Our last trip was to Romania in the latter part of August. The weather was perfect. We took the “M3” freeway to Debrecen, where we met István, HA0KA, who guided us to the road to Oradea (Nagyvárad) Romania. We left about 8:30 in the morning and got to Csíkszereda by about 9:00 PM. On the way there we stopped briefly in the village with a sign „Dózsa György”, which I didn’t know it existed. I rolled down the window for a lone passer by and said „good evening” in Hungarian, and asked if this village was indeed called Dózsa György ? She replied in pure Hungarian that „yes, it was” and we exchanged a few more words with her. She was very friendly and when I asked how they were doing, she answered: „just fine”... Although I talked with YO6OAF Béla and YO6BGT, Pista on 80 meters, there was no set date and time of our arrival. I turned on my handy-talkie and heard Lacy, on simplex, then Béla got to our location where we were waiting. He helped us find a nice hotel, where we stayed for three nights. Béla took us on a tour around „Székelyföld” (Secler’s Land) driving his diesel-powered VW station wagon. He also guided us with Pista, YO6BGT through Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc), center of the Hungarian community in Romania to see the old town, castle and the Hungarian Consulate. Along the way we’ve seen some high wired antennas over high-rise buildings and across city squares to the testimony of the ingenuity of the Transylvanian hams. We went to the „Békás szoros”, „Gyilkos Tó”, „the Thousand Year Border”, Gyimesbükk and Pista’s house for an open air dinner of “mitch” and baked bacon in the middle of the Carpathians. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Then Béla took us to Gyergyószentmiklós Csongi’s, YO6OBK QTH and his house, where we spent a fabulous evening. Csongi has a great antenna farm and a great station. His áfonya-brandy is even greater! The next day we met some of the members of the Csíkszereda radio Club: YO6FCV Peti, YO6BGT Pista, YO6PTM Matyó, YO6OEK Kálmán, Attila, Péter, Lacy és XYL, YO6OAF and others. It was a moving event for me, brought tears into my eyes. With the help of Pista, YO6BGT I was able to make contact with a Spanish station from the club station on SSB: ...de YO6KNE/AB6ZE... They even set up an Echolink connection for me with Lajos, HA3IW through a handheld, their repeater, and Internet (Echolink). Too bad it was a Monday and I didn’t have more time to meet more of the good people who had to go to work and couldn’t be there. Even so, some of them left from work for the short time they could to see and greet us! Next morning Béla showed us the way to Gyergyószentmiklós and we said fairwell. Thank you Béla! Once more we met Csongi, YO6OBK and his wife Klári to pick up a battery for my camera I left there two nights before. He invited us for a coffee and a drink for the ladies and then we said good-bye! We took the road to Segesvár (Sighishoara) to see the historical place where Petőfi fell in 1849. We went to see the Petőfi Museum and the Castle. We got a taste of the place, but one should spend more time if possible to „discover” the area. We came back to Hungary through Marosvásárhely (Tirgu Mures), where we stopped overnight, Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca) and Nagyvárad (Oradea). We had a very friendly host at the Ana Panzió, an old man, speaking pure Hungarian, telling us stories of all kinds. He even invited us for a brandy and poured a lot of it into our glasses... It was dark by the time we got there and there was no available room at the Transylvania Hotel for less than 230 lei (about $100.00), so I walked into a bakery (it said „Kenyér” - bread in Hungarian - above the store) and asked the young lady in Hungarian if she knew any motels in the area. Again, she answered in Hungarian, „yes, the ’Ana Panzió’, after the next light...” We had a great time in Romania, Transylvania and Székelyföld. Besides the beautiful scenery the land offers, the greatest pleasure was for me to talk with the people there in their mother tongue, in Hungarian, hundreds of miles from the border of Hungary, (it’s like another Hungary) to experience their genuine hospitality. I’d like to go back again!
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