Beyond this somewhat unusual introduction, let’s see what you can and should do beyond wine tasting in the production area of the Szekszárd wine district. At its southern extreme, i.e. in Báta, you can find the Black Stork House, where you can learn about the most important, and protected, birds in the area. The pride of Bátaszék is the downy oak next to the St Orban Chapel, which even won the Tree of the Year award in 2016. There is a wonderful view of the city, Sárköz and the Danube in the distance. Talking of Sárköz, it’s worth watching out for the various events that are held in the towns and villages of Sárkös each year. They combine preservation of traditions with modern music programmes and ethnography with gastronomy. You can explore Gemenc on the forest railway starting from the nearby Pörböly ecotourism centre, where you can also rent bicycles, canoes and kayaks. Tour guides are also available by prior arrangement. If you book in time (2-3 days in advance), you can tour Gemenc by horse-drawn carriage or hunting carriage. Outside the hunting season, anyone can stay in the Karapancsa Chateau, even in the room where German Emperor Wilhelm II or Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I once slept.

In Szekszárd, the gorges (as the loess roads are called here) offer countless excursion possibilities. These are also used by winemakers for organising their wine tasting events. Those who enjoy classic sights and traditional sightseeing should hang out in Garay Square, under the statue of the poet who first used the expression Bikavér, or Bull’s Blood. Of course, the picture would not be complete without mentioning that Mihály Babits and Miklós Mészöly also have memorial houses in Szekszárd. It seems that wine and poetry really go hand in hand. The ruins of the former abbey can be found in the courtyard of the county hall, while the city hall and the city centre church (the largest single-nave Roman Catholic church in Central Europe) are also worth a visit. If you want to view the city from above, you don’t even have to fly, it’s enough to climb to the top of Bartina, where there is a small lookout tower with bunches of grapes awaiting hikers, while the Bati-kereszt lookout offers great views over the Szekszárd Hills. If you need a coffee to get you going in the morning, Szekszárd has one of the country’s best coffeeshops and a wonderful Gingerbread Museum. However, everything is so centred around wine here, that you shouldn’t really be surprised if someone offers you a Kadarka ice cream in the summer heat. Try it, it’s really delicious.