I have fond memories of my first visit in Hungary in 2015, and I’m happy to have visited the country again in September 2023 with my husband. Crossing the border from Serbia went fine, although for the first time in the entire roadtrip, we were asked to get off the car so the staff could inspect it. Apparently, you can drive from one end of Hungary to another in a day. The trip actually took only 5.5 hours. We checked out the country’s smallest zoo in Kecskemét, where a funny tiger was playing with a ball in a pond. I could watch it for hours! And then, we scoured the city for the yummiest pizza, and retired in a nice hotel in a peaceful setting.

Here’s the route for the entire roadtrip, c/o Google Maps:

We had a very good stay at Hotel Vir in Velika Plana, although it wasn’t fault-less. We left them this review: “Kind staff, restaurant served good dinner, laid-back ambiance. The aircon was a big plus! Free parking. We had a room on the 2nd floor, the bathroom reeked with bad smell from the drainage. It was horrible. Washing it down helped for a few minutes. Perfume spray helped. The bed was big, but was a bit overused. Nice view of roofs from the window.” I made sure to take some pictures of the view from the window, of course! As breakfast was not included, we left at 7:20 and at 8 am, we stopped by a gasoline station to get breakfast. The kind cashier gave me a kitkat bar – we had no idea why, but I was thankful and it left a kind impression on Serbians. I have had some colleagues from Serbia, and they were kind and proud of their country, as they have reason to do so.

Driving on, we noticed that some expressways and tunnels in Serbia were probably donated, sponsored, or maybe just built, by China. Or perhaps, it was paid advertisement for China? When we were in Montenegro, we also read an article about the small country being in high debt to China for building a highway that passes through the country and onwards to Serbia. There was also a scandal of the highway that leads nowhere from a couple of years ago. China does build roadways, and they make sure that people know it by putting titles in Chinese characters.

As usual, we decided to avoid the capital city and its traffic jams. We just stopped by a gas station for a stretch, and a glimpse of a residential area in Belgrade from afar:

We reached the border to Hungary at 10:30 am. We were entering the Schengen zone, but still, we were surprised by the long queues. Of all the border crossings during this trip, this was the only one that asked us to get out of the car so they could inspect it. The two men were nice though. They just asked a bunch of questions, like where we were, which countries we visited, and what we did. They seemed surprised that we took a Norwegian-plated car across several countries. (And impressively made the journey more than halfway without any trouble).

At 12 noon, we reached Kecskemét, the eight largest city in Hungary. It has a population of about 100, 000 (as of 2001), and the majority are Hungarians (95%) (Source: wikipedia). I remember the day to be very HOT! We were sweating, and the air humid and smelling of ground soil. Like parched. It has become a tradition for us to visit a zoo, or a botanical garden, or both, during our travels. So, we stopped by the Kecskemét Zoo, which is, as mentioned on the title, the smallest one in the country.

The zoo originally housed native domestic and wild Hungarian animals. Later on, they’ve imported animals from other countries as well. They’ve got reptiles, birds, monkeys, herbivores, and predators. It has a bird hospital for injured animals, and states on its website that they support protection, enhancement and enrichement of natural wildlife. More about the zoo here, its visiting hours and ticket prices: http://www.zookecskemet.hu/bemutatkozas/.

It is a small zoo, so it’s probably best to lower the expectations when visiting. However, I felt uneasy with the status of some of the cages. We were also saddened by the donkey with an eye infection (photo above). We do hope that it’s getting treatment for that. Otherwise, the animals seemed okay, and they were happy to see visitors. The herbivores approached us, wanting to be petted or fed. It was also possible to enter the goat/sheep area for petting.

The best part of the zoo was the tiger den. The tigers seemed playful, a couple basking in the sun, while two were playing with a ball in a pond. I could watch the wild cat for hours! It made us miss our kitts, who were, hoepfully, having a cozy time in the cat hotel while we were away.

I do not condone the caging and maltreatment of animals. But I understand the need to learn about them and wildlife conservation, which can be done through wildlife parks such as the one in Kecskemét. Another “but”: if the economy goes wild, I hope the owners will be responsible enough to give the zoo up.

Starving and so ready for a late lunch/early dinner, we scoured the city for the best pizza, and I think we found it. It was a small pizza place called Stefano Pizza, with a couple of waiting tables, but it has very good reviews on Google. We ordered a pepperoni pizza and enjoyed it together! We also got to see some beautiful buildings and parks in the city.

Satisfied with the how the day went, we drove to our accommodation for the night, the Land-Plan Hotel in Töltéstava, a small village in the Győr-Moson-Sopron County. We reached the place at around 5pm, so it was perfect. We didn’t do much the rest of the evening but enjoyed the nice room to ourselves, planning for the next day.

So, this is how Day 10 went. Amazing 🙂 I’m excited to continue documenting the rest of the the roadtrip in September. ALL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS ON THIS BLOG ARE MINE. Cheers! 🙂 #spreadloveandpositivevibes