Try These Visual Tastes of Hungary and Greece

“Hungary” (Fodor’s Video Travel Guide, 1989, 60 minutes).

Eugene Fodor, born in Hungary, returned to his homeland to film this video. His firsthand knowledge and narration plus a capable film crew make it one of the best in the Fodor series.

Budapest is a melange of street scenes lively with performers and sidewalk cafes. You’ll see the huge Heroes’ Square, Castle Hill, Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion, from which there is a panoramic view of the city and of the Danube River that divides its parts, Buda and Pest. Hungary comes off as a country rich in history and art.

In Budapest, the Western traveler can be comfortable in modern hotels and is entertained by Western-style nightlife that includes discos and casinos.

On a Danube River trip, a boat sails to Esztergom and its immense cathedral, stopping also at Pannonhalma Abbey and the Romanesque Jak Abbey. The old village of Szentendre, now an art colony with galleries featuring the works of the sculptor Muhely and ceramacist Margit Kovacs, also is visited.

Spas, popular recreational places, are spotlighted on Margit Island in the middle of the Danube and in the Thermal and Gellert hotels. Other spas are sited at the Tihany and the Thermal Hotel Aqua near Lake Balaton, the “Hungarian Riviera.”

Hungarian cuisine is displayed when the film tours Budapest’s central market and visits the wine country of Hajos and Eger.

Side trips include the great plain of Puszta, where cowboys display their horsemanship, and Syilvasvared, where the Lipizzaner horses, a legacy from Austrian rule, entertain.

Folk art and the needlework centers at Kalocsa and Oregaserto, ancient Pecs and the Vasarely Museum, the Zsolnary Ceramic Museum and the Csontvary Museum of modern art are also included. At Kecsketmet, viewers tour the museum of Naive Artists and the Zoltan Kodaly music school.

There’s more music at the Budapest opera house, at a restaurant featuring Gypsy music and on a trip to the Eszterhausy Palace in Sopron, where Joseph Haydn produced many of his works.

Part of the video is devoted to money, telecommunications, photography, customs regulations and other useful information.

A handy booklet accompanies the video. It features a time index that helps to find scenes of interest, maps, a list of language essentials and a rundown of travel tips, including transportation, tipping, visas and where to get more information.

Although several hotels and restaurants are shown, there is no link to “commercial considerations.”

Tapes are available from Fodor’s Video Guides, Random House Inc., Order Entry Dept., 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, Md. 21157, (800) 733-3000. Price: $14.95.

“Greece” (Traveloguer Collection, 60 minutes, 1988).

Sherilyn Mentes’ film, edited from its longer theater length, opens in Delphi, “the center of the universe,” the ancient home of the Delphic Oracle and the site of the great temple of Apollo. As the tour gets underway, it’s obvious that the video isn’t limited only to mythology and historic sites. Mentes goes to some lesser-known places of interest and introduces their people, life styles and folklore.

Two islands with contrasting styles are Corfu, packed with foreign tourists, and Zakinthos, where people live simply and the highlight is a visit with a family of raisin producers.

The film follows the Gulf of Corinth to the town of Corinth and its ancient ruins. Elsewhere on the Peloponnese Peninsula, where the 20th Century seems to have barely touched, women are still weaving wool by hand and using streams to wash their clothes. Here, too, is the once-powerful city of Sparta, now a little farming town, and the ghost town of Mistras, once a Byzantine cultural center.

Thessaly in central Greece is a farming and sheep-raising area where popular souvenirs are made, particularly flokatis (rugs, wall hangings). A goat shepherd and a family that makes their living making feta cheese are spotlighted, as is Meteora, with its cliff-hanging monasteries.

Along the northern coastal area of the Aegean Sea, stops include the shipbuilding town of Kavala, Philippi with its beautiful Greek and Roman ruins, Thessaloniki and the nearby village of Langadhas, where a celebration shows participants dancing on hot coals.

More traditional Greek dancing takes place in Athens, where viewers are shown the Acropolis, Parthenon, Plaka and Constitution Square. A city tour also shows busy streets, as well as fine residential districts where viewers are invited into the home of a sculptor and his poet wife.

Outside Athens, the film passes through a number of beach resorts, including Cape Sounion, which has a magnificent view from the Temple of Poseidon.

Also, you’ll cruise through the Greek Islands with Mentes to Hydra, Mykonos, Delos and Rhodes, said to be the site of the Colossus, before reaching Santorini (Thera). Santorini can be toured only by climbing 600 steps or by mule back. Crete offers the ancient Minoan ruins at Knossis, plus Lassithi, the “Valley of Windmills.”

There are no tips or travel recommendations.

Tapes are available from Traveloguer Collection, 3301 Hampden Ave., Suite N, Edgewood, Colo. 80110, (800) 521-5104. Price: $29.95.

“Romantic Wine Country of Northern California” (Stat Video, 1988, 54 minutes).

Russ and Barbara Nichols’ video provides the trip planner with an excellent guide to most of the major wineries and many of the smaller ones. Included is information on visiting hours and such amenities as picnic areas, restaurants and shops, plus a beginner’s course on wine selection. There are interviews with some of the chefs, innkeepers and wine makers who host visitors.

The video films numerous resorts, hotels, inns and B&Bs;, from luxury to modest, selected by the Nichols on merit, not commercial consideration.

In addition to such wineries as Christian Brothers, Italian Swiss Colony, Sebastiani and Burgess, the film visits places with historic appeal, including the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma, oldest in California (1857), and Mission San Francisco de Solona (no longer a winery), where the wine industry began in 1824.

Others with tourist appeal are Glen Ellen Winery near Jack London Historic Park in Glen Ellen; Spring Mountain Winery, the site of TV’s “Falcon Crest,” and Robert Mondavi Winery, which offers art exhibits and a jazz festival (both wineries in St. Helena); Pat Paulsen Vineyards at Asti, and the Smothers Brothers Winery and gift shop in Kenwood.

Viewers enjoy views of the areas from a hot-air balloon and from a limousine to Bodega Bay. Activities other than wine-tasting include glider rides, horseback riding, golf, bicycling, fishing in the Russian River and mud bathing in the Calistoga hot springs.

In addition to such natural attractions as the Old Faithful Geyser and the Petrified Forest near Calistoga, viewers can see many historic towns and some of the 19th-Century buildings that have been restored as shops and restaurants.

Along with the video is a pamphlet put out by the Redwood Empire Assn. that contains a list of wineries (including Napa and Sonoma valleys) with information on fees and reservations (if needed), a map and a list of companies offering tours.

Tapes are available from Stat Video, P.O. Box 65217, Los Angeles 90065, (213) 221-3550. Price: $29.95.