Greek Village in Hungary in Debt; Comparison with Greece Unwarranted, Residents Say
Representatives of a small Hungarian community settled by Communist Greek refugees in the 1950s believe it is unfair to characterize their situation as a microcosm of cash-strapped Aegean nation.
Nevertheless, Beloiannisz, a village of some 1,200 residents an hour’s drive south of Budapest, has found itself in arrears and in need of a loan, according to a report on Hungarian news portal Origo.
Villagers also told Origo that, in their view, Europe was making a scapegoat out of Greece.
The village was established in the 1950s by Greeks fleeing their country’s civil war.
It was named after Nikos Beloyannis — Beloiannisz is the Hungarian spelling – a leader of the Greek Communist Party.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pay More for Budapest Dinner Than Most Hungarians Make in a Month
Hungarian tabloid Napi Asz is reporting that Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and two friends of Brangelina spent 100,000 forints ($500) on an evening meal at Budapest’s first restaurant to receive a Michelin star.
Now that amount may not seem a lot in New York, Paris and Tokyo gourmet dining circles, but it happens to exceed the monthly take-home salary of most Hungarians.
A fellow patron of the restaurant in question, Costes, told the tabloid that the Jolie-Pitts and guests ordered a six-course business menu in a sequestered section of the restaurant. The feast included lobster, turbot and gnocchi with artichokes – washed down with some of the finest wines from the region.
It used to be the best dining experiences in Hungary were not the ones found in restaurants but those that resulted from invitations to eat at the home of a Hungarian friend or acquaintance.
How times have changed.
Sausage Festival Promotes Itself with Online Pig Beauty Contest
Vote for me!
Apologies to our loyal reader(s) if we have been a bit slow in updating over the past few days. The fact is we have become distracted by the veritable plethora of porcine comeliness found on the website of the Csaba Sausage Festival.
The annual carnivore celebration in the southeast Hungarian town of Bekescsaba, a two-and-a-half hour train ride from Budapest’s Keleti Train Station, is compiling a tally of Facebook Likes to determine which stunning swine will be the official model for the 2012 festival. You can place your vote here.
So far a gorgeous young pig named Beno is in the lead, with 142 Likes as of this writing. But it is still early.
Bekescsaba is well known throughout Central Europe for its sausage — csabai kolbasz. The festival has been a regular mid-autumn event since 1996. The 2010 festival attracted over 100,000 visitors.
The 2011 Csaba Sausage Festival will take place October 28-31.
New Hungarian Sport Promises Lots of Contestants in Skimpy Swimming Attire
Despite living in a land-locked country that is home to but a few lakes and rivers, Hungarians make the most of any opportunity in which they are in the water; Hungary is a consistent gold-medal threat in such Olympic events as swimming, water polo, canoeing and kayaking.
Now headball, a new Magyar sport, is making … um … waves. The rules of headball closely resemble those of soccer. Teams are made up of three players each, two fielders and a goalie, that try to shoot a beach ball into the opposing goal using their noggins. Matches are held within an enclosed 15×5-meter floating playing area.
Organizers hope headball, which is played in two seven-minute halves, will garner the sort of grassroots following that, in the late 1970s, propelled the popularity of another waterside sport, beach volleyball, and eventually turned it not only into a 24-hour-sports-channel favorite but an Olympic event as well.
Impromptu and informal versions of headball have been played at Lake Balaton, the country’s largest body of water, every summer for decades. In 2010 a group of Budapesters decided to make it an official sport, complete with its own organization, the MFLSZ or Hungarian Headball Association. And on August 19, 2011 Budapest played host to the first annual Headball Cup.
Still, to the casual observer, ie, a fellow like myself who breaks into a sweat during a game of pool, there seems to be a don’t-try this-at-home element to headball. Observing the video above, one cannot help but think there is a high likelihood — with so many heads moving this way and that in a relatively small space — that one or two might bang into each other every once in a while.
How Can I Get Paid in Swiss Francs?
If only I had taken that job as King of Switzerland. I would be now be getting paid in the paper currency that seems to hold the most value these days.
The power of the Swiss franc is so great that it has managed to hold an entire nations — nations which are not called Switzerland — under its spell.
In Hungary, for example, where, for some mysterious reason, the majority of home loans in the Noughties were made out in CHF, great swings in the Swiss currency garner more coverage in the Hungarian press than they do in Switzerland — particularly when the franc is heading upwards, which seems to be the only direction it has been headed recently.
Update: Just as these lines are being typed, the Swiss National Bank has decided to take measures to weaken the franc.
