Part II Hungary + Croatia || Hungarian Countryside

We spent most of our time with our family in the surrounding area of Pécs. My family is from a very rural village called Versend. There are only a handful of streets and a few hundred people living there. A lot of the families have small backyard “farms”. Our family had horses, goats, pigeons, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.   It was incredible to see where my father grew up and spend time with family I never met! We were there for the family’s grape harvest, which was so cool to be a part of.  We harvested their grapes, drank their wine (and moonshine!), ate homemade comfort food and walked around the village.

One afternoon we were told we’d be heading to the village over, Babarc, for their harvest festival.  This was a highlight of our trip and pretty unexpected. My cousin has the only horse in carriage in the area so he was planned to lead the parade. We flew through the vineyards and corn fields on the carriage and arrived to this small village. The town square was filled with everyone who lived there and the mayor greeted us with wine.  The band began to play and we went and lead the parade. The festival was filled with homemade pastries and breads, each family’s wine, music and dancing. The newly engaged couple of the village was also being celebrated. They wore traditional Hungarian clothing and there was a speech honoring their engagement (I didn’t understand a word of it, but we got the gist).

We also spent a few days visiting an old mining city Komlo, the well known wine town Villány,  a castle in Siklós, and of course more wine at our family’s winery along the Danube river in Mohács. 

Fulemule Csarda - authentic Hungarian restaurant in wine country
Siklos Castle

Part I Hungary + Croatia || Pecs, Hungary

Hungary has always been this faraway place that my father always told us about. He was born in Hungary, escaped communism as a teen, and eventually moved to America in the 70’s. I’ve only really known our family that also came to the U.S. We grew up hearing stories about his small farm village and all the family we never met. Finally, for my 30^th birthday we were able to connect to our roots for the first time! My father, brother, husband and I packed our bags for a 2 week visit. First stop, the city of Pécs. An absolutely beautiful city filled with traditional Hungarian culture. This southern area of Hungary is considered their wine region. We stayed at the adorable hotel, Bagolyvar, a hotel, restaurant and vineyard. It was incredible waking up every morning in the vineyard with panoramic views of the city.

More from this trip coming to the blog tomorrow! Stay tuned xx, J

Pecs Cathedral

Bagolyvar Restaurant
Szechenyi Ter

westchester newborn photographer // farm family session