"My 2nd home since 2003 in Nagykáta Town" Nagykata by budapest8

Nagykata Travel Guide: 41 reviews and 94 photos

Nagykata Catholic Church in the centre of town

Nagykáta Town

Nagykáta is pronounced Nodge Kata...

some people think I live in a Japanese town.
Nagy means big in Hungarian and Kata is the name
of an old family that once ruled the town.

referenced text by kind permission of Nagykáta Library
For historical facts I used a book written by Gyula Lakatos,
he's a local historian and some of his book is translated
and can be found on the local library web site.
Being the only Englishman living in the town, everyone
knows of me or I have had some contact with them or
their families.When at home, the local library is the
only place I can get online to use the net properly.
There is a hole in the wall terminal in the town centre
at Europa Ter (Europe Square) but not good for
doing all WWW stuff.

Nagykáta is situated 60 kilometers from Budapest.
The Express trains take 47 minutes to Keleti Station
from Nagykáta and the stopping trains about 65 minutes.

More Nagykáta

Hello Ducky!

The history of Nagykáta dates back to the 12th century,
when the Pest county branch of the Káta family settled
in the region.

On the outskirts of Nagykáta — at a place called Kenderhalom —
you will find the remains of the village which was the
antecedent of Nagykáta at the time of Árpád.

An authentic ancient written document, the Regestrum of Várad,
mentions the name of Káta village in 1221. In the 15th-16th
centuries the name of Nagykáta appears as "Csekekáta"
in several documents. The name "Nagykáta" appears
first at the beginning of the 17th century,
Even though the village
was destroyed several times under the Turkish
occupation of Hungary, it has always revived. The Káthay family,
were unable to keep up with so many setbacks and could not survive the struggle. Without a successor
Ferenc Káthay had to sell his remaining estates — even Csekekáta
— to Miklós Keglevich in 1663. After the reoccupation of Buda
the fate of Nagykáta was also slotted for destruction. After that
íit did not appear in
the official registers up until 1665, but from 1696 the village had
an ordained priest again, and the registration of births, marriages
death began.

In 1743 the status of a market-townwas given to Nagykáta
from Queen Maria Theresa.
Then in 1849,on April 4th Nagykáta became the headquarters for
the rebel leader Görgey when the battle of Tápióbicske
(one of the most significant battles of war of independence in 1848/49)
was fought and won by Damjanich and his soldiers on the
outskirts of Nagykáta.Most Hungarians learn about these dates in school
and March 15th is a National holiday in memory of
The War of Independence The wounded soldiers from the battle
were housed in the Keglevich castle in the town,
where Lajos Kossuth, the proclaimed leader of the
war of independence, came to visit them in their sick beds.
Today the same building is used as the Nagykáta
Town Hall .

I always attend and usually bike out to the field where they
re-enact the battle, canons blazing and the sound of galloping
hussars in full uniform charging across the field towards the bridge.

At the end of 1998 the Japanese firm Clarion started a plant
employing hundreds of people. Even I taught some of the Japanese
for about 18 months, used to trundle over on my push bike late afternoon.

A considerable part of the area around the Nagykáta is registered
as a nature conservation area. It is extremely rich in animal-,
bird- and plant species including several highly protected and
endangered species which can rarely be found at other places.
In 1992 the International
Comity of Bird Protection (ICBP) registered the area as a significant
area of natural bird habitats in Europe.

House from the garden 2005 July

There is a memorial plaque on the wall of the Town Hall
in memory of the battle of Independance (18479)
April 4th is one of the
biggest days in Nagykáta. On this occasion
many Hungarian and foreign military hard core
tradition-keepers arrive in their troops full regalia
in the town in buses and cars from far and wide.
There is a procession to the local cemetary to recall the
memory of the fallen heroes' with a
wreath-laying ceremony. Everyone then (around 6 pm) move to a field
on the banks of the River Tápió where the battle took place
, you can see a simple memorial plaque on the simple bridge built
a few years back.
in memory of the past battle of 1849
.
I always attend and usually bike out to the field where they
re-enact the battle, canons blazing and the sound of galloping
hussars in full uniform charging across the field towards the bridge.

Pros and Cons

Pros:flat, quite town, bike friendly, friendly people
Cons:everything shuts early, no hills, very dry and sandy, not many people speak English
In a nutshell:Nagykata is like a blank sheet of paper waiting to be written on

Last visit to Nagykata: Apr 2007
Intro Updated May 3, 2010
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Reviews (52)

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Travelogues (1)

Written Apr 12, 2007

3 photos

My Garden in a small Hungarian town

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Comments (36)

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BruceDunning Aug 5, 2009 at 3:57 PM

You have done a wonderful job of presenting your fine town and I really want to get out that way into the countryside on a next trip. Hungary rocks-like in it is steeped in history and real culture to take in. Thank you
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iwys Jan 10, 2009 at 7:48 AM

Interesting page. Seems like you have a nice life there. Reminds me a bit of that British TV series, 'The Good Life'. Do you think you will stay there forever?
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kaloz Dec 16, 2008 at 7:55 AM

Quite the garden tour. Very nice.
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dr.firas Apr 3, 2008 at 3:41 AM

It has been a long time indeed my friend, thank you, I'm doing fine thank you, and I wish you and your wonderful daugther are doing so fine Hugs from sunny Italy
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Balam Feb 4, 2008 at 1:31 AM

It looks great, You are living in Heaven, i wish i had the room to grow all that Veg.
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marielexoteria Dec 14, 2007 at 9:02 AM

I like your picture of your daughter exercising with a big squash (or cucumber?). Greetings :)
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yumyum Oct 23, 2007 at 11:44 AM

You are a very big garden fan! Hope you got some big pumpkins too.
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titabell Oct 23, 2007 at 9:55 AM

I am so happy that i am not the only one travelling with a kid all the time. I have been out to see the world with my son since he was 5 years old. We are still travelling together, and he's now 18! Travel makes people grow closer together.
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SLLiew Oct 16, 2007 at 11:23 PM

Very interesting page of your hometown. Enjoyed reading about what you grow in your garden. Nagykata sounded like a Japanese town or Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. Cheers from Penang, SL :)
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katamorgana Sep 24, 2007 at 4:31 AM

hello tim, you must be an interesting person. your pages are really unusual. i like it.