Pécs is now officially Capital!!

Yes, and it was on the telly, very impressive opening program.
http://english.sina.com/life/p/2010/0110/298872.html
The prime minister said, this year not only Budapest, but Pécs
is also the Capital of Hungary, as well as the Cultural Capital of Europe. So there!

I honestly'll do the picture of the new green-house-ish bit
Alan and Martin made, I also forgot to report the grande work
of clearing the polytunnel, taking off the old plastic, so it is ready now for the brand-new one which was bought, and delivered by the kind help of Dodi.
Anna's smaller pigs now have gone to piggy paradise, and I am still waiting for a share of piggy meat, now that the freezer has been duly cleaned and re-packed which resulted a lot of space in it, and some idea about its contents... so that's where all the carrots were, at the very bottom!
I also forgot to mention, that we had a guest over xmas - she arrived on the 23rd of December and had partaken in most of the festivities, she was of the best type - she paid -and- she insisted helping with the dishes, even did with Alan some outside work, and was enthusiastic to do lots of searches about goat fecundity issues...
She left on Saturday, she is staying in Pecs now, she needs some medical help, she has some complicated issues, let's hope all turn out to be ok, best wishes.
We still feel a bit dozy and lazy, and why not. Alan manages to do a few jobs a day - fixed the light in the cellar and in the small room in the guest house.
Also he started on this new project - of which the first instalment follows below!


(Alan:)
It occurred to me that a good excuse for visiting all the bars, restaurants and places of ill repute in Pecs would be to do a guide for visitors, after all it is a European Capital of Culture for 2010.
In consequence, I'm over the year going to put together a totally unscientific and personally biased account of what I think is good and what I think is not.

A good tip if your on a budget is to look for boards outside restaurants, (etterem). These advertise set meals, usually a soup and a main course. Typical price ranges from 600huf (£2), to 900huf.

Number 1
If you were even contemplating going into either of Pecs's Golden Arches of doom, please don't. Hungary is justly famous for its food. Give the environment and your digestion a break, go somewhere real.

Number 2
The Murphy's Pub, Kiraly Utc.a Close to SzechenyiTer (Square)
OK its a fake English Pub, moderately convincing at that.
A little expensive, (by Hungarian standards)
In the summer I like to sit outside and drink the Pecsi Lager, (about 500huf for half a liter, just under a pint)
I've always enjoyed the food, good portions and well done. Average price about six to nine pounds for a main course. I recently had a chicken pörkölt (stew) which was excellent). However Eva had a spicy chicken salad which she said wasn't spicy and Martin had Gypsy steak, (cigány pecsenye) which he said was not sufficiently garlicky. The chips where good though.
They tend towards panüEuropean cuisine but the Hungarian section, though small, I like.
The service is pretty good, they speak English and German to supplement your smattering of Hungarian.

Rating: 5 out of ten as my bench mark.

(hm - maybe we should accompany these write-ups with pictures...)