Setater Festival

This week we are enjoying the Setater Festival. Setater is the lovely walking area in front of the Cathedral/Basilica. The festival brings amazing and wonderful music groups to Pecs.

The walking area is lined with kiosks selling wine. Last evening I went on a walk through here for a bite to eat and didn't have much luck, but one could surely try at least 100 kinds of wine.

On Monday evening I went to a wonderful concert by Cantores Minores, in English called the Helsinki Cathdral boys and young men choir. This was truly a treat. Their musical skills is extraordinary. Not only did they sing in the usual choir formation shown above, but twice they moved in a semi-circle around the audience. The sound within the Cathedral is magnificent. This was my third concert in this space -- each has been wonderful, and now after three experiences, it obviously is not an accident. The acoustics are superb!

As we left the Cathedral another concert was starting. This Korean drum group looked and sounded interesting. However, it was now 9 PM and I had not any dinner.

Walking back to my flat revealed this lovely sight on Szecheny Ter.

Last evening I went to the Dom Museum located in the Cathedral Square area. What a treat! The Katona Twins play classical guitar. They perform world wide, including Carnegie Hall in New York City. Their concert in some ways transported all of us elsewhere. Classical guitar seems so Spanish, and the venue certainly helped with that feeling. The crowd loved this so much. Perhaps you have heard the rythmic European applause on television. Hearing it and participating it for real has been one of the treats of this experience. Not only are these young men magnificent musicians, they are also very generous. In response to the crowd they played three encores. Certainly worth the $4.00 I paid for this ticket! And I must comment that this is the first time in awhile that I've paid for any musical event.

On a Polish blog one of my ex-pat friends wrote about TV screens appearing everywhere showing the World Cup. Americans surely don't get the World Cup. This is my second time in Europe at World Cup time, but the first time, in the early 1970s, required everyone to go to newspaper walls to read the news about the games!

Here there are also TV screens in restaurants, coffee shops and bars. The picture above comes from Kossuth Ter where a large screen has been installed in the square. One can just sit down and watch.

I've acquired a bit of a new job. Some instructors in the Faculty of Medicine have asked me to proofread their medical terminology text. It has 19 chapters and I've been through only three, so I'd best get back to work!