1

MAGAZINE ON TOURISM, 2011 FALL

VIEWpoint

pp

pPOINT

2

Adventure in Mecsek Hill Do you want to escape from the noise of the city with your beloved, or your family? Or just want to hike or relax? Visit our apartments with all modern conveniences in Mecsek hill’s scenic environs, near to the city of Pécs. Located in the north surrounding of Hosszúhetény(toward Komló, at the foot of Hármashegy and Zengõ Hills). Sárvári Guesthouse, 7694 Hosszútetény, Hegyelõ Street 17, near Pécs, Komló and Sikonda (waterpark and thermal bath) tel/fax: 72/490-388 mob.: 30/936-9430 e-mail: info@sarvarihaz.hu web: www.sarvarihaz.hu

SÁRVÁRI GUESTHOUSE

3

ON THE MAP

Report Section 3 Malta the Treasure Island

Blog Section 16 Misleading Name, Misleading

Professionalism

Interview Section 18 Adrienne Nagyné Strumpf

Photo Gallery 22 The Fall for me….

Section

4

MAGAZINE SECTION

The Prickly Pears. Jams and liqueurs are made out of its fruit.

Malta the Treasure Island “I hope that you all already know and I am not the first

one who is telling you that, but if you were expecting sandy beaches shadowed by palm

trees you came to the wrong place”, told us our travel instructor after our small, 180

seat, flight arrived to Malta, to the airport of the city of Luqa and with that our journey

in the treasure island has begun.

Malta’s small, 316 m2 territory is located

in the Mediterranean Sea, from south of

Sicily and east of Tunisia, and can be reached

from Budapest with a direct flight in two

hours. It is a sovereign state with its own

language, which interestingly has arabesque

roots, although they use Latin letters. Most of

the names of the towns, for the first sight,

seem unutterable for us Europeans.

Luckily for the tourists almost everyone in

Malta speaks English, which is their

inheritance from the colonial ages when

Malta was the territory of the British

Empire; what’s more, they constantly mix

their native language with English which

gives an interesting edge to the

conversations among natives.

5

Water pipe near Paradise Bay. These aboveground pipes, carrying desalted water,

enmesh the whole island.

The archipelago consists of three

islands: Malta, Gozo, the smaller,

quiescent version of Malta, and Comino

which has only four permanent residents

and two hotels serving summertime

visitors, but a large part of it is bird

sanctuary and nature reserve.

Malta has always served as a gate to

Europe and that had a great impact on its

history as it was occupied by Phoenicians,

Romans, the Sovereign Military Order of

Malta and the British. The diverse nations

crossing the island left many monuments

behind. Walking among the sometimes

fifty ton rock giants in the megalithic

temple ʛgantija we can call upon the faith

of the first maltase, in the Hypogeum, the

prehistoric underground temple, we can

climb down to the core of the earth and in

the capital city, Valetta we can see

monuments from the renaissance and

baroque age.

When you look out of the small window

of the airplane, Malta seems as a bleak and

dry place where nothing can set root. The

fields covered with red soil and rocks are

divided into small yards and separated with

either a rock wall, that has no solder at all,

so the water can go through, or a wall of

Prickly pears which is a type of cactus that

6

has big thick leafs and its fruit is eatable

and displayed on fruit stands all over

Malta, for the misadventure of those keen

tourists, including me, who feel invincible

desire to touch them and have all their

fingers covered with tiny stiff prickles for

days.

Truly, the island’s outmost problem is

the drinking-water shortage; most of

winter’s moisture ends up in the sea

quickly without filtering into the soil and

the summers are long, hot, and dry. About

half of the drinking-water comes from

unsalted sea water, while the other half is

retrieved from the ground or from water

collectors placed in the roofs of the houses.

The size of Malta equals to a bigger

county in Hungary. The distance between

the northern Cirkewwa and the southern

Marsaxlokk is only 43 km, but this tiny

piece of land hides diverse values.

The north-western part of the island is

ideal for the lazy type of tourists, like

myself, who like to lay in the sun in a

sandy beach for hours or do water sports

like jet skiing or wake boarding. This part

of Malta was almost unsettled until the end

of 17th

century, only a few villages were

built, but these were constantly exposed to

pilot attacks from the sea. There are not

many historical sites can be seen here, a

few small fortress left from the British that

were built to protect the area against the

attacks. Although the number of new

hotels are constantly growing, most of the

area is left unbuilt and hides the most

beautiful bays of the island, for example

the most northern Paradise Bay or the

Mellieha Bay that has the longest sandy

beach on the island.

Traveling down south, we arrive to St.

Paul’s bay, the center of North-west

Malta’s tourism. Qawra, Buggiba, St. Paul

and Xemxija built into one large holiday

resort. Here we can find countless hotels,

apartments, restaurants one after another.

Interestingly, there are not much

authentic dishes offered by the restaurants,

but name a nation, and they have it!

French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai,

even Mexican, the market is outstanding

when it comes to foreign cuisine. Only

one thing cannot be found in this part of

the island: open beaches. If you are not

satisfied with swimming in your hotel’s

pool or with the few giant rock, which are

there for you to jump into the water, you

have to get on a bus and travel to the

beach.

7

Fishing boat near Paradise Bay

8

The city of Valetta

9

10

The middle part of Malta offers less

nature, but more culture. The knights of

Malta arrived to the island in 1530. At that

time the Sciberras peninsula on which

Valetta is located was almost absolutely

unsettled. Across the bay, in the place of

the towns that today called Senglea and

Vittoriosa, fisherman lived among the

ruins left by Phoenicians and Arabesques.

The center of Malta at that time was

Mdina, which is located in the middle of

the island. However, the order soon

realized the strategically importance of

Grand Harbor and between 1530 and 1565

they founded Birgu, (today’s Vittoriosa)

Senglea, and Bormula, (today’s

Conspicula). The collective name for these

settlements in our time is Three Cities. In

1565, after the great siege, one of the grand

masters of the order, Jean Parisot de la

Valette decided to relocate the capital city.

Today Valetta is a busy capital that

overgrows the one-time city walls. As I

walk through the city I see rows of

windows carved out of the stone, stone

bridges and buildings. It seems for me that

the city is a masterpiece of some stone-

mason giant because it is hard to imagine

how humans had the strength to create all

this.

The basic building material of the

island is still the locally produced lime-

stone. The colure of this stone is ranging

from golden-yellow to middle brown,

which gives a unique Mediterranean image

to the buildings that never have colored

walls. Only the closed wood balconies are

painted to various types of colors and add

some cheerfulness to the city view.

The capital city has many sites to

offer. Inside the city wall we can walk

among the old, historical streets of Valetta,

we can visit the grand master’s palace, or

the Baracca gardens and we must see the

city’s most gorgeous building the St.

John’s Co-cathedral, dedicated to John the

Baptist.

What from outside is look like an

average church with the usual limestone

walls turns into a lavish cathedral inside.

The used to be simple but considerable

building was built in the 16th century. The

inside was remade in lipping baroque style

in the 17th

century. The breath-taking

nave’s walls are covered with

embossments with golden color, and the

ceiling gives room to the murals that

present 18 scenes from the life of John the

Baptist. Each aisle is dedicated to a grand

master, with sculptures crests, symbols and

scenes from their life. From the nave a

richly decorated wooden door leads us into

a well-kept room, where the most

significant painting of Malta is displayed.

The Beheading of John the Baptist was

painted by the Italian baroque painter,

Michelangelo da Caravaggio. In this room

a safety guard makes sure that no one

11

Closed balcony in the city of Valetta.

In the capital city old and new are collated together.

12

makes a picture of the invaluable artifact.

The floor of the cathedral is also

unique. Three hundred seventy-five

knights, members of the Order, buried

under marble plates covering the floor.

Each grave stone has a Latin script,

presenting the heroic achievements of the

knight buried underneath, and there are

also symbols: blazons, skulls and skeletons

carved into the stones.

The nave of the StJohn’s Co-Cathedral. The masters’ of the order.

13

main altar and the artifacts displayed artifacts on it are gifts from the grand

14

Small windows of flats that are carved into the rock wall.

15

Across the street from the cathedral

in a restaurant called Luchiano, where I

had the best dish ever, a perfect medium

rare steak with octopus stew, I met a young

Hungarian waitress who told me that the

crowded streets of Valetta become deserted

after seven o’clock because the capital city

has no nightlife at all. The party centers of

the area are St.Julian's, Sliema and

Paceville, crowded resorts about ten

minutes from Valetta, popular among

tourists and the young and less reserved

residents of the island.

The southern part of the island is not as

popular among tourist as the other parts of

Malta. The reason for that is the substantial

industrial growth of the area, for example,

the implementation of Malta’s second

power-plant, however, this is the part

where we can find the small villages where

fishery is still the main income resource

and the small fishing ships carrying the

trade mark of Malta, the Eye of Horus that

protect fisherman back from the

Phoenician times.

The Grand Harbor.

16

Large cliff with a window that can bee seen on the way to Gozo.

such formations

17

The small bays of the islands,Comino and Gozo are full of with

18

The main island of Malta that used to

reject all effects of globalization, for

example, the big colored commercial

displays, has become a crowded

cosmopolite. If we want to go back in time

we have to visit Gozo, the little brother of

Malta, which preserved its innocence from

the wonders of the modern word.

Travelling through the narrow but bright

and clean streets of the villages and towns

we can picture how Malta possibly looked

like at the colonial times. The time is

stopped in that little island where the

residents are all know each other. Their

keys are left outside of the doors for the

visitors who are free to go in without

knocking. There is another meaning to the

key in the door. The residents of Gozo

were fisherman working in large ships on

the sea. The captains of the ship always

made sure that after arriving to the harbor

the crew stayed on the ship till the

morning, so the wives of the fisherman

could finish their business at home. The

key in the door also meant ‘you can come

in; nobody else is here with me’.

Xlendi Bay, the most popular beach of Gozo reminds us to the historical past.

19

Limestone window of ʛgantija, the Neolithic, megalithic temple complex of Gozo.

20

II- Qawra, the inland sea, surrounded with the typical maltase holiday homes. These

small garage like two storey buildings have a bedroom upstairs and a large door

downstairs that makes it easy to carry the sun beads in and out. The house itself is only used as a shelter.

The Blue Lagoon. The most beautiful beach of the island of Comino is popular among both tourists and locals.

21

Misleading Name, Misleading Professionalism. What are the images immediately popping into

our mind when we see the word spa? For me it is a very quiet place where one can rest in the hands of

professionals. Although, I know that this word in Hungary is often associated with the hotel’s wellness

section, where one can enjoy resting in the Jacuzzi, sauna, or wellness pool, I definitely expected something

else when I visited Thermal Spa Siklós.

The wellness center is located near to the

center of Siklós, although it is relatively

difficult to find it, because of the huge

building site that stands between the hotel and

the main road.

I can’t deny that the building itself and the

gate system are very up to date. After buying

your ticket, (the cost of an all-day adult ticket

in weekdays is 2.500 HUF, and there is a

discount for the residents of Siklós and for

handicaps) you receive a card that you have

to slide at the gate and later on at machine at

the lockers, to view your locker number. It is

also used as a key for the lockers. This

system is a great newness after the general

practice of such places, where you usually get

a key that is fixed on a rubber band around

your wrist.

Unfortunately, both men and women are

jammed together into one locker room, so if

you want to change your clothes you have to

get in line for one of the three changing

rooms, provided to ten – twenty people

staying at the locker room at the same time.

Also, there are no benches to sit down in this

area to, for example put on your shoes, or just

simply put down your bag.

But do not think that the struggle is over

with leaving the locker room. After jumping

through the dirty feet washing water you

arrive to the pool area. Here you can find four

adult and three child pools surrounded with

sun beds. The first thing caught my eye in

that area was not the decorative interior or the

two giant slides, but the food that was all over

the place. Half loaf of bread displayed on a

sun bed, sandwiches and a thermos are

sticking out of a beach bag. How can the

management let people eat in the pool area?

How much of that food ends up somehow in

the water?

After checking out the restaurant I realized

that the reason for that is that the wellness

section has only one restaurant and a very

little juice bar. In these areas people are not

allowed to eat their own food, but that would

be uncomfortable anyway, because even

paying guests can hardly find open spots in

the tiny little room, where there are only eight

tables and since the waiting line is long and

the prices are high people prefer to bring their

own food.

The pool area itself is very demanding, the

four adult pools offer fascinating services,

such as, water massage beds, foot massages,

waist massages, massage cabins, water

springs,

BLOG SECTION

22

neck showers, a twisted passage and the

previously mentioned huge slides, at least

according to the website of the place. As a

matter of fact, the small harnesses inside of

the pools provide only one kind of steam, I

suppose, both for waist and neck and there is

a water massage bad and a twisted passage,

but all the other services listed on the

webpage are invisible, at least for me, but it is

possible that I missed them because of the

huge crowd.

The whole pool area resembles to a sardine

can. It is difficult to move without bumping

into the wet bodies of complete strangers. I

understand that serving people and making

huge money is priory in this institution, but if

night clubs have to control the number of

people that can stay within the building why

cannot wellness centrums have the same

rules. I believe that a crowded pool is just as

dangerous as a crowded nightclub and after

checking in large number of people the

management should put out the “full up!”

sign.

The other thing just as annoying as the

crowd is the constant screaming of children. I

understand that the place is a children

friendly environment with 3 child pools, but

while cannot these pools be separate area?

Where can adults enjoy relaxing when the

sitting pool, or Turkish bath that is offered for

those wanting to rest are full of the crowd and

with smooching couples?

Even the sauna area with its six very small

indoor saunas (2 steam cabin, 2 infra, 2

Finnish) is extremely loud.

The only quiet place within the complex is

the outdoor Russian sauna, which resembles

to the Finnish sauna very much, the only

difference is that the Russian sauna is much

bigger and you have to go out to the cold in a

bathing suit to get there.

Resting in the calmness of the Russian

sauna I asked around what other people think

about the place because I thought that I might

become too picky. A very nice lady told me

that they have been visiting the place

regularly since it opened up in august 2010.

She said that the particular day I went there

was a relatively slow day, because there is

usually a much bigger crowd. She also told

me that it is more of the children’s place than

the adults’ and maybe because of that she can

see a large quality decay. The upstairs’ salt

cave has no salt anymore; the equipment of

the playing area is scrimpy. The best spot

according to her was the outside swimming

pool but it is closed for the winter.

Do not get me wrong. I am not against

children or family friendly places. I just think

that it should be emphasized more in the

advertisements and the website of the place

that it is more likely a place for a family

getaway than for a quiet day for resting as a

Spa title would suggest.

23

INTERVIEW SECTION

Tourism Through My Eyes – In my interview with Adrienne Nagyné Stumpf, the founder and

manager of Pyramid Travel Agency, Komló, she speaks about her carrier, the trends in tourism then and

now, the changes in the quality of offers, the effects of the depression and the mutinous word on tourism.

When did you start to work in the travel

business?

It was 17 years ago. I worked in several

travel agencies in Pécs. The first agency

was Mecsek Tours that was the place

where I thought that I have found the

appropriate job for me. I was twenty and

had no previous training in tourism, only a

school leaving exam and two foreign

language certificates. First I gained the

experience and then I started to study

tourism.

What was your position at these offices?

In the beginning I was a cashier in the

forint cash register, than I got a certificate

for selling foreign currency as well. Later

on I sold travel packages and airplane

tickets. In the last few years of my career

as an employee I was an office manager.

Did you organize travel packages as

well?

Yes, but only a few. In Mecsek Tours I had

to organize package deals to Greece, Italy,

and some school excursions. But these

were easy, no contingents or charters were

needed. All the other agencies were I have

worked were resale offices.

Did you have to guide the tours that you

have planned?

No, I didn’t. One of the reasons was that

the only qualification I didn’t have in the

field of tourism is the tourist guide

certificate. Once or twice I had to

accompany a bus to Greece, but it was not

guiding.

I assume that during these seventeen

years you had a lot of opportunities to

travel. Where have you been?

Yes, the organizing travel agencies

conduct so called „study tours” to where

they invite the assistants from the resale

offices. These study tours help the

assistants to get to know the destinations,

hotels and other programs and with that

support the salesmanship. You can

convince the passengers easier to book a

holiday program if you have been there

and have your own experiences. Of course,

you cannot visit all the places you sell. I

visited Greece by ship, Cyprus, Tunisia,

Egypt, Austria, and Mallorca. But if you

work in this business you have several

other opportunities to travel for a

discounted price. And of course, I like to

travel, so I have been in Slovakia, Israel,

USA, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba,

Croatia, and Romania as well.

24

25

Which one was your favorite destination

among these countries?

My favorite was Cuba, that’s the reason

why I have been there three times. The

atmosphere of that country is very special

and the people are very friendly. They are

very poor, but still, very happy. I like their

mentality.

Were you considered staying there?

I was dreaming about it, but I have a very

tight relationship with my family and my

homeland. I cannot imagine my life

abroad.

How does your role changed now that

you have your own resale agency?

It was very easy to open an own agency,

because during the years I spent as an

employee I have established the

connections with the travel organizer

companies. After getting the permissions

for the office, I made connections with

them and started to sell their trips. In the

first six years I worked alone and I had to

organize everything on my own including

marketing, finance, sale, and so on. In

summertime it was very hard working

alone, because this is the busiest season for

travel offices.

Your agency is located in a relatively

small town. How does that affect your

business?

Komló is not so small; it is the second

biggest town of Baranya county. The

problem is that since this is an ex-miner

city the economy declines, therefore the

potential clientele is very narrow. This

situation is worse year after year.

What are the most popular tourist

destinations? How traveling habits

changed throughout the years?

In the summertime the most desired trips

are Greece, Croatia, Tunisia, Spain, and

Italy. In the last few years, because of the

increasing extra expenses for the trips by

airplane, people prefer going by bus or by

car. In wintertime the most popular

program is skiing in Austria, Slovakia, and

Italy. Before these extremely high airport

taxes and kerosene fees, this time of the

year Tunisia and Egypt was also popular.

The number of booked exotic holidays is

very low. People like to travel, but they

cannot afford expensive trips. They search

for one day packages for neighboring

countries or domestic travels so they don’t

have to give up traveling.

Is that tendency different in other,

bigger cities?

I think it is similar in the whole country, or

perhaps in the whole world. On one hand,

the spread of the internet made it easy to

organize the vacations from home, leaving

out the agencies. On the other hand, the

economical crisis decreases the

discretionary income, and we know that

this is the money what people can spend on

buying things which is above their living.

26

It seems to me, the world is becoming

more and more dangerous. For example,

the blasting in London, the rebellions in

Egypt, Tunisia and Greece, the flood in

Thailand and so on. What effect this

events have on traveling appetite?

In my opinion, the media shows all these

events more dangerous than they really are.

But people always believe what they see

on television and it is very difficult to

convince the traveler of the opposite. After

these events it takes a lot of time to gain

people’s confidence again. Interestingly, if

these problems occur in Europe (Greece),

people are more trustful and they don’t

hesitate to travel, not like if it happens in

Africa (Egypt, Tunisia). A natural disaster

can happen anywhere and anytime, nobody

can influence it. This is the nice thing in

this business, that you cannot predict

anything. The outcome of the holiday

depends on the organizing agency, the

circumstances of the target country and it

also depends on the traveller.

How does the drastic change of currency

rates affect the business?

When the tour operators put together their

catalogues, they have to calculate in

advance for almost 4-6 months. That is the

reason why they use a higher rate for the

currency exchange. Of course sometimes

the drastic change cannot be predicted. In

these cases the tour operator can raise the

price of the package at least in 21 days

before departure, but if the raise exceeds

8%, compared to the original price of the

package, the client has the right to desist

from the trip. It is very unpleasant to

inform the clients about the changes in the

price, because they calculated a fix amount

and for some people it is difficult to bring

up the extra cost.

How do you see the future of your

business and tourism as a whole?

Everything depends on the financial

changes of the world. People not just like

to travel they need a holiday. If you can

rest up, your work will be more effective,

but if you don’t have the money for

recreation it is a negative spiral. You will

be more stressed and your work will worth

less. On the other hand, there are a lots of

countries that live from tourism. For them

this is the only possibility to raise the GDP.

These are: Tunisia, Egypt, Dominican

Republic and so on. The international

trends will have an affect on the tourism

and the future cannot be predicted.

27

PHOTO GALLERY SECTION

The autumn for me is……

28

. . . . . ROMANTIC THE CASTLE OF SIKLÓS

29

30

. . . . . DELICIOUS HOSSZÚHETÉNY

31

32

. . . . . CHALLENGING KŐVÁGÓSZŰLÓS

33

34

. . . . . BRIGHT LAKE ORFŰ

35

36

. . . . . COLOURFUL LAKE SIKONDA

37

38

. . . . . MYSTERIOUS THE VALLEY BETWEEN SIKONDA AND MÁNFA

39

40

. . . . . SAD THE VILLAGE OF PÜSPÖKSZENTLÁSZLÓ

41

42

THE ONE AND ONLY ISSUE OF VIEW POINT MAGAZINE. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO

HELPED ME! EDITORS: Teodora For, Tibor Bende, Ildikó Bende, TECHNICAL SUPPORT: Tibor

Bende, AUTHOR: Ildikó Bende, PHOTO: Ildikó Bende, Zoltán Sárvári.

This is Suzy, three years old Hungarian Pointer.

Suzy WALKS at least once every day. She loves to

PLAY with her ball. She sleeps in a soft pillow in

a WARM SHELTER. Her food contains enough nutrient

and vitamin to keep her STRONG and HEALTY. Suzy is

a HAPPY dog. What about YOUR DOG?

RESPECT YOUR PET AND IT WILL

RESPECT YOU!