Existence of Chris: Budapest- Part 2

On our second day in Hungary we ventured outside the capital, to a small town called Eger. This small town is a little away from the main tourist route- English directions are not always present and a bit of research is required to sort out the public transport (wikitravel was useful), but it was definitely worth the visit. We spent the morning at the castle Egri Var, which is famous for its roll in deterring the Turkish invasion in the 16th century. There was a nice walk around the castle grounds , and a great view out over the city including the main Dobo Square. A short distance from the castle was the minaret, a 40m tall tower with a claustrophobic winding stairway leading to another nice view over the town.

Doba Square, Egar

Egri Var Castle Walls

View over Doba Square

The Minaret seen from the castle

The minaret seen from the inside

If you look closely you can see me at the top

After a stop at cafe Dobos Cukraszda on the main Széchenyi Street for some delicious and traditional layered sugar torte, we headed off to the nearby wine region. Szépasszony-völgy, which translates to Valley of Beautiful Women but is noted as Nice Women Valley on the street sign, is about 20 minutes walk from the town and is home to a U-shaped street surrounded by 20-30 cellar doors. When we were there only one in three or so were open, but given that they are all willing to give a free sample of a few different types of wine, a few is more than enough. They had bottles of local vintage for sale, and many would also just fill plastic containers with wine from large casks in the storage rooms- for ridiculous prices as low as 2 euro per litre. The local specialty is the Egri Bikavér, aka Bull's Blood. There seems to be a number of stories as to how it got its name, but the most common was that the Turkish invaders saw the locals drinking a strange red liquid as they laid siege to the Eger castle, and the invaders figured that the Hungarians must have got their incredible courage and strength from drinking blood from bulls.

Valley of Beautiful Women/Nice Woman Valley

Plastic containers for taking home the local wines

Later that evening in Budapest, we wandered along the river until we could see the parliament, a stunning building on the water's edge which is lit up beautifully at night.

Chain Bridge at night

Parliament at night

On our next day in Budapest we went on a guided culinary walking tour with Taste of Hungary. We met with our lovely guide Dora in the city's main food hall, where we tried delicious cheeses, cured meets (including horse salami), pickled vegetables, a deep fried bread called langos, and a herb liquor called Unicum which was originally made as medicine for the king. We walked for a few hours through Budapest visiting a lolly shop, a chocolate shop where we tasted mushroom chocolate, and a cafe serving traditional cakes modeled after the opulent goodies being produced by Parisian and Viennese pastry chefs in the late 19th century (e.g. Dobos torte). We had lunch at a local eatery where we stood around a small table crammed in among the local lawyers, business men and shop owners who were also enjoying a paprika filled feast of pasta, sausage, duck, cabbage and pickled veggies.

Budapest Market Hall

Deep fried Langos

Lunch at Belvarosi Disannotoros

Delicious cakes including Dobos torte

That night, we stopped for a drink at a pub called Szimpla Kert. This unique bar is one of a few so-called 'ruin pubs' in Budapest, which are eclectically decorated hipster hangouts in old converted warehouses or basements, complete with broken down walls, unfinished flooring and peeling paintwork. It is definitely worth visiting here, even if the psychedelic patterns shining from the collection of old CRT monitors hung from the roof is not your normal thing.

We spent our final day in Budapest on the hilly Buda side of the Danube. We took the funicular up to Castle Hill where we wandered around the grounds of the Buda Castle and the Royal Palace. Just a short walk away was the Matthias Church (which was unfortunately under renovation work) and the Fisherman's Bastion, a sandstone structure along the top of the cliff which looks like it is out of a Disney movie.