Eger, Hungary
Eger, a little city on the northern part of Hungary is a place famous for its wine. This is the first place I saw selling wine in plastic bottles by the gallons. You can basically choose the size of the container you want and they will happily fill it up with your favorite wine. For those who love cheap but quality wine, this place is a heaven
To materialize the trip, I took up the challenge of driving 2.5 hours there. Bear in mind that Hungarians drive on the left side of the car and I had to drive a manual car. The driving experience itself is worth a post so I’ll just concentrate on Eger for now.
I was glad to have Jennifer with me on the trip there. With my little Garmin, which we later named Charlotte, we embarked on our journey. There were some stretches of beautiful scenery along the way but it would have been splendid if we were there during the sunflower season. There were miles after miles of sunflower fields but what we saw was only the blackened stalks. PS. I hope I will have the chance to go Hungary again when the flowers bloom :).
Eger Minorite Church
This church is located at Dobo Istvan Square. I found out that in 1517, the rebellion in a Franciscan ordination in North Italy left 7 Franciscan monks to establish their own minority under the name Mnorites. The word Minorite comes from the Latin word “minoris”.
The first Minorite church of Eger was built at the banks of the Eger Stream but was later ruined by the flood. This new church was later built between 1758 and 1773. This is famed as one of the most beautiful baroque style churches in Europe. Frankly it looked quite normal to me but I have to point out that I didn’t have the chance to look at the interiors because there was a wedding being held while I was there :p.
To materialize the trip, I took up the challenge of driving 2.5 hours there. Bear in mind that Hungarians drive on the left side of the car and I had to drive a manual car. The driving experience itself is worth a post so I’ll just concentrate on Eger for now.
I was glad to have Jennifer with me on the trip there. With my little Garmin, which we later named Charlotte, we embarked on our journey. There were some stretches of beautiful scenery along the way but it would have been splendid if we were there during the sunflower season. There were miles after miles of sunflower fields but what we saw was only the blackened stalks. PS. I hope I will have the chance to go Hungary again when the flowers bloom :).
Eger Minorite Church
This church is located at Dobo Istvan Square. I found out that in 1517, the rebellion in a Franciscan ordination in North Italy left 7 Franciscan monks to establish their own minority under the name Mnorites. The word Minorite comes from the Latin word “minoris”.
The first Minorite church of Eger was built at the banks of the Eger Stream but was later ruined by the flood. This new church was later built between 1758 and 1773. This is famed as one of the most beautiful baroque style churches in Europe. Frankly it looked quite normal to me but I have to point out that I didn’t have the chance to look at the interiors because there was a wedding being held while I was there :p.
Eger Minorite Church
Castle of Eger
Although it didn’t look as splendor as what I imagined to be, the Castle of Eger is one of the famous castles in Hungary because of its past. The castle was built on the Varhegy hill. In 1552, the castle alongside with 2100 defenders fought a strong to battle against the 80,000 Turkish army. The defenders killed more than 8000 Turks with a total of 1700 of the defenders survived. Almost 12,000 cannonballs landed inside the fortress before the siege ended. There are several museums within the castle grounds but we only bought the basic entry pass which allows us to only walk around the castle… should have bought the full pass :(.
Me at the castle gates
Jen and I
Bálint Balassi (1554-1594):
I came across this stone carving. Well someone must be really famous to have this head on the castle ground and I was curious why. I Googled him out and this is what I found out. Apparently, this Ballasi guy was one of the first Hungarian renaissance poet who used the Hungarian language in his poems. He lived in the 16th century when the Turks occupied Hungary. The main episodes of his life are linked to love and the fighting against Turks.
You won't want to be on one of these
Me atop the castle wall.. I had a hard time climbing up only to find out that there's a lower wall further up front which I could just easily sit on top of it.. :S
View of the city from the castle
The cannon
Statue of Istvan Dobo at the Dobo SquareIstvan Dobo was the commander of the Eger Castle after his successful defense of the castle during the Siege of Eger in 1552 where 2100 defenders (consisting of professional soldiers, insurgent peasants and a few dozen woman) won the battle against 80,000 Turks soldiers.
Hotel Villa Volgy
We checked in our hotel after our short trip in the city. This was a lovely hotel called Hotel Villa Volgy. Simple and clean rooms.
Our beds
The room
Another view of the beds
The biggest plus to this hotel must be those mirrors at the end of each staircase. It makes you look really slim and tall. Jen had to take a photo of this. LOL.
Our hotel from the pool view
The beautiful pool. Too bad the weather was too cold and the pool wasn't heated. But there was a few ang moh who jumped into the pool without coming out looking like poor shivering kittens. Must be those cheese they eat!
Beautiful decks After checking out our hotel, we ventured out once more.
Eger Cathedral
The Cathedral of Eger is the second largest cathedral in Hungary. The cathedral was built in honor of the evangelist Saint Michael and Saint John.
Cathedral of Eger
Side view of the cathedral
Me at the Cathedral
Kids feeding the birds
Shops at Dobo Square
Someone told us that we must definitely try out the "special" pancake here. It turned out looking like our Thosai here. I told Jen that nobody would believe that I had this meal in Hungary :p. Well, apart from not sour it does look and taste like Thosai. Ok lar... call it "pancake" coz overseas mah.. must sound glamor sikit right? Alright, this "pancake" had different fillings and you have a wide variety to choose from the menu.
The little train that takes our around the town. We wanted to take this train to the winery but because of communication problem (you can hardly get anyone who speaks English in Hungary), we missed the train. We ended up walking there instead :(Bring me the WINE please!!
Finally, how could we forget the wines!! There is a whole row of wineries. It’s wine everywhere! I had my first glass of wine here. As a beginner I had the semi sweet white wine and I liked it. And then I got ambitious and had more wine at night. The next day woke up with rashes on my body.. haha. When the rash didn’t go off after a few days, I went to the factory doctor to get myself checked. He was so shocked, he couldn’t believe that I’ve not drank wine and he asked me where I’m from. So I think from now on, he must think that we poor Malaysians cannot get decent alcohol around here. :P
Finally, how could we forget the wines!! There is a whole row of wineries. It’s wine everywhere! I had my first glass of wine here. As a beginner I had the semi sweet white wine and I liked it. And then I got ambitious and had more wine at night. The next day woke up with rashes on my body.. haha. When the rash didn’t go off after a few days, I went to the factory doctor to get myself checked. He was so shocked, he couldn’t believe that I’ve not drank wine and he asked me where I’m from. So I think from now on, he must think that we poor Malaysians cannot get decent alcohol around here. :P
My first glass of wine.
The lucky winery we patroned :)
Just a small section of the many wineries in Eger. There is a whole row of these little wineries!!
I found this at the park. You can come here for a little picnic and have your favourite goulash soup cooked outside on the stone.
The wineries here are really little dungeons that are narrow, dimly lit and with low ceiling. This environment sorts of add flavor to the wine isn't it? ;)
Row of wineries on the other side of the road
Jen bought a bottle of wine for our colleague, who made the order when she knew we were going there. I think this is at least a 1.5 liter bottle. Where else can you find wine sold this way? ;)Not counting the tension while driving there, it was a fun and relaxing weekend getaway at Eger.
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