Part 3 of 5

Chapter 3, Eger and Eger Castle

Eger is famous for its castle and for its wine. The castle has been visited by every Hungarian school kid and the wine, which has also been sampled by every Hungarian school kid, is a national treasure. Hungarians call Eger castle, parts of which are over a thousand years old, the Hungarian Alamo, great battles defending the country from invading armies, some won, some lost. The greatest battle was fought in 1552 when Istvan Dobo defended Eger and Hungary from the Ottomans. The castle is huge and well preserved and managed. They have a nice collection of cannons; the guy taking the tickets could not answer my question as to why the biggest cannon was pointed at the church. The interior of the castle is a bit commercial, shoot the cross bow, ride the pony, eat the sucker shaped like a cannon. But the views from the walls were worth putting up with the errant cross bow bolts flying around. We explored the castle and then walked toward the center of town. The church spires are impressive; there are 4 cathedrals and a basilica. Eger is also home to the Lyceum, a teacher’s training school since the mid 18^th century. In the same building is the oldest library in Hungary and a camera obscura. The library is reported to be amazing to see, no Dewey Decimal system here, the books are arraigned by size, all 150,000 of them, in over 100 languages, arraigned by size, by size? However, the Lyceum, the library and the camera obscura were, in great Hungarian tradition, closed for renovation. We wandered around the square, found a nice café, I boldly ordered the wild boar soup with cream while Lisa and Barbara wimped out by ordering the carp soup.