During the past thirteen years, I have passed through hundreds of cities, towns, and villages in Eastern Europe. The cities are easy to remember because so many of them are either beautiful or ghastly, filled with vibrancy or depressingly mediocre. These are the places guidebooks urge travelers to visit, even if some of them are best avoided. Next are the towns. Some of which are unforgettable due to a combination of history, culture, and architecture. Many more are left uncommitted to memory because they have nothing of interest for foreigners. I cannot remember anything about such towns within five minutes of leaving them. The same goes for all but a few villages. For a village to be memorable, I must see or experience something out of the ordinary. That was the case with Hidasnemeti, a village in northeastern Hungary four kilometers south of Slovakia’s border. For all the places lost by Hungary due to the Treaty of Trianon, there are ones like Hidasnemeti which gained prominence due to its location near a national border.
Both sides of the tracks – Railway lines in Hidasnemeti (Credit: Adehertogh)
Retroactivity – Going Back In Time
My itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders has up to this point taken me to Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia. Each of these countries inherited lands that were historically part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon. I did not originally plan for my itinerary to dip over into Hungary, but Hidasnemeti is a place too good to pass up. This obscure village has been on my mind since the first time I learned of it. My first visit was momentary. Nothing more than a few forgettable minutes. My lasting interest in the village is opposite the amount of time I spent there. To be completely honest, I have no idea what Hidasnemeti has to offer other than an odd form of nostalgia for me. I have been through the village, but not to it. It is a mystery to me. Perhaps that is why I find it intriguing.
One blustery and bone chilling December day a decade ago, I took a whirlwind day trip from Budapest to Kosice. The entire trip took sixteen hours. It was exhausting, but worth the effort. Kosice is Slovakia’s second largest city, the economic powerhouse of the country’s eastern region. Kosice, or Kassa as they call it, is well known to Hungarians. It is the one city in Slovakia more than any other that Hungarians lament having lost due to Trianon. And that comparison includes Bratislava (Pozsony). One way Hungary keeps a connection with Kosice is by running daily direct trains to and from the city. These still run along the same railway network that was established in the late 19th century to connect provincial cities with Budapest. Ironically, it takes five hours to travel between Kosice and Bratislava, but only three and a half between Budapest and Kosice. This makes a roundtrip to the latter in a single day eminently doable if a bit tiring. This was an opportunity I could not pass up.
Going places – Hungarian train at Hidasnemeti (Credit: Jozsef Birincsik)
Dreamy State – The Dawning of a New Age
The train left in the dim light just before dawn and would return that evening under the cover of darkness. I was exhausted when the trip started and would be even more so by its end. I was in a trancelike state as a certain haze clouded my mind. The most memorable part of the journey was the dreamlike morning train ride to Kosice. Half-asleep, with nothing better to do than stare out the window, I watched dawn slowly creep into the sky. There was little to see until the train arrived at Miskolc’s festive fin de siècle railway station which has the kind of architecture I hope to find in heaven. I kept myself awake just to catch a glimpse of the station, and by extension the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The only disappointment was not being able to stop and stay for a while or a lifetime. I find joy from being lost in transit.
After Miskolc, I assumed that there would be nothing else to see between Miskolc and Kosice. I was not wrong. There was nothing to see, but at least one thing to experience. As the train neared the Hungary – Slovakia border I began to look for signs of it. That is much more difficult than it used to be. There is no border control since Hungary and Slovakia are part of the Schengen Zone. This is one of the few cases where the legacy of Trianon was finally put to rest. There had been no border here when the lands that now make up Slovakia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Trianon imposed border between Hungary and Czechoslovakia had been a source of infinite irritation during the interwar period and then a formidable barrier during communism. Those days were long gone. Since 2008, people and traffic have flowed freely between Hungary and Slovakia. Considering that the 20th century had been filled with ethnic enmity, the dismantling of border control is an incredible accomplishment. One that has become so normal, few travelers take notice.
On track – Hidasnemeti Railway Station (Credit: Jan Pesula)
Switching Sides – First & Final Outpost
Closing in on the border, I wondered if there would be any more stops between Miskolc and Kosice. I doubted it because this was a direct train that had made very few stops since leaving Budapest. I stayed alert for anything that might denote Slovakia. No obvious signs appeared. There is nothing quite like passing into a different country without realizing it. Everything can change in a few seconds by crossing an invisible line. I wanted to know the exact location of that line. I soon learned that it was near a village. The train slowed down and came to a stop. This was the jumping off point for the Hungarian railways ticket checker. He was immediately replaced by a Slovak woman. Their language and uniforms were different.
I saw a sign at the station that said Hidasnemeti. It was the last station on the Hungarian side of the border. That sign and place name have remained in my mind as a lasting symbol of the Hungary-Slovakia border ever since then. Hidasnemeti had once been deep inside the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When Hungary’s borders changed due to Trianon, Hidasnemeti became a point of entry and exit. Today it is still the first and final outpost, a sleepy frontier village, where everything can change with very little notice. I want to go back there to soak up the atmosphere and cross the invisible line.
Coming soon: On The Fringes – The Strange Existence of Sturovo (The Lost Lands #25)
Europe Between East And West 