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lisa_goldsteinThe next day we go to Palanok Castle in Munkacs.
It turns out to be one of the best-preserved castles in Europe, and also the place from which Ferenc Rakoczi II launched an uprising against the Habsburgs. Rakoczi is a famous Hungarian hero, but I only knew the name because of the Count St. Germain, who'd claimed to be Ferenc’s son. And I only knew about him because he’d said he was immortal, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote a series of books where he was a vampire. With all that in mind it was pretty strange to read, in a pamphlet about the castle, that Ferenc II had said, “If the Military Art, God, and Nature are on my side, then cannons cannot frighten me, and if the stars favor me, I will live for centuries.”
I’d had no idea that Munkacs had played such an important role in history. After this visit I feel more connected to the region; my ancestors must have had some part in all of this, however small.
We’d asked at the Eurasia for other good restaurants, and they’d direct us across the street to the most popular one in Munkacs, called Bograch. We couldn’t get in the day before so we made a reservation, and today we go there to eat. It has loud live music and a crowded dance floor, and we see people doing old-fashioned dances I don’t even know the names of, and the food is very good. I’d seen people dancing like this in Little Odessa in New York, but I don’t know if they do that any more.
It turns out to be one of the best-preserved castles in Europe, and also the place from which Ferenc Rakoczi II launched an uprising against the Habsburgs. Rakoczi is a famous Hungarian hero, but I only knew the name because of the Count St. Germain, who'd claimed to be Ferenc’s son. And I only knew about him because he’d said he was immortal, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote a series of books where he was a vampire. With all that in mind it was pretty strange to read, in a pamphlet about the castle, that Ferenc II had said, “If the Military Art, God, and Nature are on my side, then cannons cannot frighten me, and if the stars favor me, I will live for centuries.”
I’d had no idea that Munkacs had played such an important role in history. After this visit I feel more connected to the region; my ancestors must have had some part in all of this, however small.
We’d asked at the Eurasia for other good restaurants, and they’d direct us across the street to the most popular one in Munkacs, called Bograch. We couldn’t get in the day before so we made a reservation, and today we go there to eat. It has loud live music and a crowded dance floor, and we see people doing old-fashioned dances I don’t even know the names of, and the food is very good. I’d seen people dancing like this in Little Odessa in New York, but I don’t know if they do that any more.
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