A hotel in search of lost time

The Budapest Sun’s Judith Láng reviews Karcag’s brand new bio-hotel and has a great time


When I heard about an environmentally- conscious bio-hotel, the first of its kind in Hungary, I immediately pricked up my ears. It sounded like an extremely ambitious idea, on the edges of the Hungarian Puszta, in a pretty unknown small town. Frankly, I assumed that it would be more lip service than for real.
What’s that all about and why did they do it ? I asked from one of the creators , but since I had no answers and my curiosity was strong, I had to see it myself. I took the train and 2 hours later I was at Karcag, a small town on the Alföld, which I haven’t heard too much about.
The bio-hotel Nimród is in the center of town and when I arrived there on a sunny, but cool November day I was pleasantly surprised. The four-star hotel looked like a little jewel box .
I was the only guest this time, since they just had opened a few days earlier, and the numerous young and smiling staff was all for my service. I instantly felt like a queen.
The light-filled interiors were covered with the most luxurious marble, stone, wood, wrought-iron and I found elegant furniture with fresh flower arrangements all over. The small-big hotel has 14 double rooms, and four suites. My standard room was not only large and beautiful,but, as I learned, it was unique all the way.
The owner of the hotel Mr. Imre Hubai told me about the concept. “ We are firm believers that there are more and more allergy sufferers who are victimized by the unhealthy environment, full of pesticides and unhealthy food. Our food and the materials we have used in the hotel are all environment-friendly. We use local, natural materials, marble, stone, ecological paints, only real wooden floors and furniture. We make sure that even the cleaning products and the soaps or tooth brushes in the bathrooms are allergy-safe and environmentally friendly.”
“The hotel was my father’s idea, who wanted to promote the bio- products of our farm. The farm, which my parents had started 18 years ago, has been the largest bio-farm in Hungary and the products are mainly exported. Our best clients are the Northern countries, like Sweden, Norway, Denmark and, to some degree, the UK. We are selling a lot of bio-products to the British Royal Court as well, like grain crops, wheat, pork, gray-beef and lake fishes,” states Hubai proudly.
It sounded interesting enough because I learnt that Prince Charles, who is well known to be extremely environment-conscious, owns the largest bio-farms in Europe: 140 thousands hectares. Then, to my surprise I heard that the second largest bio- land, but not farm, in Europe is the Hortobágy National Park with its 55 thousands hectares.
The Hubai family established their name and wealth with their bio- farming.
”My parents were called plant-doctors after they finished the Agricultural College in the sixties. In 1990 they started their bio-farming and that has just kept on growing ever since. We hope that people will discover, sooner or later, the new-old ways of farming in our country. Hungary has a long way to go to get where Switzerland is, where the country is almost totally bio, or even Austria which is getting there, but one has to start somewhere,” adds Mr. Hubai.
As I slowly understand it, health is the middle name of all those bio-hotels in Europe,where they promise natural and gentle holidays. Those wellness centers all want to make a change in our self-destructive ways, how we handle nature and ourselves, and they want to save the environment.
Bio-hotels are an association of independent hotels offering holidays based around natural products. The pioneering eco-concept is mainly based on high quality in biological food, environment-friendly materials, and recycled products, for example, returnable bottles, etc.
I am a collector of good news and I got happy when I heard that the EU prohibits, in Hungary as well, three fourth of the pesticides presently used in agriculture, and a large part of the synthetic materials.
When the Hubai family decided to make their bio-hotel that was a way to put the crown on their achievements and it became a divine obsession.
They wanted to use their own grains, vegetables, fruits and meat products in their restaurant.
The hotel features a comfortably elegant restaurant, with a small bar where people can pop in for a glass of bio-beer or a coffee.
They have a cigar room with a fire-place and that’s the only place one can smoke, with the exception of the terraces. The medium-sized conference room has more space than the number of rooms in the hotel. When I entered the sun-drenched breakfast room with a museum quality tile-stove with chimney corner seats around it I was enthralled. I felt like grabbing a book and sitting there for hours. By the way, the breakfast, which is included in the room price, is an adventure in itself. I have never tried so many types of bio- fresh food. I was delighted with the crisp country-like bread, the butter with the taste of my childhood, the bio-eggs coming from free range chickens, the cheeses and the special “mangalica” and gray-beef salamis. I loved the jams and the honey, but was a tad skeptical about what makes a bee bio, and how the little beasts know which flowers to choose, since they fly all over and don’t stick to the healthy areas.
“ The bees are intelligent animals and if they have the choice between pesticide covered plants and natural ones they will choose the latter ones, it has been proved several times,” says Hubai.
I wonder about the kind of public the hotel is aiming for, because no one is going to come only for the bio-feeling.

Thermal tourism
“We have wonderful thermal baths around us and the hotel has some wellness services as well, like two kinds of saunas, and massages, naturally with bio-products. Karcag itself has a small thermal bath, Beregfürdô has a larger one only a 10-minute-drive away, while the world- famous Hajduszoboszló is only 54 km far from the hotel. Since the hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool for the time being, the price of the room includes a pass to one of the thermal baths in the vicinity. “
Then we get to the hunting. Well, frankly I am not hunting-friendly myself,but I listen.
“ It is a hunter’s paradise; rich in rabbits, pheasants, wild boar and deer and, if hunting is done properly, it is good for the environment,” Hubai states proudly.
The hotel has a hunting-room with a fireplace and even a separate locked place for the guns, since they aren’t allowed to be kept in the rooms.
Well, that’s a smart idea. In the meantime I am glad that I am the first guest and I don’t have to meet any hunters.
The culinary experience is not something which we can forget about. The hotel has a young, but prize-winning chef who prepares a great variety of dishes from game to vegetarian.
I am also fascinated with the wide range of bio-pálinka and I try a drop of the dogwood berry, two drops of the wild-cherry and I would take both home any time. The broccoli-pumpkin soup is lovely to look at and eat, the fish I choose is pike-perch and it is beautifully decorated, but too dry and salty for my taste. Finally, I taste the house dessert, but it’s nothing to write home about.
I am curious how can a fish be bio-fish.
It turns out that it is the food what the fish eats and the healthy environment makes a fish bio. I learn to my great surprise and joy that the fish industry in Hortobágy is all bio and the Tisza is the cleanest river in Europe. That is the reason that they export a lot of lake and river fishes to the UK.
The restaurant with the lovely wood- heated jade-green tile stove is a conversation piece, and the live music with the synthesizer is quite pleasant. I don’t even mind that the days are short and I can relax in the hotel. The prices aren’t low; they are almost the equivalent of a first class restaurant, but the drinks are well priced. The exception is the coca-cola; for me it’s going a bit too far to label it as bio, and I find it more of a joke than a drink.
I enjoyed the countryside with the cows peacefully grazing in the ditch, and a few chickens diligently scratching on the side of the road . Everything was so close-by that in a half-day excursion we could comfortably see the nearby Hortobágy, have a lazy lunch in typical “csárda” and try the famous thermal bath in Hajdúszoboszló, which is open all year around. The bath even in the winter has about a dozen thermal-pools set at various temperatures.

The BpSun Staff

12.12.2008