Debrecen is the capital of the Great Hungarian Plain, a city of two hundred thousand people where the horizon is perfectly flat and the sky does most of the work. For centuries it was the stronghold of Hungarian Calvinism, so much so that it was nicknamed the Calvinist Rome, and its yellow Great Church, the largest Protestant church in the country, dominates the main square. It was here, in 1849, that Lajos Kossuth declared Hungary's independence from the Habsburgs, and for a short time Debrecen served as the capital of the revolution.
The city's food is simple and generous. The Debreceni sausage, paprika-red and smoky, is known across Hungary, and a plate of it with mustard and bread is a fair lunch. Pastry shops sell túrós csusza, noodles with cheese and bacon, and in August the flower carnival on the twentieth fills the avenues with floats made entirely of blossoms.
For a rider, the plain is both gift and challenge. Roads run dead straight for kilometres, with poplar and acacia windbreaks and fields of sunflower, maize and wheat, and the pace is relaxed. The Hortobágy, to the west, is a protected steppe where grey cattle and racka sheep graze under tall sky, and traditional horse herders still show their skills. Wind can be a nuisance, and the summer sun is fierce, but the evening light across the puszta is spectacular. Watch for agricultural vehicles, and for wildlife crossing at dawn and dusk.
The long day ride heads north toward the Tokaj wine country and the cellars of Tolcsva, where the plain gives way to wooded volcanic hills covered with vines. Tokaj's sweet aszú wine was famed in the courts of Europe, and the volcanic cellars cut into the hillsides keep a cool, damp air all year. Fuel is plentiful in Debrecen, which has big stations on every ring road, and in the larger towns on the way. Keep the tank full in the countryside, where villages are small. Eat early, since kitchens in small places close early, and carry some forints for cash-only places.