Eger

This past weekend I went with my host family to a city in northern Hungary, called Eger. The city best known for it's wine and it's castle. The town has hundreds of wine cellars beneath the homes and all of the rock-cuts on the side of the roads on the outskirts of the city are lined with the doorways to wine cellars as well. It was amazing to see so many. While there, we were originally supposed to help my host grandfather harvest grapes at his vineyard but the weather has been very cold and rainy, so instead we went sight-seeing.







The first place was the cathedral at Eger. It's a new church by European standards, dating back to only the 1850s. Along with the cathedral, we went to see the famous minaret which was built after the Turkish had invaded. I personally only liked it from afar. The staircase was incredibly narrow and so steep your face was always about a foot away from the steps ahead. It was probably about 2 and a half or 3 feet wide and there were three windows on the way up, each about an inch wide and about 6 inches high. The doorway was small and at the top, the ledge you stood upon was a bit scary as well (and heights normally don't bother me). When walking around the top, your arms were always touching either the wall or the railing, though the view of the city was amazing. Also pictured from the top is Hungary's highest peak at a little bit over 1000 meters. It's a joke with many of the locals.







After the hike up the minaret, we went to see the Marcipán museum. For those who haven't heard of him (the name only sounded familiar to me at first), he is a confectionery artist. He holds the Guinness world record for most Olympic baking awards and his feats for creating realistic art using edible materials. He is from Eger and is extremely celebrated there.






The last stop of the day was the Castle of Eger. It isn't like the stereotypical castles most people think about, it is more of a giant fortress. Eger is well known for the battle against the Turks which included the women aiding in battle by pouring tar and other strongly heated liquids onto the ambushing attackers from the sides of the castle walls. When we were inside of the castle corridores, all of which were fairly small, there were shelfs built into the stone built walls where drums or pots of water were placed. The drums would have beads placed upon them and each was used to detect the vibrations of digging Turkish troops. If the beads or water were disturbed, the Hungarians would then also begin to dig to try to beat the Turkish army and collapse their tunnel before they could reach through the fortress. This did not always work though, and the Turkish army had been quicker than the Hungarians causing the Hungarians to die with their tunnel collapsing instead. I didn't hear all of this from the guide but from a British man who was translating for a friend. My host family unfortunately couldn't translate as well so I made it a point to stand in hearing distance from him.








Lastly, this is a picture of my host family at my host grandparent's home in Eger. Pictured is my host grandmother "Piri mama", host grandfather "Béla papa", host sister Zsuzsu , host father Imi , and host mother Zsuzsa.