{"id":710,"date":"2007-05-10T02:59:24","date_gmt":"2007-05-10T06:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=710"},"modified":"2018-08-17T21:46:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T01:46:00","slug":"thursday-may-10-2007-to-the-land-beyond-the-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Thursday, May 10, 2007 \u2014 To the Land Beyond the Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our attempt to hitch-hike out of Prague was a dis\u00adas\u00adter. We had select\u00aded a spot, with Fil\u00adip\u2019s advice, which by the log\u00adic of hitch\u00ading should have been fine. How\u00adev\u00ader, it turned out to be torn up with con\u00adstruc\u00adtion. The only prac\u00adti\u00adcal spot to hitch was high up on a ramp with only mod\u00ader\u00adate traf\u00adfic. We wait\u00aded an hour and a half before get\u00adting a lift from two young women, who took us a few kilo\u00adme\u00adters, to a ser\u00advice sta\u00adtion. This should have been per\u00adfect, because it was the last sta\u00adtion serv\u00ading out\u00adbound traf\u00adfic towards Brno. There was a steady stream of traf\u00adfic, and a spot that looked ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six and a half hours lat\u00ader, we gave up. We had been passed up by thou\u00adsands of cars. It was the Czech nation\u00adal hol\u00adi\u00adday, and every car seem to be jam-packed with kids, grannies, and lug\u00adgage. One car even had a rock\u00ading chair in its back seat. It rained inter\u00admit\u00adtent\u00adly. Isaac had nev\u00ader hitched before, and my assur\u00adances that it was a viable form of trans\u00adporta\u00adtion must have looked pret\u00adty hol\u00adlow to him. As the sky dark\u00adened, we walked into the near\u00adest vil\u00adlage on the fringe of Prague, and took a bus into the near\u00adest metro. Then we pro\u00adceed\u00aded direct\u00adly to Masaryk Sta\u00adtion and pur\u00adchased train tick\u00adets to Debre\u00adcen, the Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan city near\u00adest out first des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion in Romania.<\/span><\/p>\n

The train left twen\u00adty min\u00adutes late, which wor\u00adried us, because there was only a fif\u00adteen minute lay\u00adover for our con\u00adnec\u00adtion at Szol\u00adnok. The con\u00adduc\u00adtors assured us that there was noth\u00ading to wor\u00adry about. We slept fit\u00adful\u00adly on the train, accom\u00adpa\u00adnied part of the way by a stu\u00addent from Liberec return\u00ading to school in Brno. When dawn broke, we had already passed Budapest, and were cruis\u00ading across the Great Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan Plain (also known as the Alf\u00f6ld, or Pan\u00adnon\u00adian Plain). It was this large, flat region, in the mid\u00addle part of the Danube water\u00adshed, that had attract\u00aded the Asian horse\u00admen who brought the non-Indo-Euro\u00adpean Mag\u00adyar lan\u00adguage into the heart of Europe. A thou\u00adsand years ago, it was a grass prairie, per\u00adfect for rais\u00ading hors\u00ades. Today, it\u2019s dense\u00adly farmed. Its first record\u00aded inhab\u00adi\u00adtants were known to the Romans as the Pan\u00adnon\u00adii<\/em>, and were prob\u00ada\u00adbly relat\u00aded to the Illyr\u00adi\u00adans and Dacians. But from the 4th cen\u00adtu\u00adry BC<\/span>, they were grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly dis\u00adplaced by var\u00adi\u00adous Celtic tribes. In Roman times, the west\u00adern half of the plain was the province of Pan\u00adnon\u00adia, while the east\u00adern half remained out\u00adside the empire. When the West\u00adern Roman Empire dis\u00adin\u00adte\u00adgrat\u00aded in the 5th Cen\u00adtu\u00adry AD<\/span>, the region became the heart of Atti\u00adla the Hun\u2019s brief empire in Europe. The Huns were a Turko-Mon\u00adgo\u00adlian tribe from the far east, but their hordes were com\u00adposed of a patch\u00adwork of Asian and Euro\u00adpean bar\u00adbar\u00adians, includ\u00ading Slav\u00adic and Ger\u00adman\u00adic tribes. After Atti\u00adla, the region fell under the con\u00adtrol of the Ger\u00adman\u00adic Ostro\u00adgoths, Lom\u00adbards and Gepids, then the by the Turko-Mon\u00adgo\u00adlian Avars. The Avars built a king\u00addom, the Avar Khanate, that last\u00aded for two cen\u00adturies, and is, in my opin\u00adion, under\u00adstud\u00adied and under\u00adrat\u00aded in sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance. Its dis\u00adin\u00adte\u00adgra\u00adtion in the 9th cen\u00adtu\u00adry was fol\u00adlowed by the inva\u00adsion of yet anoth\u00ader Asian tribe, the Mag\u00adyars (Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adans). All these peo\u00adple were mount\u00aded war\u00adriors, whose cul\u00adture and econ\u00ado\u00admy focused on the rais\u00ading of hors\u00ades. We can assume that, despite these suc\u00adces\u00adsive inva\u00adsions, there was a con\u00adti\u00adnu\u00adity of set\u00adtled agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal life, along the river\u00adbanks, that remained from Illyr\u00adi\u00adan and Celtic times, upon which these var\u00adi\u00adous mount\u00aded war\u00adriors imposed their rule and languages.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mod\u00adern peo\u00adple of Hun\u00adgary speak Mag\u00adyar, which is unre\u00adlat\u00aded to most of the lan\u00adguages of Europe, except for Finnish and Eston\u00adian, with which it has a very remote con\u00adnec\u00adtion. The lan\u00adguages clos\u00adest to Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan are Khan\u00adty and Man\u00adsi, spo\u00adken by two very small trib\u00adal peo\u00adples along the Ob riv\u00ader in Siberia. Most Euro\u00adpeans find Mag\u00adyar very dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to learn, and it sounds quite bizarre to some\u00adone who hears it for the first time. Isaac and I could not resist the temp\u00adta\u00adtion to call it \u201cKlin\u00adgon\u201c. It con\u00adtains no rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable com\u00adpo\u00adnents or par\u00adal\u00adlels with more famil\u00adiar lan\u00adguages, so that you will not see any\u00adthing in Nag yon \u00f6r\u00fcl\u00f6k, hogy megimer\u00adhetem<\/em> (I\u2019m glad to meet you), that will give you any clues to work with. In most of Europe, you can make a good guess at the mean\u00ading of a sign in a pub\u00adlic place, even if you don\u2019t speak the lan\u00adguage. Not so in Hungary.<\/span><\/p>\n

The train con\u00adtin\u00adued to fall behind sched\u00adule, and despite the assur\u00adances we had been giv\u00aden, we missed the con\u00adnect\u00ading train to Debre\u00adcen. For\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, it was only an hour wait until the next one. We arrived in Debre\u00adcen around sup\u00adper\u00adtime. We did not see much of this city, since we were eager to find a bus that would take us clos\u00ader to Roma\u00adnia. We stayed on the south side, between the rail and bus sta\u00adtions, and did not see the cen\u00adter. Debre\u00adcen was almost com\u00adplete\u00adly destroyed in World War II<\/span>, so most of the build\u00adings we saw were from the Com\u00admu\u00adnist era. The streets in that part looked dirty and the build\u00adings still in bad repair. We were prob\u00ada\u00adbly in the least appeal\u00ading part of town. Debre\u00adcen is the sec\u00adond city of Hun\u00adgary, and its uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty is a major research centre<\/span><\/p>\n

The first place that we were deter\u00admined to vis\u00adit was the Tran\u00adsyl\u00advan\u00adian vil\u00adlage of \u00c9rmi\u00adh\u00e1\u00adly\u00adfal\u00adva (in Roman\u00adian, Valea lui Mihai), the birth\u00adplace of Isaac\u2019s grand\u00adfa\u00adther. Inquiries at the bus sta\u00adtion informed us that the clos\u00adest we could get to it, by pub\u00adlic trans\u00adporta\u00adtion, was the Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan vil\u00adlage of Ny\u00edr\u00e1br\u00e1ni. After that, we would have to go on foot a few kilo\u00adme\u00adters, cross the bor\u00adder, and then go anoth\u00ader thir\u00adty or so kilo\u00adme\u00adters into Romania.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Definitely<\/a>

Def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly a minor bor\u00adder crossing.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

We got of the bus at the road\u00ad\u2019s clos\u00adest approach to the bor\u00adder. From local cit\u00adi\u00adzens, we got some direc\u00adtions, using a com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of ges\u00adtures and hasty read\u00adings from a Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan phrase\u00adbook. We walked down a nar\u00adrow coun\u00adtry road, which rapid\u00adly dete\u00adri\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded into a dirt road, then a car track, then final\u00adly a grassy trail wind\u00ading around a marsh. But ulti\u00admate\u00adly, it rejoined a bet\u00adter road, and, after a bit of trudg\u00ading, we came up to the bor\u00adder cross\u00ading. It was a pret\u00adty sleepy one. The bored-look\u00ading bor\u00adder guards took their time exam\u00adin\u00ading our pass\u00adports. Isaac holds dual cit\u00adi\u00adzen\u00adship in Cana\u00adda and the U.K., and is trav\u00adel\u00ading on his British pass\u00adport. With Roma\u00adnia hav\u00ading entered the Euro\u00adpean Union last Christ\u00admas, his bona fides<\/em> were not in ques\u00adtion. But they took some time copy\u00ading down infor\u00adma\u00adtion from my Cana\u00addi\u00adan pass\u00adport, mus\u00ading over the com\u00adput\u00ader, and mak\u00ading phone calls. But we were let in. A dog took a shine to us, and trailed us down the road, as we searched for a place to start hitching.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read\u00aders of this blog might find it con\u00adfus\u00ading that some\u00adtimes I refer to Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia and some\u00adtimes to Roma\u00adnia. We had entered the coun\u00adtry of Roma\u00adnia, of which Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia is a spe\u00adcif\u00adic region. Roma\u00adnia has three main geo\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal divi\u00adsions: Wal\u00adlachia in the south, Mol\u00addavia in the north\u00adeast, and Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia in the north\u00adwest. Wal\u00adlachia is flat coun\u00adtry, cen\u00adtered on the low\u00ader Danube, and its pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion is over\u00adwhelm\u00ading\u00adly eth\u00adnic Roman\u00adian. Mol\u00addavia (or Moldo\u00adva) is also low\u00adland, and Roman\u00adian-speak\u00ading, and is cul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adly and lin\u00adguis\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly con\u00adtigu\u00adous to the post-sovi\u00adet Repub\u00adlic of Moldo\u00adva. Before World War I, these two regions formed the King\u00addom of Roma\u00adnia, which had begun as a prin\u00adci\u00adpal\u00adi\u00adty of the Turk\u00adish Ottoman Empire. The very dif\u00adfer\u00adent, and rugged\u00adly moun\u00adtain\u00adous region of Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia had, for cen\u00adturies before that, been part of the multi\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Aus\u00adtro-Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan Empire. Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia had been a prin\u00adci\u00adpal\u00adi\u00adty with\u00adin the Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan King\u00addom, which in turn was one of the crowns held by the Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading Haps\u00adburg fam\u00adi\u00adly. In Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia itself, there is a diverse pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion of Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adans, Szekels (an eth\u00adnic group sim\u00adi\u00adlar to, though dis\u00adtinct from Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adans), \u201cSax\u00adons\u201c, who speak a num\u00adber of dif\u00adfer\u00adent Ger\u00adman dialects, and Roma\u00adni\u00adans. Jews, Gyp\u00adsies (Roma), Serbs, Slo\u00advaks, and Ruthe\u00adni\u00adans have also formed sub\u00adstan\u00adtial minori\u00adties at var\u00adi\u00adous times. These groups have allied with or ranged against each oth\u00ader in intri\u00adcate pat\u00adterns over the cen\u00adturies, and his\u00adto\u00adries of Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia tend to be deeply biased accord\u00ading to the eth\u00adnic affil\u00adi\u00ada\u00adtion or sym\u00adphathy of the writer. The coun\u00adtry is moun\u00adtain\u00adous, and much of it is heav\u00adi\u00adly forest\u00aded. We get the name Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia from medieval Latin: it is \u201cthe Land Beyond the Woods\u201c. This is also the mean\u00ading of the Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan name for it, Erd\u00e9\u00adly, derived from Erd\u0151-elve. In Ger\u00adman, the coun\u00adtry is known as Sieben\u00adb\u00fcr\u00adgen means (\u201csev\u00aden cities\u201d) after the sev\u00aden his\u00adtoric Sax\u00adon towns in the region. After the First World War, when the old Aus\u00adtro-Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan Empire was dis\u00adman\u00adtled, Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia was made a province of Roma\u00adnia. Roma\u00adni\u00adans now form the largest eth\u00adnic group in the region, with Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adans in sec\u00adond place.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the vil\u00adlage of \u00c9rmih\u00e1lyfalva\/Valea lui Mihai is vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly %100 Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan-speak\u00ading. There is a vis\u00adi\u00adble minor\u00adi\u00adty of Roma, but they speak Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan too. Before World War II<\/span>, the Jew\u00adish pres\u00adence was very strong, as tes\u00adti\u00adfied by a large syn\u00ada\u00adgogue, now pad\u00adlocked and decay\u00ading. Almost all the vil\u00adlage\u2019s Jews per\u00adished in Auschwitz.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our mis\u00ader\u00adable hitch-hik\u00ading expe\u00adri\u00adence in Czech Repub\u00adlic was not repeat\u00aded. We got a ride almost instant\u00adly after stick\u00ading out our thumbs. A Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan \u2014 a dirt-bike enthu\u00adsi\u00adast on an out\u00ading \u2014 gave us a lift direct\u00adly to the vil\u00adlage. Isaac\u2019s rel\u00ada\u00adtives had warned him that the fur\u00adther east we went, the more the land\u00adscape would seem to slip back in time. This was true. East\u00adern Hun\u00adgary seemed to have more rur\u00adal pover\u00adty than the more pop\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded west, and horse-carts had stat\u00aded to appear on the road at Ny\u00edr\u00e1br\u00e1ni. Once we crossed into Roman\u00adian ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry, they became com\u00admon\u00adplace, and the signs of pover\u00adty increased dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly. How\u00adev\u00ader, there were some mod\u00adern struc\u00adtures scat\u00adtered about, and it was obvi\u00adous that some\u00adone had been pump\u00ading some mon\u00adey into the vil\u00adlage square.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Isaac<\/a>

Isaac in front of the aban\u00addoned syn\u00ada\u00adgogue where his grand\u00adfa\u00adther prob\u00ada\u00adbly had his Bar Mitzvah.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

We walked around, look\u00ading for the sights on Isaac\u2019s list. Chief of these was the Jew\u00adish Ceme\u00adtery. But it elud\u00aded us for awhile. We could not seem to find it even with the help of a map. Repeat\u00ading the Hun\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adan words for \u201cceme\u00adtery\u201c and \u201cJew\u201c to all and sundry even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly got a reac\u00adtion from a ragged-look\u00ading Roma lady, who led us to the entrance, and begged for some mon\u00adey. It proved to be hid\u00adden away in a cor\u00adner near an immense Chris\u00adt\u00adian ceme\u00adtery, which had a dis\u00adtinct\u00adly creepy atmos\u00adphere. It seemed far too huge for such a small set\u00adtle\u00adment, and it occu\u00adpied a series of lit\u00adtle hills. Small dirt roads and trails wound their way among the tomb\u00adstones. The Jew\u00adish ceme\u00adtery was fenced off and pad\u00adlocked shut. Owls hoot\u00aded endlessly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-10<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-10<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

An exam\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion of the ter\u00adrain from satel\u00adlite pho\u00adtos we obtained at an inter\u00adnet caf\u00e9 showed that we would have to trudge way out of town to reach some for\u00adest to camp in, so we decid\u00aded to put up at a panzion<\/em>. A young boy named J\u00e1nos, rid\u00ading a bicy\u00adcle, showed us the way to one, which proved to be very clean and friendly.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our attempt to hitch-hike out of Prague was a dis\u00adas\u00adter. We had select\u00aded a spot, with Fil\u00adip\u2019s advice, which by the log\u00adic of hitch\u00ading should have been fine. How\u00adev\u00ader, it turned out to be torn up with con\u00adstruc\u00adtion. The only \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9110,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions\/9110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}