Hungary is in the process of abandoning the trappings of its Communist past, while attempting to preserve its culture from creeping Americanisation and globalised blandness. The author is glad to find that certain old-fashioned attitudes of courtesy and overall decency are still deeply ingrained in Hungarian society. Music, dance and song play an important part in Hungarian culture, which in so many ways reflects the country's geographical position as a crossroads of Central Europe. There is a true sense of otherness here, in spite of Hungary's geographical closeness to us.