March 20, 2011: Trip to Eger

March 20, 2011: A friend of mine from Los Angeles introduced me to a friend of his in Hungary and since he is from Miskolc (northeast Hungary), we decided to meet halfway between us at Eger, a very historic city of Hungary. The train to Eger was very comfortable and I had plenty of room to spread out since there were few passengers going to Eger that time of day.

I met Ivan in the city of Fuzesabany and we rode the train together the rest of the way. Eger is an historic city of Hungary and is most famous for a battle between Dobo Istvan and his men against the Turkish invaders. This battle occurred in the mid 1500's and Dobo and his men (2000 in number) were able to withstand the 40,000 Turks for 28 days before succumbing to them. The Turks then remained in control of Hungary for 150 years before obtaining independence from them.


Upon arrival in Eger, Ivan and I walked to the Basilica, the third largest basilica in Hungary (number one is in Estergom and number two is St. Stephen's in Budapest). When we entered, Sunday mass was taking place. I took some quick pictures of the mass and we left.

Basilica - Eger

Basilica - Eger

Basilica - Eger

Basilica - Eger

Basilica - Eger

Basilica - Eger

A short walk from the Basilica was another spectacular church on Dobo Square.

Church on Dobo Square - Eger

Church on Dobo Square - Eger

Church on Dobo Square - Eger

Statue on Dobo Square - Eger (Hungarian vs Turk)

Statue on Dobo Square (Dobo Istvan) - fortress in background - Eger

Before going to the fortress, we decided to stop for a cup of cappuccino. However, after looking at the menu, I decided that I was ready for lunch -- who can resist a bowl of cream horseradish soup with smoked pig's knuckles with crisp apple pieces on top, and a sandwich of bacon and melted goat cheese? It hit the spot! 

The walk to the fortress, built in 1241, was a short way from Dobo Square.

Fortress at Eger

Fortress at Eger

The views from the fortress showed how beautiful Eger is:

We took a tour of the caves underneath the fortress. The caves are multilevel and are quite long.

Cave under fortress - Eger

Also on display was a huge wheel which was filled with hot tar and explosives and rolled down the hill on the invading Turks.

Weapon - Eger

After the tour of the castle, we visited a nice art gallery in the fortress, and then we left the castle and took a short walk to the minaret that the Turks had built in either the late 16th century or the 17th century. Inside the tower, there are steps leading to the top of the minaret but they are quite steep and the diameter of the entire tower could have been no more than 1 1/2 meters so I'm sure it would have been very tight.


From the minaret, we walked back to the train station and each headed our ways home. Another great day seeing one of Hungary's most famous cities!