ESSR - 37th Congress of the European Society for Surgical Reasearch

Social Program

Welcome Cocktail
Wednesday, May 22, 2002, 19:30

All registered delegates and accompanying persons are welcome to a reception in the Móra Ferenc Museum.

Organ Concert
Thursday, May 23, 2002, 20:00

The Dóm cathedral, also called "Votive Church" close to the university buildings will be the location for the organ concert.

Gala Dinner
Friday, May 24, 2002

In the Kiskunság National Park, Hungary preserves 86,000 acres of a landscape of sand dunes and pastures, as well as memories of a way of life that has inspired poets and painters. Horses, grey, forked-horn cattle and shaggy Racka sheep with corkscrew-shaped horns thrive on the grasslands. The biggest and best-known of the six separate areas comprising the national park is the Bugac-puszta, now a top tourist attraction.

Program
18.00 Departure from Szeged (the journey takes approximately 1 hour, but if you have come so far, it is a must experience)
19.00 Arrival to the Bugac Inn (csárda)
- Horse show - Wranglers (Csikós) will present their horses’ skill.
- Dinner - The Inn will serve typical “puszta’’ food, cooked in stew-pot, or grilled on open fire and delicious drinks, while live music entertains the participants. A light overcoat is recommended.
23.30 Departure from Bugac-puszta
00.30 Arrival to Szeged

Tourist Programs

1 Walks in Szeged

a) Museums of Szeged

By the Tisza river-bank at the back of the Palace to the Public Education (Museum) the remnants of a fortress can be found that used to have strategic importance for centuries. The exhibitions of the Museum present the lifestyle of Avars who lived here in the 5th-6th centuries A.D. A collection of Hungarian masters and local folk art are also exhibited.
The program is organized for 5-15 persons and takes 2 hours.

b) Walk in the Downtown

Szeged’s city centre is famous for its architecture: richly ornamented houses with decorative turrets were built at the end of the XIX. century. Walking through the squares the eclectic and art nouvau glories of Szeged can be enjoyed.
The walk ends at the famous ‘’Virág’’ Confectionery.
The program is organized for 5-15 persons and takes 2.5-3 hours.

c) Szeged’s Historical Monuments

Starting from the Tisza river-bank we take a sight-seeing bus to the four main parts of the city, stopping at three rather different churches: the Franciscan church in the Lower-town (one of the oldest monuments of Szeged), the Votive Church, which is the symbol of Szeged, and one of the most beautiful Synagogues of Europe.
The program is organized for 5-15 persons and takes 3 hours.

2 TOUR - Folk architecture

ÓPUSZTASZER
The Village Museum in the Ópusztaszer National History Memorial Park provides a view into the development of market towns embracing a hundred year in time between the middle of 19th-20th centuries. In this ethnographic museum the Csongrád County people’s original folk architecture and lifestyle is presented.

CSONGRÁD
The town situated at the meeting of rivers Tisza and Körös used to be the county seat between the 10th-13th centuries. Csongrád County received its name after this settlement. The thatched peasant houses of the Inner-city are protected architectural monuments. These buildings are from the 18th-19th centuries and are still inhabitated. Partly they serve as museum and partly as tourist houses mainly during the summer and autumn. Lunch is served in the Kemence Inn which is located in one of the peasant houses. With the delicious roast meat the Csongrád red wine goes perfectly well.

Program
09.00 Departure from Szeged
09.30 Arrival to Ópusztaszer
Coffee, soft drink in the Szeri Restaurant.
Visiting the open-air Village Museum
11.00 Departure from Ópusztaszer
11.50 Arrival to Csongrád
Visiting the Inner-city peasant houses and the meeting of rivers Tisza and Körös. Lunch with tasting red wine in the Kemence Inn.
16.00 Departure from Csongrád.
17.00 Approx. arrival to Szeged.

3 Excursion Dedicated to the Folk Art of the Great Hungarian Plain

Visiting the activities of the Creative House of the Southern Great Hungarian Plain in Szeged. Excursion by bus to Hódmezõvásárhely, which is famous for pottery. Visiting of a local potter. From here travelling to the nearby Mártély. This village is a fascinating
settlement forming part of a nature protected area and famous for its folk arts and artists. We visit a wood-cutter and a painter here.
The program is organized for 15-20 persons and takes 5 hours.

09.00 Departure from Szeged
10.00 Arrival to Hódmezõvásárhely
12.00 Departure from Hódmezõvásárhely
12.30 Arrival to Mártély
13.00 Lunch in Mártély
15.00 Departure from Mártély
16.20 Approx. arrival to Szeged

4 WINE TOUR - In Two Regions of the Great Hungarian Plain

PUSZTAMÉRGES
A dynamically developing tiny village with great hospitality where village tourism getting more and more popular.
The natural endowments here favour first of all white wines. In one of the wine cellars
tasting of local wines and enjoying the folklore of the village is possible. Following wine tasting, lunch is served in the Forró Inn the cuisine of which is in good repute.

HAJÓS
This village is a famous vineyard of the Great Hungarian Plain. Following the Turkish occupation (17th century) Germans settled down here. Cellars carved in loess soil and press-houses with thatched roof are setting on both sides of the road. The Cabarnet red wine of Hajós gaines very good position in world competitions.

Program
09.00 Departure from Szeged
10.00 Arrival to Pusztamérges
Wine tasting, folklore and lunch in the Forró Inn
14.00 Departure from Pusztamérges
15.00 Arrival to Hajós
Visiting the cellar village and tasting of different wines of Hajós (Cabarnet red, Hosszúhegyi white)
17.30 Departure from Hajós
19.20 Approx. arrival to Szeged

5 Post Congress Tour

FAMOUS VINEYARD - EGER

Among the towns situated in highlands the most compelling is surely Eger, endowed with wine, thermal waters and nearly 200 historic monuments. Eger was one of the early Hungarian towns, significant enough to have a bishop from the beginning of the 11th century.
Numerous traces of the Turkish occupation still can be found in Eger like the minaret, mosques and baths. Its one time so famous fortress is now restored. A casemate network runs under the houses of the town below.
One very important speciality of Eger is wine, giving home to - Egri bikavér, meaning Bull’s blood of Eger, a widely known Hungarian red wine abroad.

Program
09.00 Departure from Szeged
12.00 Arrival to Eger
Wine tasting and lunch at one of the traditional cellars in Szépasszony’ valley
14.30 Sight-seeing in Eger
17.00 Departure from Eger
18.30 Arrival to Budapest