We are camped in the “Valley of Ton”, or as the Hungarians call it the “Valley of Beautiful Women” near the town of Eger. Eger is the scene of a heroic stand by 2000 Hungarians in 1552 successfully defending the castle against 60,000 Ottoman soldiers. It is also famous for the library and observatory in its University, and the local red wine known as Bulls Blood.
It was a bit of a walk to the center of town but we were fresh so we decided to tackle it. The first place we came to in the center was a giant neoclassical building that I took for a government building as it reminds me of a lot of the buildings in Washington DC. It turned out to be the Basilica and once you stepped inside it was clear that it was a church.
It is one of the newest Basilica’s we have seen as it was built in the 1840’s. The interior was nice and the artwork reflected the period it was built. The stained glass windows were all from the early 2000’s which I found interesting and puzzling.
Our next stop was the Lyceum at the Esterhazy Karoly Catholic University. It was built in the 1750’s and contains a great library which our ticket didn’t give us admission to and a Camera Obscura on an observation deck 9 stories above the city. What we didn’t know was that you had to climb 330 steps to reach the Camera Obscura. A camera obscura is a device that projects images onto a table in a darkened room using lens mounted in a cupola. The projections are real time images of what is going on in the city and by manipulating the cupola you can see different parts of the city. It was fascinating- the guide was able to show us a 360 degree panorama of the town. You could see cars moving and people walking. We really enjoyed the view, and at the end Ton said it was a great way to see the town.
After climbing down 330 steps we still had a lot of the city to cover. Eger was lucky; after 1700 it was not fought over so the center of the city was largely intact. During the communist era the center was not encroached on by new construction and while 30% of toads population still live in Lego buildings, the buildings are mostly on the edge of the city.
The city has a simple charm to it that I really enjoyed. It is an easy walk and there are a lot of interesting buildings both large and small. Ton and I enjoyed our walk to the castle with lots of detours to check out different buildings that caught our attention.
When we finally arrived at the castle, I proposed we extend our stay, and return to the castle tomorrow. After some thought Ton agreed, so we are going to add a day to our stay in Eger.
Our day wasn’t over though. We needed to return to the Valley of Beautiful Women and check out the wine caves. They have done something here that we have not seen anywhere in our travels. In the Valley of Beautiful Women there are many caves that have been taken over by wineries in the region.
In a very small area there are over 15 wineries tasting their wines side by side. You have your choice of high end wines with international reputations, and mom and pop wineries selling wine in 1 liter plastic jugs. It is a great place for us.
The wine the region is most favorite for is Egri Bekaver which translates to Bulls Blood in English. We tried a taster that included Egri Bekaver and 4 other wines from the region. After the taste we decided to head back to François for some food and a bit of a rest.
Before settling in for the evening I convinced Ton to walk back over to the caves for an evening taste. It was a nice evening walk with a reward at the end of it.