This region covers
more than half of Hungary and contains thousands of acres of vineyards,
orchards and farmland. Kecskemét, 85km (53
miles) southeast of Budapest, is the home town of the composer Zoltán
Kodály. Although an industrial town in many respects,
there is still an artists’ colony and a centre for folk music
located there. It also has some fine examples of peasant architecture
and of crafts in the Native Artists and Katona Jozsef Museum.
Outside the town the Kiskunság National Park
preserves parts of the Danube Tisza Floodplain
of Central Hungary in 7 disconnected areas including swamps, alkali
plateaus and lakes. The famous Bugac Puszta stretches out here as
well.
Szeged is the economic and cultural
centre of this region, housing Hungary’s finest Greek Orthodox
(Serbian) church. Baja is a small, picturesque
town on the banks of both the Danube and Sugovica
rivers with many small islands, old churches and an artists’
colony. To the east is the Hortobágy National
Park, the ‘Hungarian Puszta’, the alkali
plains which begin the Asian steppes. |
