Retro Rail Ride – From Budapest to Eisenstadt & Bratislava (The Lost Cities #2)

The borders changed, the bureaucrats changed, the demographics changed, the economies changed, the politics changed, the names changed, the official languages changed, the centuries changed and still Budapest remains, as it did at the turn of the 20th century, the hub for anyone looking to reach the lost cities just beyond the borders of Hungary. In the last half of the 19^th century, Hungarian National Railway’s network of lines was developed with Budapest as the epicenter. That remains largely true today for the cities which were once part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The old cliché “the more things change, the more they stay the same” still applies in this case. Those traveling to the lost cities are likely to find themselves starting in Budapest. That is where my own journey to the lost cities now begins.

Ready to roll – Dawn at Budapest Nyugati (Western Railway Station)

Border Complications – National Insecurities
The shortest distance between two points is said to be a straight line. The shortest distance between the early 20^th century and the lost cities of Oradea (Nagyvarad), Timisoara (Temesvar), Subotica (Szabadka), Pozsony (Bratislava), Kosice (Kaschau), Eisenstadt (Kismarton), and Ungvar (Uzhhorod) is at the three railway stations (Nyugati – western/Keleti – eastern/Deli – southern) in Budapest. Many things have changed, and some stayed the same since the early 20^th century regarding the lost cities. Rail connections are one of them. While Budapest is still the best place to begin any journey to all seven lost cities, national borders cause complications. These are a legacy from the aftermath of World War I when border control inhibited pre-existing rail routes. It took 84 years, accession to the European Union and Schengen Zone for borderless travel between Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. This is also slated to happen with Romania when it becomes part of the Schengen Zone in 2024. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Serbia and Ukraine. Borders are always complicating factors, the ones between Hungary and its neighbors still act as irritants for the traveler. The situation has improved, but it is still an obstacle the traveler must have overcome.

The complications of borders were expected after the Treaty of Trianon went into effect on June 4, 1920. The nations which had gained the lost cities were suspicious of Hungary’s future intentions toward them. Even with large numbers of Hungarians migrating out of the lost cities and into the newly constituted Republic of Hungary, there were still large numbers of Hungarians that were the cause of consternation for Romania (formed in 1866), Yugoslavia (formed in 1918), and Czechoslovakia (formed in 1918), Austria was a different matter altogether, but it too eyed Hungary warily. Better to make travel between these nations and Hungary more difficult. Borders were a form of security. Judging by the coming of another world war, they were not a very good one.

Awaiting arrivals – Eisenstadt Railway Station

Living On The Edge – Burgenland & Bratislava
As any traveler does before setting out on a journey, I am searching for the best route between my destinations. It makes sense to start in Budapest since it was the transport hub for the Hungarian half (Transleithania) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From Budapest, the question is where to go first. That decision will go a long way in determining the route I will take to travel from one city to the next. I am not looking for the quickest route between the lost cities. I am searching for the one that will prove most intellectually satisfying. One of the most important elements of any journey is getting off to a good start. That might sound simplistic, but when it comes to travel my experience has been that the beginning of a journey van either set the traveler up for success or failure. With that in mind, I want to ease into this journey. Looking at the seven lost cities, Eisenstadt in Eastern Austria stands out as low hanging fruit ripe to be plucked with a leisurely rail ride.

Due to the starting and final destinations for this initial leg of the journey being in different countries, it will require multiple transfers and take almost four hours. I can think of worse things than riding the rails across western Hungary and then hopscotching between a couple of stations before arrival in the Austrian province of Burgenland. It only seems right that I should finish this first leg of the journey in what became a newly created ninth Austrian province in 1921. Along the way I will be passing through Sopron, known as the most loyal city in Hungary because it voted to stay part of the country during the messy aftermath of the post- World War I treaty making process.

Eisenstadt is a good first lost city to visit for logistical reasons. Of the seven lost cities, it is the furthest one to the west and in near proximity to Bratislava, which will be second on my itinerary.   Bratislava, known by Hungarians as Pozsony, has done better economically than any of the other lost cities. The reason can be summed up as location and size. Bratislava is just 30 kilometers from Vienna. It has become something of a bedroom community to the Austrian capital. Bratislava also became the capital of Slovakia in 1994. As the seat of government, the city had a self-reinforcing economy. Due to Slovakia’s lower taxes and cost of living (not the case anymore), businesses and people poured into the city. It was the largest city in the newly created country.  Bratislava continues its impressive growth today. The city’s Old Town is spectacular, and the surrounding area has much to recommend it.

Power & prosperity – Bratislava (Credit: Jorge Franganillo)

Lost & Found – The Eastern Frontier
From Bratislava I really have only one choice, head eastward. This is the direction that has captivated me ever since I first set foot in the region. As much as I love Budapest and Bratislava, nothing fires my imagination like heading ever deeper into Eastern Europe. This is the true heart of a region that has been greatly misunderstood by the western world. It is also a region that the Treaty of Trianon upended to a greater extent than anywhere else. The heartlands of historic Hungary can still be found in eastern Slovakia, sub-Carpathian Ukraine, and western Romania. These places are home to the lost cities that are the next stage in planning my itinerary.

Click here for: Eastern Questions – Plotting Paths To Kosice & Uzhhorod (The Lost Cities #3)

The Perseverance of Preservation- Endre Csatkai: A Savior For Sopron

I came into Sopron expecting magnificence, I was not to be disappointed. For a city that suffered multiple aerial bombings during the Second World War, Sopron had done an excellent job of putting itself back together with considerable attention to historical detail. Innumerable Baroque buildings lined the streets of the city’s Old Town. There were also vestiges of Renaissance and Medieval era architecture to be found. While getting to the bottom of Sopron’s structural history meant coming to terms with the legacy of ancient Rome. Undergirding its cobblestone streets were the foundations of Sopron’s Roman predecessor, Scarbantia. The Roman city walls could still be seen in several places and Sopron’s main square (Fo ter) was built atop the site of the old Roman forum. In short, Sopron’s Belvaros (Inner City) was consumed by the past. I have rarely visited a place that felt so historical.

The Preservationist – Endre Csatkai

Selfless Gifts-  A Life’s Work
A showpiece of preservation, the Old Town had been marked by a fate more fortunate than that of almost any other Hungarian city. Perhaps it was destiny or chance, but old Sopron had been left largely intact. The Mongols never quite made it this far and the Ottoman Turks’ stay was surprisingly short. World War II did some damage, but occupation came at the tail of the war. By that point, the worst of the fighting was over. Habsburgs and Hungarians had been the city’s main historical influencers. Sopron shows that a lot of luck can go a long way in preserving an old cityscape. Yet preservation is not something that just happens by chance, it is also based on attitude, ethics and beliefs, all human qualities.

Every city should have as great a preservationist as Sopron did during the 20^th century. I discovered this person’s name in the pages of an old guidebook. A passing reference was made in a single sentence to a man who had spent a half century of his life working to tell the story of Sopron and working to preserve its architectural wonders. In the process, he bequeathed a selfless gift to future generations of visitors who would come to revere his legacy, even if they did not know much, if anything, about him. That man was a Hungarian art historian by the name of Endre Csatkai. Sopron was more than a place to Csatkai, it was his passion.

Monumental – One of Endre Csatkai’s many books on Sopron

Self-Education – The Thirst For Knowledge
Endre Csatkai was born in the village of Darufalva in the late 19^th century. At that time Darufalva was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, later it would become part of Austria. The village was just a handful of kilometers northwest of Sopron, the city where Csatkai would come to know more intimately than perhaps any of its citizens. He graduated from high school there in 1914. This was the same year that Hungary entered a cataclysmic period in its history with the beginning of World War I. Csatkai was also entering a very difficult time in his life. Due to lung disease he was hospitalized for long periods of time. This kept him away from the battlefront and delayed his studies at the university level. His illness became a blessing in disguise. It afforded him an opportunity for self-education. With considerable time on his hands, he set about satisfying an insatiable thirst for knowledge. When he finally recovered his health, Csatkai completed his doctorate.

Csatkai was a man of many diverse occupations. His professions reflected his interests. He taught, worked in a museum, edited a popular Hungarian art magazine, wrote reference works about a wide array of subjects and curated exhibitions on such famous musicians as Joseph Haydn and Franz Liszt. For many years, Csatkai worked in Eisenstadt, Austria which Hungarians referred to as Kismarton. His Jewish ethnicity and the rise of Nazism threatened to derail his career. Following the Anschluss, whereby Nazi Germany annexed Austria, he was forced to flee back to Sopron. The tentacles of fascism were long and reached beyond borders. The German occupation of Hungary in 1944 meant that Csatkai could be arrested or deported at any moment. Despite attempts by powerful members of the Sopron community to protect him from the anti-Jewish laws which were being swiftly implemented, Csatkai was not exempted from discriminatory measures. He became a forced laborer, which left him emaciated and disease ridden. These harsh conditions nearly cost him his life. He was barely able to survive the war.

Old Sopron – Standing The Test of Time (Credit: Tamas Konok)

The Afterlife – From Resurrection to Reconstruction
Incredibly Csatkai’s enthusiasm for Sopron’s history, art and architecture never waned despite his wartime sufferings. He did not immigrate abroad like so many other Hungarian Jews in the postwar years. Instead he stayed in Sopron, spearheading the effort to reopen the city museum which had been left ruined by the war. At the same time, he continued to publish many articles on the art history of Sopron. By the end of his long life, he had authored over a thousand articles. They offered a wealth of invaluable detail about a range of subjects, including the monuments, fine art objects and architecture of Sopron from the 17^th through 19^th century. These were the building blocks of knowledge that helped reconstruct the city. Without Csatkai, Sopron’s historic preservation efforts might have faltered.

Csatkai’s cultivation of knowledge helped restore the Old Town to its former magnificence. It is hard to imagine just how much capacity for knowledge he had when it came to Sopron. His literary output was vast, eclectic and voluminous. Among his many works there were books on the history of Sopron’s Music Association, the Production of Fireworks and Fire Extinguishers in Sopron, Sopron’s Soaps and Candlesticks along with more mainstream works on Liszt and the Hungarian nationalist poet, Sandor Petofi.  If it concerned Sopron, then Csatkai found it worth researching, studying and writing about. It is not a stretch to say that Endre Csatkai was Sopron and Sopron was Endre Csatkai, each a reflection of the other. For Csatkai, cataloging and cultivating the history of Sopron was a selfless act of self-actualization. And besides self-satisfaction, it was not so much what Csatkai got for his efforts, as what he gave to future generations, helping to create an ethos that informs continuing preservation efforts in the city. Csatkai’s work has stood the test of time, just like the city he so dearly loved.

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