Spring Into the East
This statue is one of many hunks of outdated propaganda, which fill the Communist statue museum outside Budapest.
By Rick Steves
Midway through our Eastern Europe tour, rather than linger over another glass of the local "bull's blood wine," I left my wife, two co-guides, and 24 tour members, and went in search of a cybercafé.
Strolling through the small Hungarian town of Eger, I passed Europe's most northern minaret and stopped under a floodlit monument depicting warrior heroes. Looking into their intense eyes, I thought, "Hmm, they look as fierce as the Hungarian language sounds." The cybercafé was packed. Many kids here don't own computers so it's standing room only at the neighborhood computer club. Writing my email, I was surrounded by grade-schoolers playing the same games my teenager plays — a cacaphony of explosions and chirpy computer game tunes.
This is my lasting impression of today's Hungary: While raging Magyar warriors crush 16th century Turks out on the main square, their pre-teen descendants battle space-age bad guys indoors. It's as if another group of villains — the Soviets — never existed.
Earlier that day, we lunched at a village school, and enjoyed a Q&A session with the middle-schoolers. It took a while to dawn on our gang of Cold War Baby Boomers that these kids have no memory of communism! To them, Hungary is just a developing country and a proud new member of the European Union. The shift from one generation to the next has been dramatic. While their grandparents may miss the cradle-to-grave "security" of the communist era, their parents seem enthusiastic about capitalism.
Czech, Polish, and Hungarian markets are bustling. Here in Eger, it's a farmers' festival of cabbage, peppers and radishes: muted colors but plenty of food.
Meals, while unspectacular, are hearty and cost only about three dollars. Top taste treats: the mushroom soup… and the beer.
Except for Prague, there are few tourist crowds in the East. Traffic is sparse. The cities are quiet. The sound of birds — not cars — wakes me up.
After traveling in Western Europe, the bureaucratic border crossings of the East feel archaic. Unsmiling police gather our passports, stamp them, and dole them back out. Our Slovenian bus driver knows just how and when to speed the process with bottles of beer and a little cash. It's a retro ritual that reminds us Eastern Europe still has some catching up to do.
In Eastern Germany, Dresden — unfortunate site of the devastating World War II firestorm — has rebuilt its magnificent Protestant cathedral, the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). The reconstruction took 13 years and cost more than €100 million, 90 percent of which came from donors around the world. The year 2005 saw the rebuilt church's grand opening — just in time for the city's 800th anniversary in 2006.
Life is good in Eastern Europe. I heard that in Poland, locals were still taking in their windshield wipers at night. Not true. Rather than fear, there's hope in the air. The buxom babushki ladies are still collecting coins at the public toilets. But now they actually smile.
For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' Eastern Europe guidebook — or join us on one of our free-spirited Europe tours!