Szeged market with templom in the distance

On Saturday we went to Szeged to visit Györgyi’s mom for her 62nd birthday and to enjoy the sunny weather.  Our first stop was at the Szeged Piac (market) for some fresh flowers.

fresh flowers straight from a local garden

The market in Szeged is quite similar to those around Budapest, but there are notably fewer young people walking the aisles, especially around 8am, which is about the time we were there.

brick aisleways where vendors set up stands

I’ve always thought about Budapest as a generous, old woman.  It’s a city of old women, it seems, from the parks to the riverfront walkways.  From women gossiping window to window on the backstreets to scarf-covered market goers.

cold morning--big basket

But it occurred to me that Szeged, especially this particular market, is absolutely reminiscent of this.  Old women vendors.  Old women market-goers.

My grandma Petty wears these scarves

Not that there aren’t any men.

This guy had a shot of Palinka and is now eating a langos

We saw a few having a drink near the entrance, a man and a cat at the grainery, and we even accidentally bumped into Györgyi’s brother, Zoltan who was shopping for veggies for dinner.

guarding the grains

For me it’s such a comfort to be among the market-goers.  Some dressed in old coldwar jackets and hats, others weaving bicycles through the aisles, a few with the traditional Hungarian aprons and selling golden apples and potatoes plucked fresh from the Tisza-enriched grounds.

Golden apples--and I don't know why the sign is in English

I know, I write about the markets all of the time.  This market or that market.  But I can’t get enough of the pace there.  Saturday morning.  First day of Spring.  It’s exactly what I want to be doing.