http://www.unitarius.ro/ Unitarian Church of Romania (alas, English portal does not function)

http://www.unitarius.hu/english/uhistory.htm History of the Hungarian Unitarian Church

http://www.ejwebdesign.com/samples/uuhistory/europe.htm timeline of Unitarian history in Europe
http://www.uupcc.org/ UU Partner Church Council
http://www.firstparish.org/cms/content/view/140/88/ Partner Church Committee of the First Parish in Concord (MA), UU
http://www.frsuu.org not much specific to the partner church, an area of opportunity!

Our partner church village in Transylvania.
Secuieni in Romanian

http://www.szekelyudvarhely.info/lang/en/civil.htm Website of Székelyudvarhely, by this account the second largest city in the county.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harghita_County Harghita County (judet) 85% Hungarian; 7% Unitarian; 65% Roman Catholic; population density 52/km2 and falling. [for comparison: Essex County 0.4% UU; population density 558/km2]
http://www.cchr.ro/jud/hren.html Another description in English of Harghita County, by the county council.

The birthplace of Unitarianism in Europe.
Cluj-Napoca in Romanian.

http://www.proteo.hu/kolozsvarkep/ Great images, but only in Hungarian.

http://www.clujnapoca.ro/e-album/?ref=2 Panoramic images of the city.

http://www.unitarius.hu/hazsongard/index.html - At this site you can find pictures about the graves of some Unitarians which are in Kolozsvar's most famous cemetery (the name of the cemetery is Hazsongard) - it's a pity that the site is only in Hungarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighi%C5%9Foara on Segesvár (Sighisoara in Romanian), at ~15 km/10 miles the closest town to the village of Úszékely. A medieval Saxon town about twice the population of Newburyport, its center is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
See also http://www.spirit.ro/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=
http://www.sighisoaraonline.com/ lists medical facilities in Segesvár, though only in Romanian.

http://www.htmh.hu/en/?menuid=0404 Detailed statistics and history from Hungary’s National Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad.

http://www.epce.ro/living.htm The “Living Heritage” program of our friends at the Environmental Partnership Foundation. Úszékely is in Harghita county (judet). The Partnership is based in the Harghita county seat of Miercurea Ciuc / Csíkszereda (pop. 50,000), ~70 km./45 miles from Újszékely.
http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/ A general information site on Romania, maintained by the “National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics.”
http://www.miercureaciuc.ro/hu/index.php Website of Csíkszereda (in Hungarian only, but the pictures are easy to translate)
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/policy_g_sinca_noua_final.pdf A report on environment and land use in Romania. Though it deals specifically with an area outside Transylvania, many of the current land uses and threats are the same.

http://www.hungary.com/main.php?folderID=853 Hungarian National Tourism Office, Budapest virtual tour

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4071/is_200211/ai_n9153614/pg_2 Waking up in Budapest, UU World 2002

John Dale’s “Top 10” List of Things to do in Budapest

1. Ride the beautifully restored M1 “Yellow Line” (Continental Europe’s oldest subway) out to Hero’s Square (Hosok tere) and stroll among the pantheon of famous Hungarians.
2. Take the elevator to the top of St. Stephen’s Basilica (open 9am – 5pm) for a great view of the city. For those with a morbid curiosity the cathedral is also home to the mummified right arm of King St. Stephen.
3. Tour the Dohany Street Synagogue. It is not open on Saturday and only open until 2pm on Sunday. This is the largest synagogue in Europe and one of the most unique anywhere. If it is already closed go around to the rear and view the moving “weeping willow” sculpture.
4. Ride the #2 or 2A trolley along the banks of the Danube for great views of Parliament, Castle Hill, Chain Bridge.
5. Walk across the Chain Bridge and take the cable car up to Castle Hill where you can stroll toward the Hilton Hotel and Fisherman’s Bastion for the post card picture of Pest and Parliament.
6. Shop at the Central Market (located at the southern end of the pedestrian Vaci street near Szabadsag bridge – directly across the river from the Gellert Hotel) for embroidery, linens & food stuffs.
7. Go to the Gellert baths (open 6am – 5pm) for the quintessential Budapest spa experience. It has been called “swimming in a cathedral”.
8. Visit the new “Museum of Terror” on Andrassy St. 2 ½ blocks east from the Oktogon metro stop. The museum is located in the former communist secret police building and provides a glimpse of life behind the Iron Curtain.
9. Have dinner at one of the outdoor cafes at Liszt Ferenc Square (1 block west of the Oktogon Metro stop).
10. Take a night cruise on the Danube. Boats depart from the embankment across from the Marriott Hotel as late as 10pm.

http://www.hungary.com/ Hungarian National Tourism Office

http://puszta.com/eng/hungary/cikk/fotopalyazat_2006 Photos of the puszta, the landscape between Budapest and Transylvania.

The following books are available through our splendid public library system. Most are not available in your local library, but can be requested through the Merrimac Valley Library Consortium. Plan ahead, it can take a week or more for a loan request to be filled. NB: Plan to read before you go, but not to carry more than a book or two on the journey. You won't need the weight!

History of the present : essays, sketches, and dispatches from Europe in the 1990s / by Timothy Garton Ash.
New York : Random House, 2000. 2000.
ISBN: 0375503536 :

The uses of adversity : essays on the fate of Central Europe / by Timothy Garton Ash.
New York : Random House, 1989. 1989.
ISBN: 0394575733 :

A history of the gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia / by David M. Crowe.
New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 1996. 1996.
ISBN: 0312129467 (pbk.) :

How we survived communism and even laughed / Slavenka Drakulić.
New York : W.W. Norton, 1992. 1992.
ISBN: 0393030768

Café Europa : life after communism / Slavenka Drakulić.
New York : Norton & Company, 1997. 1997.
ISBN: 0393040127

The Balkans : nationalism, war, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999 / Misha Glenny.
New York : Viking, 2000. 2000.
ISBN: 0670853380 ; 0140233776(pbk.)

Eastward to Tartary : travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus / Robert D. Kaplan.
New York : Random House, c2000. c2000.
ISBN: 0375705767 (pbk.) 0375502726 :

Balkan ghosts : a journey through history / Robert D. Kaplan.
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1993. 1993.
ISBN: 0312087012 :

The Balkans : a short history / Mark Mazower.
New York : Modern Library, 2002. 2002.
ISBN: 9780812966213 (pbk.) 081296621X (pbk.) :

The gypsies / Jan Yoors
New York, Simon and Schuster [c1967] [c1967]

Raggle-taggle; adventures with a fiddle in Hungary and Roumania,
by Starkie, Walter, 1894-
New York, E. P. Dutton & co., inc. [c1933] [c1933]

They were counted / by Miklós Bánffy ; translated by Patrick Thursfield and Kathy Bánffy-Jelen ; foreword by Patrick Leigh Fermor.
London : Arcadia Books : UNESCO Pub., 1999. 1999.
ISBN:
190085015X (Arcadia) :
9231035800 (UNESCO)
199085015X
(Book one of a trilogy)

Carpathian Castle / by Jules Verne. Edited by I. O. Evans.
by Verne, Jules, 1828-1905
Westport, Conn. : Associated Booksellers, l963.
(Who needs Dracula?)

Guidebooks on Romania, Hungary and Budapest are available in most libraries. They can be good for thumbnail histories and geographic descriptions, but don't plan to carry them. You don't need the weight!

Dear Newburyport Pilgrims,

Your arrival in Budapest is now just a bit more than one month away. This email is intended to provide you with some useful information about your trip, some last minute instructions, and some emergency telephone numbers to share with your loved ones should they need to reach you. Please print this out and bring it with you just in case.

If you have not done so already now is the time to read through your UUPCC Travel Guide. (If you do not have a copy, you can download it from http://www.uupcc.org/trips.html, go to "Resources for Travelers" near the bottom of the page.) Please read the section on money carefully. Now is the time to check with your bank and credit card companies to let them know that you will be traveling in Central and Eastern Europe and to verify that your card will not be blocked. Please do not bring Travelers Cheques. We also tend to have difficulty with ATM/Debit cards issues by local credit unions. If you are worried about your card working in Romania bring along $200-300 (or whatver amount you think you will want in spending money) in new $20 or $50 bills as an emergency stash.

The group is scheduled to arrive at 11:20am on Monday July 28th - British Airways #0866 from London. Betty Leb from the 1st Unitarian Church of Budapest will be waiting for you in the arrivals hall and assist you with your transfer to the hotel. When you deplane you will first need to clear passport control. There are usually several different ques. Get in a line that accepts "all passports". After passport control you will need to claim your luggage. If for some reason your luggage does not arrive you will need to file a claim with the baggage office. You are staying at the Fabius Hotel your first 2 nights. Their address is:
Fabius Hotel
Varosmajor utca 88
H-1122 Budapest
The telephone number is 00-36-1-489-3325. (From the US, dial 011-36-1-489-3325.)
Give this information to the baggage agent and they will arrange to have your luggage delivered to the hotel once it is located and brought to Budapest. After we have everyone accounted for we will proceed to the hotel, get you checked in, meet the early arrivers and then proceed with our first evening's itinerary.

All of you should arrive in one group. But just in case, here are instructions how to make your own way to the Fabius. There are two options for ground transport. The airport minibus is a shared service bus which serves all the hotels in the downtown area. Their counter is located in the middle of the arrivals lobby. Just let them know you want a one-way ticket to the Fabius Hotel (address above). It should cost you around $15, but may take 20-30 minutes until they get 4-5 people going to that part of the city. If you arrive with a small group of 2-3 others it may be less expensive to share a cab. The airport is served by a number of reputable cab companies, but we have had frequent fraud and overcharging by rogue drivers. Attached to this email is more cautionary information regarding cabs, but suffice it to say that you should look for a company name and phone number on the outside of the cab (Budapest cab companies usually have distintive telephone numbers like 222-2222, or 777-7777, etc). If you are not sure you can ask the cabbie to give you an approximate cost. Do not let them take your luggage until you are comfortable that you are not being "taken for a ride." You will also find tips for moving about Budapest independently, but you will be coordinating movements with the adults in your group.

Please share the following telephone numbers with your loved ones to use in case they need to contact you in the event of an emergency. Please remind them that Hungary is 6 hours ahead of EDT and Romania is 7 hours ahead. So when it is 12:00 in Boston it is 6pm in Budapest and 7pm in Romania. Do bear in mind that transcontinental mobile calls are very expensive.

John Dale (UUPCC travel coordinator) mobile phone - 011-40-742-796960
Zsolt Acs (trip leader) mobile phone - 011-40-740-915607
Unitarian Parish House - Ujszekely (Rev. Zsolt Jakab, Partner Church Minister) - 011-40-266-244768

Rev. Harold Babcock will also travel with a mobile phone, and will provide the number directly.

We look forward to greeting you in Budapest and to traveling with you this summer.

Sincerely,
John Dale
UUPCC Pilgrimage Service

Romania http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/romania.html

Hungary http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/hungary.html

Budapest (inc. Metro) http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-map.html