After spending most of yesterday just relaxing and organising some stuff, today was the day to actually see what Pécs had to offer. Marco had gone to check out another hostel, which was a bit more alive and kicking, but I met up with him around noon. We went and had lunch at a pretty traditional Hungarian place which cost us about five euros each for an absolute truckload of food. After that we checked out Széchenyi Square (it seems everywhere in Hungary has a Széchenyi square, or at least a street; I had seen ones in Esztergom and Budapest as well), where one of Pecs' most famous buildings was located - the Kaszim Pasa Mosque. The mosque was built during the Ottoman occupation of the Hungarian lands (in the 16-17th centuries). Though certainly not the most impressive looking mosque I've seen, it was cool to see an Ottoman-style mosque still standing right in the heart of an otherwise very Christian feeling Hungarian town. Unfortunately it was closed for renovation, so I couldn't see it from the inside, which was a bit of a let-down.

We also checked out the Basilica, which although fairly simple on the outside was pretty stunning on the inside. There were also some gardens around this area which were nice if not anything special. At this point we split up again, as Marco wanted to rest in the shade like a stereotypical Southern Italian, and I wanted to go up to a panorama hill to get a good view of the city (he had already been up there anyway). It wasn't extremely far, but it was quite steep, and combined with the thirty-five degree heat it ensured I was saturated in my own sweat by the time I made it. At the top there looked like what was probably a communist-era monument, it was fairly ugly and dull, although at least it was easy to climb up it to get a better view of the city. From there I could clearly see the city itself, along with the farms and hills in the distance.

Upon returning to the city centre, I realised that one site I hadn't seen yet was the UNESCO-listed Early Christian Tombs, so I headed for there. Sure enough, Marco was chilling on a bench just next to them, so he got up and joined me again. Pécs dates all the way back to roman times, when it was known as Sopiane, and over the years archaeologists have found traces of this history in and around the city. The tombs, dating all the way back to the 3rd-4th centuries AD, were discovered around 80-100 years ago and are located virtually directly under the main basilica. While visually they weren't exactly stunning from a visual point of view, they were certainly interesting, and there were good examples of old sarcophagi and the Christogram (an early Christian-era symbol that was once more commonly seen than the cross). Not to mention, it was also significantly cooler in the tombs as well, which was welcome.

By the time we left the tombs, it had cooled down a little outside, and we thought it might be a good idea to go have a drink. We went to a bar that had been recommended to Marco, which was extremely close to my hostel. First, we had a white wine and soda drink, apparently considered popular up around Lake Balaton as a means of refreshing oneself. It was nothing special but it was indeed refreshing. Slightly more interesting was the Palinka we tried afterwards, a type of Hungarian 'grappa' that came in at about 50%. Despite the strength I thought was quite smooth to drink, but it was still a bit early in the day to total ourselves so we left it at two shots.

By that time I wanted a shower, and Marco had to move his stuff from one hostel to the other, so we headed back there. We thought we would meet later, although in the end it didn't happen, as Marco stayed at his new hostel for dinner and we would both be heading in different directions the following morning. He was a good guy to spend some time with, and we exchanged contact details so who knows, maybe we will meet again. As for the rest of the day, I hung around the hostel, making some dinner there and organising some travel stuff before going to sleep fairly early.