March 6, 2011: My trip to Esztergom

March 6, 2011: Fekete Kati lent me a book that she thought I might enjoy: Paprika Paradise by James Jeffries. This book was suggested to her by my predecessor at UMSZKI and it contains some rather funny situations that I can certainly relate to. James Jeffries was born of a Hungarian mother and English father. He was raised mostly in England and Australia but his mother saw to it that he spoke Hungarian so when he was newly married, he and his wife decided to go live in Hungary as an adventure. In reading the book, he described a trip he had taken to the Danube Bend, the area of the Danube River where the river changes course from going eastward to going south. There are three cities of interest in this region: Szentendre (which I've written about in previous blog entries), Visegrad, and Esztergom. At any rate, what Mr. Jeffries described in his book enticed me to go to Esztergom today. So after finishing my morning tasks, I took two buses to the subway leading to the bus terminal, remembering just as I boarded the subway, that the bus to Szentendre (and therefore Esztergom) leaves hourly just a few minutes past the half hour. I boarded the subway at 11:30 and had one more stop to get to the bus terminal! And what did the subway do -- it stopped at Ujpest Kozpont while the subway driver rested between runs! I was getting a little impatient since I didn't want to wait one hour to catch the next bus. Finally, the subway traveled the one stop and I raced out the door of the subway, up the stairs to the exit, then immediately down another set of stairs leading to the bus terminal, and ran to the ticket machine. What a time to have to try to understand how to read Hungarian to purchase my ticket! Fortunately, I pushed the right buttons and fortunately the machine did give me change (unlike last time when the machine refused to take anything but exact change) and out came my ticket. I grabbed it and my change and looked at the postings to see what platform my bus was at. I ran over to it, approached and entered my bus, and wasn't even in my seat before the bus driver left the station. Whew! I could relax now!

The bus first went to Szentendre and from there wended its way up to Visegrad, a small village where a 13th century fortress, Fellegvar, was built on top of one of its steep hills (1,148 ft.). This fortress housed the Hungarian Holy Crown (see my blog entry for The Hungarian Parliament to see a picture of this crown or click here: Hungarian Holy Royal Crown) but this crown and other royal regalia were stolen by a dishonorable maid in 1440 and King Matthias had to pay 80,000 forint to Austria to get them back. I apologize for the fuzzy pictures of the fortress but it was the best I could do taking pictures through the window of the bus.

Fellegvar in Visegrad, Hungary

Fellegvar in Visegrad, Hungary

After Visegrad, the bus took me to Esztergom. Esztergom is most famous for its basilica and castle. The walk approaching them is overwhelming -- both the basilica and castle were built on top of a large hill that overlooks the city and Danube. Esztergom is significant in Hungarian history since it was here that St. Stephen was crowned king, the first king of Hungary. Esztergom would remain the capital of Hungary for 250 years after that.

At the bottom of the hill is the St. Joseph's Church attached to which is the Kereszteny Museum, a museum that displays a great number of Christian paintings and other artifacts done by Hungarian and Italian masters. Also in the museum are the findings of several archeological digs that uncovered what the St. Michael's Church was like in the 12th and 13th centuries and then in digs uncovering what the church was like later than that.

St Joseph's Church

Before embarking on the path leading up to the Basilica, I decided to have lunch in a restaurant at the bottom of the hill. I treated myself to perfectly cooked pike and a beer. After lunch, I took some pictures of the bridge crossing the Danube going into Slovakia. This bridge was destroyed by the Nazis at the end of WW2 and was rebuilt.

bridge crossing the Danube going into Slovakia

The trip up Cat's Steps leading to the Basilica presented some great opportunities for panoramic pictures of the Basilica, castle, and the Danube.

Cat's Steps leading to Basilica

Castle at Esztergom

St. Joseph's Church & Christian Museum adjoining it

Bridge connecting Esztergom to Slovakia

The view from the top of the hill was quite impressive. Here is a picture of the city of Esztergom taken from the hill.

City of Esztergom

Also at the top was an interesting statue. Here are pictures of it from below the hill, from its back, and from its front.

The Basilica is an immense church. Construction for the church began in 1824 and it was consecrated in 1856. The church is 114 meters long and the foundation walls are 18 meters thick. The height is 100 meters. The Esztergom Basilica is the largest church in Hungary, and in fact it is the third largest church in all of Europe (Only St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London are larger). Here are pictures taken of the Basilica itself and the interior of the church.

Notice the painting in the picture two pictures up. This altarpiece is the largest altarpiece in the world measuring 13.5 m x 6.6 m. (It seems to me that there was a painting in Venice in the Doges Palace that was said to be the largest in the world -- perhaps this is the largest altarpiece in the world and the painting in the Doges Palace is the largest painting in the world.) 

After walking through the Basilica, i went into the museum at the top of the Basilica to view all the jewels. I was flabbergasted by all the gold pieces I saw and all the embedded precious jewels in those pieces. Some of the pieces were enormous. Most were encased in display cases that were poorly lit, but I did manage to take pictures of two of the more well lit cases showing some of the "smaller pieces" before the guard reminded me that pictures were not allowed.

After leaving the Basilica, I visited the Castle which is now a museum. The museum displayed pottery that was found on the site as well as some old daggers dating back thousands of years.

After that, I returned to the bus station and took the two hour bus trip back home. Another nice day exploring Hungary.