duna") River and is important in the region. It hosts a world-wide carp soup cooking competition every year. This is the official website. Halászlé is an important regional dish, and it has a prominent place in the lives of the residents. It must be made in a certain way, and traditionally the men cook it and the women assist with the preparation. Halászlé is cooked outside in a large cauldron over an open flame. It takes hours and the enticing aroma fills the entire neighborhood. I imagine that everyone's mouth waters and they start thinking of nurturing their own batch!
Baja, HU



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