WHY is VESZPRÉM the city of QUEENS? || EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2023
hey what's going on folks how you doing I'm here with my buddy Károly Eötvös Eötvös Károly we're in front of the Károly Eötvös county library which county? veszprém county I've heard a little rumor that this city is known as the city of Queens but I'm not sure why I'd certainly like to find out how are you my fairly Fantastical little friend Swiggity Swooty look at that booty how you doing all right it's cold as ice out here folks it's gray it's blustery it's December but you know that doesn't mean we can't have a good time and already wow. already the architecture of veszprém is proving to be delightful. this is going to be a fun little walk I think. theater garden. oh you could just imagine in the summertime some Outdoor Theater is that him There's the Man himself that's a nice Petőfi Sándor statue looking good my friend so and that must be the Veszprém sigil it's like a guy, on top of a horse, a little bit of other stuff going on Interesting, interesting. McDonald's Hello, how are you all, lovely day to you. I'm well. It's cold, It's as cold as a witch's tit out here.
First Impressions architecture architecture architecture this is quite unique a very skinny little church I'm not sure exactly what era this would be but if I had to guess it was probably built towards the end of the 19th century in The Eclectic Style let's skip across the street here and see if we can find any info okay they say romantic style, 1860. I wasn't that far off wow Ady endre is that what that is? Ady, music, it looks to be fairly abandoned a quite interesting mural though. Ady Endre, Music, guitar I wonder why they closed up shop this looks like a pretty cool place maybe it will reopen into something new. hopefully. okay it appears that the downtown
is that way so let's have a little Shake Rattle and Roll and swing our way down the street on a freezing day in veszprém. oh ye old dilapidated Habsburg yellow pastels pastels pastels Why is it the city of Queens? I must find out I don't want to look at my phone and look up the answer I feel like that's cheating so we'll use our imagination we'll take a look at the street signs we'll pick up some context clues and perhaps even run into a few friendly locals that can point us in the right direction this appears to be the downtown district so let's have a little amble ah the delicious smell of Hungarian winter okay here's an overview of the town we got the castle. oh, Zoo veszprém. I don't know if we'll have time for that today anyway Let's uh let's keep going let's keep going let's keep going some really nice buildings here I mean an architectural Feast veszprém. dad I want to go to the party. now, now, dear you must
stay home and do your studies. yes listen to your father. no I want to go to the party now. No, no party. listen to your father. Party, party, party. this building really tickles my fancy can we get through in this little Gap why I believe we can I believe we can own yes oh yes wow this structure is very intact I mean at least I hope so I would not like to fall through a building in veszprém. but uh seems that they're doing some sort of renovation everything is quite purposely placed. who knows? let's go a little bit further okay you can get a whole lot of asbestos poisoning up here okay more dangerous than the ball pit at McDonald's. now you wonder as you walk through these decaying edifices what this
building would have been used for. was it some sort of Conservatory? perhaps a family residence? it's really hard to say it's really hard to say but at one point it would have been seen as quite sumptuous. whereas now it has passed its former glory anyway I feel uh quite privileged to have the chance to walk through here but I think more adventurous options await us outside. and I'm not gonna lie it was also nice to warm up a little bit awesome oh statue of the century love this statue I do not know what it depicts but it is wonderful. some man with wings and an m on his chest spearing I think that's a raven on the top and he's spearing this poor sap to death look at that tower there. nice Tower, city hall another beautiful building and I think yes is that what I hear the wee little tingle of a Christmas Market look at these guys. hello. oh lovely cheese. very good. sausage?
Oh, beautiful sausage here. would you like a taste? pork rinds? just a little for me. here have a taste. Thank you. very good. spicy? Can I have some? Goose. Yummy. Thank you. Very lovely, very lovely, very lovely wooden spoon. Congratulations.
Is this bégli? A Christmas speciality no? excuse me? It's for christmas, no? yes, yes it's for christmas. I couldn't understand you. Excuse me I don't speak the best Hungarian. No, no you speak very well. I try. If you can speak just a little Hungarian, that's teriffic. It's a hard language. Yes.
Thank you. Ooh, a little plum jam pastry. delicious.
honey and syrup syrup and jam. syrup and jam. yes. very friendly people at this market.
christmas atmosphere. And this square is ringed by gorgeous gorgeous buildings Art Nouveau here. I mean now it's Medicover. the kiniszi house. I heard about this one very art nouveau
Vesprém fest. don't know what that is but it looks sick oh we gotta go to Veszprém Fest one year. 1902. What do you think? I think it's very good. I adore, I adore, I adore. This appears to be what we call an English a dead end
I feel a little bit bad about not buying anything but you know gotta make money these days can't be spending on frivolous fancies veszprém is just a gorgeous little city there's a lot of attention to detail here they really care for the Arts. King Stephen. who is Marcia? is this a clue as to why it's called the City of Queens? I'm still quite curious. Why? Why is the name the city of queens? oh in the summertime this must be a fountain and with the balaton So Close by ah yes I do fear that we've come at the wrong season although no season is really wrong it's just the season that's going on. all right so this is pretty cool here it says that mondalat which was integral to the Reformation of the Hungarian language was printed here had a printing press on premises in 1813. yes that's right my dear friend 1813.
and of course that was the era or the beginning right before the era of reform Kazinczy ferenc. a lot of repression the Habsburg austrians were censorious and limiting the ability of the Hungarian language to be promulgated and so things like that institutions where the language could be rejuvenated and restored and codified and made more efficient for its use in every day bureaucracy and official correspondence it was it was quite vital quite vital only to see 21st century Americans come in and butcher the [ __ ] out of it. but what is one to do all right we appear to be entering the castle. Never heard of this guy before very intrigued Faustus oh my God he was a bishop, uh uh politician no political historian and a humanist and it looks like he loved to do flying experiments you could just imagine him going over Lake balaton, everyone's like oh no there goes Faustus again just running his flying machines. oh goodness gracious 1896 that's the year of the millennial exhibition
that's my year of Interest veszprém, oh if only this still had water coming out of its spout I would take a mighty mighty sip right now. gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous and just around the corner look at this View look at this magnificent, magnificent View. Ooh la la la Ok, I finally understand what's going on here. I've seen these signs all over the place that say veszprém,
frame or veb 2023 and it's because next year uh veszprém, is going to be the main city of European culture so that is why there's so much construction going on they're trying to get the place looking prim and proper for the alleged influx of tourists that will be coming in . and who knows maybe this video will be a good guide for those individuals. yes yes yes yes yes they've really blanketed everything oh well gives you a reason to come back doesn't it oh well oh well. Closed. I would have loved to take a little Wander through there but you know you got to make your own fun you can't rely always on the tried and trusted sometimes you gotta go off the beaten path He's a writer. Oh, a writer, ok.
and this city it is the city of queens no? Yes, it is the city of queens. Why is it the city of queens? Because of Gisella. Oh, she was King Stephen's wife? Yes. There's a very beautiful statue of her in there, but it's closed for now. Stephen and Gisella together. And Gisella was crowned here. Oh, thank you very much. I am a new yorker.
But my wife is Hungarian. You speak really, really well! We live in Leányfalu. It's gorgeous there, gorgeous. For me the Danube bend is the best place. It's actually my first time in Veszprém.
It's the most beautiful city. It's fantastic. But now many things are closed.
But I would like to come back next year. It is the European capital of culture next year. foreign From January, what is it January 20th? From the 20th of January to the 30th there will be a big opening ceremony. Wow that sounds awesome. Are you ladies from Veszprém? She's half, and I'm now totally! You are the true Queens of the city! you are too cute.
are you really a new yorker? yeah, absolute. My family lives over there. I am William.
I'm very happy to meet you both. I am as well. Welcome to our magic city.
Thank you so much, have a lovely day. all right I've got my answer I've got my answer that was what I was looking for what's going on Florian why the long face? what's going on here just pouring water on the house he's sad he's got a massive mustache. well what are you gonna do? hey I could use a little I could use a little uh winter warmer. kunszt let's do it hello Hi, I would like an espresso, just a single please.
cool what's this our art workshop? yeah, yeah you can join us. Gorgeous. a nice artisanal craft coffee. one gulp, hits the spot. Thank you, it's a gorgeous coffee shop. Have a lovely day. oh winter gotta love it. wow, that's an old pharmacy. very old. Interesting. Very, very very old things. well this is a gorgeous statue it's some sort of Viking longship, an ancestral flotilla and all of these motifs on the side, horses centaurs huh not quite sure what it is for but I like the looks okay here we have some information very faded out, very faded out someone's gonna have to help me here. Veszprém experts in the audience, what is this?
here is the message of the day 2023 veszprém, you gotta come back capital of culture 2023 2023 so close and yet so far. got a lot of fountains in this city. I guess in the summer these are all running. you can see it's still a bit wet around the mouth so maybe is that wet or just shiny? just shiny. I think they'll be running in the summer though. alright we've made it to the more commercial quadrant of the lovely city of veszprém.
and why was it called the city of Queens? well as we heard from those ladies before this was where Queen gizella the wife of King Stephen, a German woman, this is where her seat. This was her queenly seat. and I also did some reading of my own as it turns out ishvan's mother Queen Charlotte, she who was married to king géza, also had her queenly seat here. and it was the bishop of veszprém Who provided the coronation for Hungarian Queens, for over 900 years. and that is why they call veszprém the city of Queens. the city of queens and what a place for a queenly seat right next to the shores of Lake Balaton. The city of queens.
Hey, hey, how are you, how are you? Minimal money? Maybe, maybe. Here, 200. That's great.Thank you very much. Merry christmas. Thank you. You as well. Have a lovely day. and happy birthday see ya a little bit of communist era social realism on the agenda. those Communists they were kind of uh a little bit perverted actually nice statue though. okay so this is the real Christmas Market that one
before, was just the warm-up and here we have all of the christmas stands. very nice very nice Paradi salt. very good. Oh, lovely, candy very good. Watermelon. Gorgeous. hello okay palinka. Good. Cheers. nice little christmas market here. I see they're setting up for some sort of concert there as we get closer to Christmas. hello, lovely puppy. friendly City. Azerbaijan something about Azerbaijan oh it's to commemorate the uh
Armenian Genocide yeah Armenian Genocide Memorial very sad The Armenian Genocide. the plight of the Armenians. what's up? do you know everything about our country? I think I recognize you from YouTube oh Willie, Willie. yeah all right so I'm here with Kitty and balazs, and we've got the steg skateboarding shop this is the best skateboarding shop in all of veszprém, maybe even all of Hungary. I don't know. but uh I myself am not a skateboarder but if you are come check them out all right we're getting an inside look at a local veszprém business. the stég, nice ringtone oh dope wow look at this place this is really nice we got Vans it doesn't have anything to do with the forint, does it? no just a coincidence because it's called HUF, you cannot advertise it because you cannot advertise anything that that's called like forint. really? that's because we can't sell it so we have to get out of this business that's really funny Nice Shop. Gorgeous. and now we're going for a coffee where number 11 it's called yeah
yeah, eleven. eleven. they say it's the best coffee in town let's take a look. yeah your English is very good all right so here it is eleven. thank you for some here's ahead and D for some porcelain oh yeah yeah it's really it's an amazing mural I love it oh this this skateboard coming in yeah the base of the cup oh yeah yeah thank you very good all right well that was [ __ ] awesome those people were so friendly Balazs and kitty locals took me in gave me coffee showed me around the skate shop wonderful little experience there the hospitality of veszprém, it's terrific, the weather however is turning out to be not so terrific. it went from bad to worse. so I guess we'll check out one place to go eat and then head out of town, but don't worry veszprém, we shall be back, I promise you that nice foreign Ok, so here we are beneath the castle walls. We're going to head over. to this fricska resturaunt. everyone's been talking about it you gotta go to frichka so we're gonna go check out fricska, think that's the benedek hill um yeah so we'll take the long way around I think Fricska is somewhere down there you can see the castle under construction 2023, next year it's going to be shiny and glorious they say. now we're at the top of what they call the benedek hill, the houses down below we'll get a little View and then we'll go down and get something to eat. it is cold if I haven't
mentioned it yet the weather is [ __ ] the weather is [ __ ] [ __ ] oh yeah all righty here we go a nice view down below precipitous drop wow quite precipitous. I imagine there's a few deaths every year no railings or anything oh scary. very. Benedek hill, running off the side of the world, Benedek hill. holy [ __ ] it was all the way out there you know veszprém is one of the oldest cities in Hungary and you can see all the different Hills that surround the city. they say that there were seven when the hungarians first settled here and as with a lot of old cities Rome Lisbon also cities of Seven Hills the hills provided a great natural fortification I've also read that the name veszprém, comes from an old Slavic word "besprem", which meant uneven and you can certainly see how uneven the land is. this is why I get paid the small bucks
because I'm willing to go where others won't where the hell are we? okay nice secret path and here we can see nestled beside the Roaring brook. we have fricska see ya. hello, I would like to eat alone please. Just myself. would you like to eat or drink? eat.
Alright, so what we've got here is a classic Jokai bean soup. Look at that bean soup. Jokai mor, one of the most famous writers in Hungary. and this is the comfort food that he basically invented so to make it a true jokai bean soup, we gotta dump in a whole lot of sour cream oh yeah that's the good stuff. oh my God we got some pork in there we've got some uh paprika salami some carrots, pinto bean. and of course we gotta add some spice. oh this is gonna be nice this is gonna be nice and we've also got in a very special treat here this is the official beer from The zirc Abbey for the 2023 European capital of culture. This is a Belgian Style Beer citrusy Hoppy
and supposedly delicious the uh zirc Brewery it's brewed out of an Abbey since the 18th century they know their stuff and here for the bean soup. warms the soul you can just imagine Jokai mor sitting beside the fire on a cold winter night in the balaton, just like this one, tucking into his favorite soup fresh bread this is hungary in a bowl right here and I am hungry finomgazából, finomgazából, new word. have a lovely day pumpkin good pumpkin good that's all I gotta say about veszprém. it's pumpkin good. okay let's hustle back uh to Budapest, fricska, finomgazából. not Budapest, leányfalu. thanks for tuning in folks that's all we have time for from the city of Queens now if you want to help out support my program support my message help me bring knowledge education and learning to the world you can on patreon and now also YouTube member if you become a YouTube member or you subscribe to my patreon at any of the price points there are several I will mail you a with Willie original Edition sticker by take a piece design The Walking With Willie old school style. old school.
so, sign up now send me your address. autographed sticker in the mail. Thank you very, very, very much. Thank you very much indeed.
2022-12-17 19:11
