Campers fill the island all week here, the sight of Europe’s largest music and cultural festival (Sziget means “island” in Hungarian, hence the name of the festival).

I can say that this is one of the best experiences I have had in Hungary. The 266 acre island pulsates with dozens of music stages and tents. I heard people compare the festival to Burning Man or the original Woodstock. (How some of them know, I am not sure, as much of the crowd is college-aged.)

The organization is incredibly well-run for an event of its size. I joked with the Sziget organizers that they should be running the country, since they fill a void of vision and leadership offered by Hungary’s Parliament. This year’s festival drew the largest crowd ever, an estimated 400,000 people participated, and no doubt many are already making their plans for next year. The festival’s website is in English here: http://www.sziget.hu/fesztival/?language=en

Train Tip: If arriving by train from abroad, a popular method, you will need to next get on the red metro to Batthyany ter. Here, you need to transfer onto a commuter train, a green train called HEV, five stops along the Danube river to Flitatorigat station. Note that the Eurail Pass does not cover you on the HEV train. Each one way ticket on the HEV train costs 300 Hungarian forints (about 1 Euro/ $1.50)

My train is leaving early in the morning, through Sweden, southward. Outside the train window, early morning fog is lifting from the countryside.

Train Tip: The train between Copenhagen and Hamburg crosses the sea by ferry at one point. You’ll spend the 45 minute trip on the ferry’s deck, outside of the train. But be sure to get back on the train as the ferry is approaching the port. The train is one of the first vehicles to leave from the ferry, and finding your way back down to the train from the upper decks may take several minutes. I saw several passengers running to jump on the train as it was preparing to drive off the ferry.

He gladly shares. It’s his Austrian brass band, and they had performed last week in Budapest.

Train Tip: If traveling in Central Europe, check your itinerary to see if you’ll be crossing into Slovakia. Slovakia is the missing link in terms of the Eurail Pass.
Czech to the North, Austria to the West and Hungary to the South are all covered by the Global Pass, but Slovakia is not. The fastest way to travel between Budapest and Prague is through Slovakia. You can easily buy a supplemental ticket that covers you in Slovakia, but I recommend buying it at any train ticket window, rather than on-board the train, where the price will increase.
There’s a train each morning at 5:28 from Budapest Keleti to Prague, en route to Berlin, that crosses through Slovakia. I was worried that 5 AM may be too early to buy the supplemental Slovakian ticket at Keleti station, but sure enough, ticket counters were open. The supplemental Slovakian ticket cost me 7750 Hungarian Forints, or about $35, and this is the ticket that I presented to the Slovakian train attendant on-board.

The train meanders up close to farmlands and cows, proving a great trip for at least two senses (sight and smell), and sometimes for a third (hearing), as an occasional ‘MOO’ can be heard.

Train Tip: Consider NOT buying a bed reservation in advance. In the summer season, on weekends, and holidays, it’s a MUST if you want to be sure to get a bed. But one of the joys of traveling off-season, during the week, is that you can hop on and off trains, including night trains, more freely. During these non-peak times, I have found it’s more comfortable to walk on and buy the bed reservation on the train, because the conductor will often put you into an un-occupied sleeping cabin, whereas the computers at the train station will often automatically place you into free beds without consideration of how many people may already be in the sleeping cabin.

Built in 1740, the castle was originally the home of a Hungarian Count, but was given to the Habsburgs as a gift after the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Walk outside, and while the main part of the castle has been maintained since being re-opened after the fall of Communism, you’ll see how the wings have fallen into disrepair, which is perhaps a metaphor for Hungary. The 28 hectare park outside makes for a relaxing afternoon, and here you can see how Hungarians leisurely spend their weekends. Gödöllő is not the most stately palace I’ve seen, but makes for a nice day trip.

A simple, but cute and friendly restaurant I found in the center of the town is Galeria Etterem es Panzio, on Szabadsag ter 8. Here you can try many different Hungarian specialties, but the big draw is that their menu is fully available in English, as well my new favorite thing to find in Europe: a picture menu.

Easier would be to use your Pass for the 40 minute trip from Keleti station. Trains leave more than once an hour, and the Gödöllő stop leaves you a short fifteen minute walk from the center of town.

I’m awoken by a barking dog by the side of the train tracks at a stop 15 minutes later. A man wearing a blue sweater with Boy Scout-like patches enters my train cabin. Much to my surprise, I’m being asked again for my passport. This must be an example of the infamous Hungarian-Romanian animosity and mistrust I’ve heard so much about. Why stop twice within 15 minutes on each side of the border? Why not have just one check-point?

He pivots his feet and opens the train door to leave my cabin, passport in hand. I stand and question “Wait?” “I will come back with your passport,” he cheerfully says. I look again at those Boy Scout-like patches on his sweater. How official are they? He senses my apprehension, but seeks to reassure me with his beaming smile as he points to the station building through the train’s window. “This is the Romanian entry-point. I will just check your passport there,” he says in near-perfect English, with near-perfect teeth, and a near-perfect smile. The town of Episcopia Bihor surely hired the most charming man around for this job. It’s no easy feat to separate tourists from their passports. “10 minutes,” he says, “and I’ll be back.” And sure enough, 10 minutes later, I see him emerge from the station building, darting onto the train, as though not to be a moment late.

Train Tip: There were not many other travelers with me on the train this day. In fact, I saw this border agent quickly walk to the station to verify my passport after receiving it. But I thought, in hindsight, had this station agent been collecting a fistful of passports, I very well should walked off the train and stayed with him, and my passport, to ensure no mix-up. I’m not sure how well that would have been received, but it’s an idea worth pursuing if you feel at all uncomfortable with the circumstances of passport collection. I will test this in the future.

More about Cluj at romaniatourism.com.