8,000 rose bushes. And that’s just the garden. A few days ago, I got to visit the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd, Hungary, right out near the Austrian border. I went with my friend Alpár, founder of Daily News Hungary. He invited me to it, and he made the trip an absolute pleasure. I’m a producer, not a cameraman, but I couldn’t help capturing it, because this place has a story. Over 250 years ago, a Hungarian prince named Nicholas Esterházy, nicknamed the Magnificent, decided he wanted a palace that could stand next to the homes of kings. He had taken a trip to France and seen Versailles, which is a giant palace outside Paris where the French kings lived. Think of the most over-the-top house you can imagine, with gold, mirrors, and gardens that go on forever. He looked at that and said, ‘I want one of those.’ And he built it. It has 126 rooms. People still call it Hungarian Versailles. And I’ll tell you, every room stopped me in my tracks. You walk into one and think, ‘Nothing tops this.’ Then you walk into the next one and it does. One is covered in black lacquer with gold paintings in the Chinese style, which was the hottest trend among rich Europeans back then. Kind of like collecting designer sneakers today. But that was just one of many. The prince wanted the best of everything. He also had a composer on staff. His name was Joseph Haydn. And he’s one of the most famous composers in history. He’s called the father of symphony and even taught a young Beethoven. No, no. Try again, Beethoven. Haydn wasn’t Hungarian. He was Austrian. But he spent 24 years of his life on Hungarian soil. And you can hear Hungary in his music. He wrote for the prince’s orchestra and the opera house. And one of the most famous pieces, the Farewell Symphony, came from this place. The musicians were stuck out there for months, away from their families. In the last part of the piece, the players blow out their candles and walk off the stage one by one until only two violins are left. The message to the prince was simple. Let us go home. Arrange to get them home. Safely. I think he got the hint. You know, I think about that a lot, because I grew up around music. My dad was part of a well-known band in the ’70s, and he recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. So walking through a place where music meant everything, on Hungarian soil, hit me personally. I know what it feels like to watch a crowd lose it for a band. That building was doing it long before any of us were born. Csilla Sütő, the CEO of Eszterháza Center, the organization that runs the palace, walked us through the whole place. She told us about the restoration, the people it takes to keep the palace going. She also told us they’ve hosted events there. You know, I had an interesting thought. If I was making a film, a period piece, this would be a great location. Anybody interested in doing a film? Count me in. If you booked a concert, think about this. I can only imagine if my dad’s band and their promoters had known about this back in the ’70s. They would have jumped on it. A band at its peak: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, Coldplay. The space is big enough for any of them. And if you’re in Hungary and want to see something outside of Budapest that will blow your mind, come out, walk the grounds, and spend a day like I did. My name is Ray. This is Magyar Minute. Haydn’s players walked out one by one, but the music never left the palace.
