Szeged

Before boarding his train at Budapest’s historic Nyugati station, Michael Portillo explores its sumptuous royal waiting room, built specially for the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph I and his empress, Elizabeth.

Heading south, his next destination is the country’s third city of Szeged, close to the Serbian and Romanian borders. In the city’s historic centre, he finds the magnificent Great Synagogue, built in 1902, which reflects the size and prominence of Szeged’s Jewish population at that time.

Just outside the city, on the banks of the River Tisza, Michael visits a region known for producing Hungary’s favourite spice, paprika, from ground red peppers. At a fourth-generation family farm, he tries a freshly picked pepper and joins the family for a hearty paprika stew.