The last country we visited on our journey through the Balkans was Hungary.
Sadly, due to mobility issues we had to pass on the intriguing Guided Tour of Pécs to see its 4th-century Christian underground tombs. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with fascinating murals and what we were told by those who attended was an outstanding organ concert. Old people must learn they can’t do it all, and we are trying to recognize that. We humbly took a less adventurous excursion.
Our tour director said it would not be wise for Christiane to take this excursion and I decided to stay with her. Mohács is a city on the Danube River that is famous for its battle in 1526 when it was fought over by the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (Turks) in a battle very near to here. The Turkish invaders were led by Suleiman the Magnificent who this day at least was pretty magnificent in that he managed to overcome the Europeans by means of better planning, fire-power and a very well-organized encirclement that overwhelmed the Hungarians. The Turks stayed for 150 years after that.
The Turkish forces been duped the local Hungarian nobility to engage the Turks prematurely. As a result, most of the nobles were killed, the royal army destroyed, and the dynasty at that time of Hungary and Bohemia was ruined. After that battle, Hungary was partitioned between the Turks, the Hapsburg Empire, and the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.
After that battle, for centuries, Ottoman-Habsburg wars ensued and the eventual decline of Hungary as an independent power followed. In Hungary, it is still considered a major tragedy. In this part of the world, tragedies are not swiftly forgotten. They are remembered and later used to kindle new flames of outrage. Mohács is viewed by many Hungarians as the decisive point at which things went wrong and many want to make Hungary Great Again. Hungarians often say, “More was lost at Mohács.” Many Hungarians, hundreds of years later are still stung by the humiliating defeat. They see this event as the point at which it lost its independence and power.
Really, Hungary lost because of happened next, namely, 200 years of constant warfare between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires that turned Hungary into a perpetual battlefield and during which its traditional territories were divided into 3. The country was frequently ravaged by armies moving back and forth across it and devastating the population. What should have happened—but did not—was that the empires should have learned to live together in peace. The constant battles proved futile and costly. Had both sides concentrated on living together and building up their countries both Turkey and Hungary would have been much better off. Once again, extremists who preferred battles to peace led the people astray. I keep coming back to the idea of pluralism—people getting along with each other instead of fighting. It may not be as grand, but it sure is a lot better.
Mohács is a quiet town on the Danube River and there we toured the remarkable medieval St. Nicholas Watermill—one of only a few remaining watermills performing stone-ground grain processing.
It had been recently restored as it suffered serious damage during the Croatian War. Interestingly, on the grounds there was a large image of what it looked like in 2007 more than 10 years after the war.
Our guide Zsuzi, tried very hard all day to make the day interesting for us. She cleverly loves Mohács and tried to make us understand why. The mill is one of of the very few remaining watermills performing stone-ground grain processing.
There are actually 4 active mills here and I was particularly interested by the one mill there which was not driven by stream power, but instead human power. Originally, the humans who did the work of driving the huge mill, were slaves. Apparently, this is now unique in the world. The slaves had to tread on the mill’s wheel for many hours every day. I guess that is where the word “tread mill” comes from—The wooden wheel is large and heavy. It would have been extremely hard work, but who ever said slave’s work was interesting?