Christmas greetings from Hodmezovasarhely

Hodmezovasarhely is getting into the spirit of the season.
The streets in the centre and Kossuth square are lit with hundreds of lights. It can be enjoyed by the customers at the Christmas fair and the lots of children and adults who enjoy the ice rink in front of the Town Hall, which is free to use!

Hodmezovasarhely at night

There're only two days until Christmas and with these Hungarian folk songs we would like to wish you a very happy Christmas with a very local greeting from five students of Liszt Ferenc Primary school in Hodmezovasarhely. Hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Hodmezovasarhely – Annual Autumn Exhibition

Hodmezovasarhely Alfoldi Gallery

Last Sunday was the opening of the 58th Annual Autumn Exhibition in Hodmezovasarhely as the main attraction of Autumn Weeks of Hodmezovasarhely.

It is such a unique exhibition in Hungary as it is the only one that has been organised since 1954. You can see the works of art of contemporary atrists who are connected to Hodmezovasarhely or the previous exhibitions in a way. 

The artists are invited to send their pieces of art to the exhibition and only the carefully selected paintings, sculptures and other pieces can be seen by the public.

Every year one artist gets the Tornyai plaquette, a prize named after the famous painter, Janos Tornyai, to recognise their outstanding work and talent but an artist can get this acknowledgement only once in their lifetime. 

This year Peter Kovacs, graphic artist got the plaquette. Since the second exhibition there has been a catalogue of the pieces which you can buy int he museum.

The exhibition can be seen in Alfoldi Gallery in Kossuth square, Hodmezovasarhely, next to the Town Hall. It is open every day except Monday between 8th October and 4th December. Opening hours  10.00 a.m. – 18.00 p.m.

My two favourite pieces of art from the exhibition

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Tibor Erdélyi - Képviselők

Hodstock Festival Hodmezovasarhely

This weekend on 9th and 10th September Hodstock festival will be organised in Hodmezovasarhely, Szechenyi square.
It is the unofficial underground festival in Hungary with more than 26 groups and bands. It is not only a festival where you can listen to underground music it is also a talent show where unknown groups can show their music. It can be very exciting to listen to young musicians and their fresh music.
There will be two tribute concerts, the first on Friday and the second on Saturday.
On Friday you can see Monkey Ranch Foo Fighters Tribute and the other is Motörazor with a Motörhead tribute. Both concerts starts at 7 p.m.
On Friday you can also see Crazy Blues Band, Szabo Eszter and Kontor Tamas, iNSANE, Strategia and Heavy.
Saturday starts with the already mentioned Motörazor concert and after them GrimaszK, FISH!, VL45, Blind Myself and Living Dead Army on the big stage. Starting at 4 p.m. there will be the talent show on the small stage with lots of intriguing bands and music.
There will be a Vatafaka concert and other programmes. Good food, lots of beer come and enjoy a weekend in Hodmezovasarhely!

Best drum performance from Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary

Weekend of sister towns in Hodmezovasarhely

This weekend there will be an interesting festival in Hodmezovasarhely called The Festival of Towns. Hodmezovasarhely  invited its sister towns to show their culture to one another and also to discuss different issues that all these towns have to face. The opening of the festival is on 24th June. In the morning there will be a conference about education in Hotel Ginkgo. It will be opened by Peter Koszo, deputy mayor of Hodmezovasarhely and there will be seven lectures on the topic. The actual opening ceremony is in the afternoon at two o clock by Janos Lazar, the mayor of Hodmezovasarhely in Kossuth square. At 2:30 p.m. there will be the first part of the folk dance gala. There will be dance groups from Arad, Bereck, Kelme, Nagybanya, Torda and Kankalin folk dance group from Hodmezovasarhely, of course. At 3:00 p.m. there will be another conference about renewable energies in Ginkgo Sas hotel. In the evening after 7 p.m. two groups are going to play in Kossuth square, first the Sheket group that uses traditional Hungarian music to create modern music and after that Group n Swing which is a swing and boogie woogie show group.

The next day, Saturday starts off with a conference about the future of Europe in the Town Hall at 10 a.m.  From 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. there will be a hair and beauty competition in Fekete Sas and after that at 5 p.m. Hajas Laszlo, a famous Hungarian hairdresser, is making a show there. In the morning at 10 a.m. children can see a puppet show in Kossuth square and after that they can make puppets in a workshop. At 11 a.m. people can see clowns balancing with very high stilts. At 3 p.m. there is the second part of the folk dance gala with groups from Hechingen, Vidin, Zgierz and Arendas folk group from Hodmezovasarhely. At the same time those who like sports can visit the swimming pool where you can support your favourite team from the sister towns at the International Junior Swimming Competition. In the evening the clowns return for a spectacular parade with fire jugglers. After that at 10 p.m. you can listen to Bajnokok reggelije concert – they play Hungarian and foreign pop, rock and underground music. On Sunday there are aerobic, hip-hop and zumba shows between 10a.m. and 12 a.m.

From Friday afternoon until Sunday noon there will be a fair where you can see and buy local craftsmen products from Hodmezovasarhely and the sister towns. Come to Hodmezovasarhely and have a great time with programmes from all over Europe!

Sheket Band

Hodmezovasarhely Photos

You're not going to get a lot to read. I took some photos of Hodmezovasarhely in spring. Enjoy our slow city!

On the right side of the photo you can see Fekete Sas or Black eagle which used to be the only hotel in Hodmezovasarhely. Nowadays it is a restaurant where you can have excellent lunch and in the other part there is a cafe where, if the weather is good, you can sit outside. Lovely coffee and tiramisu! On the other side of the picture there is a brick building. It used to be a casino for soldiers but now concerts are organised here for young people.

The northern part of Kossuth square

The first few buildings in Zrinyi street are Fekete Sas and Ginkgo Hotel on the right. If you go further this street you can find the hospital on the left. You can go to the end of it and you will find a farm where you can go horseriding. Outside Hodmezovasarhely if you go further up you will get to the Tisza backwater and you can stroll on the embankment. Be careful, in the evenings there can be lots of mosquitos.

Zrinyi street

Ide Hotel Gimkgo in Hodmezovasarhely the only four-star hotel. As the hotel is not very big the staff is very friendly and it is right in the middle of Hodmezovasarhely. Very good coffee and tea in the bar.

Ginkgo Hotel 

This is the fountain which you cannot see only the wet patches on the ground. It is always full of little children getting soaking wet in the water.

In front of Ginkgo

That's how slow Hodmezovasarhely is! No-one around.

Still in Zrinyi street

In front of the Town Hall you can see a bell on the left. It used to be in the tower but there was a fire in 1970 and the bell had to be taken down. My brother-in-laws father was among the people who put the bell to this place.

Town Hall and the bell

Still in Kossuth square but in the southern part you can see Alfoldi Gallery. In the hot summer if you want to cool yourself down visit this gallery and enjoy the paintings of local painters and other works from the region.

Alfoldi Gallery in the background

Not so slow here. On the left you can see people riding bikes. There are bicycle lanes all over Hodmezovasarhely making it a safer place for  locals and tourists as well.

Rapcsak Andras street

He could bring some more money to Hodmezovasarhely :)

Mercury on the roof of the bank in Kossuth square

Mainly pedestrian area in the middle of Hodmezovasarhely. There are lovely butiques and small shops where you can spend your money.

Szekfu street

Nepkert is a park and a playgroup just a few steps away from the Town Hall and next to the swimming pool. Take a walk there and enjoy some fresh air in the heart of Hodmezovasarhely.

On the way to Nepkert

http://www.hodmezovasarhely-hotels.aranyangol.hu/index.html

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