FRS Partner Church Pilgrimage to Transylvania
Itinerary - 27 July - 8 August 2008

Day 1 (S) – July 27 Depart Boston Logan for Budapest. Meet at Newburyport bus station between 2:00 and 2:15 pm. Bus leaves 2:30 sharp.

Day 2 (M) July 28 - Afternoon arrival at Ferihegy Airport, Budapest, Hungary. Transfer to hotel. Unscheduled afternoon ~ our group will make plans ~ to relax and explore. Group dinner & introductions. (John and Csilla Dale, UUPCC) Overnight Budapest hotel - TBD***. (D)

Day 3 (Tu) July 29 – Morning orientation session with UUPCC staff followed by visits to first & second Unitarian churches to meet with ministers and learn the history of the Unitarian church in Hungary. Group lunch. Afternoon tour of Hero’s Square to view the pantheon of famous Hungarians through the centuries, and the nearby Terror Museum to get a glimpse of life under the Communist police state. Group dinner & discussion with trip leaders.
Overnight Budapest hotel – TBD*** (BLD)

Day 4 (W) July 30 –. Morning visit to Statue Park, resting place of Budapest’s Soviet Realist statuary. Unscheduled afternoon (group, sub-group options) to engage in your chosen activities (shop in the Central Market, bike on Margit Island, swim in the Gellert Hotel wave pool). Evening cruise on the Danube with the group. Lunch and Dinner ~ group decides locations.
Overnight Budapest hotel – TBD*** (B)

Day 5 (Th) July 31 – Travel day. We depart Budapest after breakfast for Transylvania. Traditional Hungarian gulas lunch en route before border crossing into Romania. Evening arrival in village of Kisskapus (just outside of Kolozsvar) in time to watch the water buffaloes come home to be milked.
Dinner & overnight Dokkum Panzio – Kisskapus. (BLD)

Day 6 (F) Aug 1 – Unitarian tour of Kolozsvar. We visit First Church, which houses the rock upon which Francis David is said to have stood when he converted Kolozsvar to Unitarianism; the Unitarian High School building which also houses the HQ offices and dormitories; and the Madyars/Madgyars Church where Francis David once preached. Pizza lunch followed by unscheduled time (group will make a plan) in historic Kolozsvar city center before returning to Kisskapus for dinner & overnight. (BLD)

Day 7 (Sa) Aug 2 – Depart Kisskapus for Ujszekely via scenic back roads. En route we visit the “Alabaster Village” of Meszko to hear the story of Ferenc Balazs, hike and picnic in the spectacular Torda Gorge, and visit the “Church of the Edict” in Torda to see the place from which the Edict of Religious Tolerance was issued in 1568. Early evening arrival in Ujszekely for welcome reception & dinner with minister and host families.
Overnight Ujszkely – home stays. (BLD)

Day 8 (Su) Aug 3 – Sleep in. Joint American & Transylvanian youth participation in 11 am church service. Reception afterward with members of congregation. Afternoon tour of Ujszekely. Evening planning sessions to prepare for work project.
Overnight Ujszekely – home stays. (BLD)

Day 9 – 11 (M - W) Aug 4-6. Morning work on service project, working with members of our partner congregation. Group lunches followed by afternoon excursions including: A visit to the nearby medieval walled city of Segesvar/Sighisoara, purported birthplace of Vlad Tepes – aka Dracula; hiking in the country side; email session in the town of Szekelykeresztur; shopping for craft items in the pottery village of Korond. Farewell bonfire on Wednesday evening. Other dinner & evening programs TBD.
Overnight each night Ujszekely – home stays. (BLD)

Day 12 (Th) Aug 7 – Depart Ujszekely after breakfast for Sinaia. En route we tour the Black Church and have some unscheduled time in the pedestrian Brasso city center (lunch – group will make a plan) Climb high up into the Carpathian Mountains for our last night of the trip. Farewell dinner with group and UUPCC staff.
Overnight Sinaia – hotel TBD. (BD)

Day 13 (F) Aug 8 – Transfer to Bucharest OTP (2 hr drive) for return flight to Boston. (B)