It's not Eiger but Eger

Eger

Love locks?

After a much-too-fast stop in Budapest (where we only just missed a visit to the opera or ballet), we boarded a local train for Eger.  Now GS had visions of Eiger (yes, of course that’s in Switzerland) and was somewhat shocked to find that Eger was a small village in a wine growing district.  With a few low hills in what was otherwise FLAT lands...  Oh dear! 
 

Solid medieval walls of the Castle

We took a walking tour of town through its historical precinct calling in on the cathedral, a large central square in the town, a rather out of place minaret, thermal baths from Roman times and the ruins of a medieval castle built in 1271.  Eger is said to have more listed buildings than any other city in Hungary.   

Cathedral - austere on the outside, painterly within

Another church seen from the Castle walls

17th c Minaret 40m high and pencil thin

Our next “burden” was a wine tasting.  We walked down into the Valley of the Beautiful Woman (Szepassonzy volgy) where local cellars are caves cut deep into soft tuft rock. Following a Tartar invasion in 1241 (Mongols – yes, they got this far in Europe!) new methods of grape cultivation and wine making learned from the French were introduced into this area.  We sampled three (or was it four?) whites before moving on to a rose then reds.  Of the three reds we tasted, Bulls Blood is the most famous.  Our hostess was something of a local character.  She was rather enjoying the party with us, and other patrons, down in her cellar.  Of course, she had also arranged for a 3 piece “gypsy” band to serenade us.  We tottered home, finding the cold night air rather refreshing.
 

We were served from a large pipette rather than bottles

And the Band played on - down in the cellar

 Debrechen

We had a couple of hours to roam the streets of Debrechen whilst waiting for our train to Romania.  The town was rather definitely a "tidy town" winner, with a large central square surrounded by many grand buildings of the secessionist style.  The local flower markets were also quite beautiful with many buckets of bright orange pumpkins, pretty pansy seedlings and large colourful chrysanthemums out for locals to buy. They were very inexpensive by our standards too!

 

After this little expedition, it was goodbye to Hungary and on to Romania.

Debrechen Station

Communist era mural at both ends