Szentendre Town

Szentendre was one of Huntingdon’s twin towns, and maybe still is.  Huntingdon Town website shows it as currently twinned with Szentendre, but not the other way round!

It’s an attractive town on the Danube that has become a magnet for working artists, about 200 of them. This is the market square, from which radiates a network of cobbled streets.

 Predictably, the main thoroughfare is full of touristy shops and restaurants designed to appeal to the trippers, most of who come by boat or bus from Budapest. Here they are swarming along the High Street.

 To be fair, there are some genuine Hungarian goods on sale as well as the cuddly toys and memento trinkets obviously made in the Far East. This shop is selling only traditional indigo dyed Hungarian clothes. There was even a faded letter in a glass case, dated 1990, from Princess Diana’s lady-in-waiting thanking the shop for presenting Princess Di with some garments.

Taking to the side streets and lanes provided some pretty views that seemed to capture the spirit of the real town more than the crowded commercial areas.

As we walked back to the camp, I thought that Huntingdon’s got some catching-up to do if it wants to attract that many visitors