Handcraft trip 19-26.8.2011, part 1

In general

Käsillä ry is a handcarft association in Helsinki and they arrange yearly a one week handcraft trip, where the idea is to get to know local handcraft in other countries, mainly in Europe. This year the trip headed for Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I tagged along, as the youngest one, but I still had a blast.

Hungary

We arrived in Budapest on Friday morning and went directly for some supplyshopping (meaning handcraftshops!). After one intens hour our trip continued to the castle, were they every august arrange a handcraft festival. It is actually the biggest in Europe. The castle was full of stands and we spent the hole afternoon there. It was more or less 30 degrees, so it was pretty hot.

Stands on the castle yard.

Blacksmiths in work.

More stands and the Danube. This was my second time in Budapest and I really like the city.

This bags are made of one long zipper and are therefore called zip bags. I couldn´t decide which color, so I bought both :)

At five o´clock we met at our bus and drove down to southern Hungary.

Pécs

We spent two nights in Pécs, which is the childhood city of our guide. The city is smaller than Budapest, but really lovely. The first night I went and had some dinner and drinks with some of the ladies. The next day we had a small walk in the center. Unluckily (or should I say luckily?) that day was a national festive day, so all the shops were closed.

This is a compulsory photo for me, because I have a similar from my first trip to Hungary. Aren´t those pink phones just to die for??? :)

Hörpintö. It was easy for a Finn to understand what you get there.

Hmmm.. They put out special signs where you can do your business in the park?? It took a while for me to understand the logic of this toilet. Apparently there used to be stairs down and later they´ve closed it, but left the sign.

Local handcraft made by a woman who makes these kind of necklaces as a hobby. Love it.

At noon we went to the local handcraft association and had a hole day course in some typical Hungarian handcrafts. I never thought that I would have to make embroidery after sixth grade, but how wrong wasn´t I. My group started with the embroidery and after a few hours and a lot of sweating and hard work I actually managed to Finnish my lavender bag....

...though the result looks like it´s still me in sixth grade. lol. Well, now I know embroidery is NOT my thing. You have to try everything in life, right?

Half way trough the course we had a nice local lunch, starting with a chicken soup, for main course we had typical Hungarian maize porridge with trimmings and finnished of with fresh fruits.

Maize porridge with trimmings:

After lunch my group finally got to the felting (and yes we had a laugh at the other group, who had to struggle to get the thread on the needle!). I ended up felting a keyholder.

I think it still needs a few black pearls for the last touch.

Thanks to the national festive day, there were a lot of happening in the evening. In one park there were even handcraft stands and I picked up a teddy bear.

I´m calling him my therapy bear.

 

The main square. I just wanted you to see how the city looked after the festive the night before. No garbage! I think we Finns have something to learn from the Hungarians..

Croatia

On Sunday morning we headed for the border and drove trough Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia is more or less countryside in this part of the country. Ou, and we got a stamp in the passport when we crossed the border in Croatia! (Small things sometimes makes me happy :P)

Coffee break in Croatia.

The border to Bosnia and Herzegovina was dull: we had to walk and they didn´t stamp our passports. :( We arrived in Tuzla in the evening, but about Bosnia and Herzegovina I will tell you in another update.