First Trip in Hungary -- 10th Anniversary -- Eger, Hungary

I asked Melissa to marry me in Estes Park, Colorado. It's about a 14 hour drive from St. Louis. I figured if we could drive through the night and not kill each other by the time we made it to Colorado, then we were good to go. That may not sound too romantic I guess...but we did have to drive through Kansas. Have you ever driven through Kansas in the middle of the night? They still have tumbleweeds. It's like a ghost town only it's a whole state...worst ever. So, maybe not romantic but, at the least, a very practical and well-thought out plan by me.  

Romance is overrated anyway since my super awesome romantic dinner and proposal overlooking the mountains was ruined by (1) a lady that ran up behind us to take a picture of the mountains right in the middle of my stammering efforts and (2) the waitress that thought I had beaten Melissa because she was crying so much when we went back inside. 

With that as a backdrop, I thought what better way to celebrate our first ten years together then to take another stress filled road trip together -- our first real road trip here in Hungary. But, where to go?  We actually considered a nice dinner in Gyula but then realized the only reason that was an option was because we knew how to get there and back easily.  It was time to branch out. 

When in Hungary, there are two wines you must try -- Tokaj, which is a sweet dessert wine and Bull's Blood (Egri Bikáver) which is a sweet (to some degree or other) red wine.  Both wines are produced in different parts of the country (Tokaj and Eger).  Before we left home, we bought a couple bottles of Bull's Blood from Trader Joe's for my family...it was TERRIBLE. So, of course, that's where we decided we must go to see if it was equally terrible here (they'd still have beer, right?).  Eger also has an historic castle and a minaret. Wine, a castle, a minaret -- ooooooh, how romantic!

This trip, though, entailed a whole lot more than getting in the car and driving through Kansas. 

First, we had to buy tickets. I had Sylvia (our contact teacher) write down our exact train ticket order on an index card so we could just hand it to the person at the train station. The card asked for two round trip tickets to Eger, first class. Simple enough. We got to the train station in Gyula and it was pretty much empty so we walked to the counter and handed our card to the lady in the cage. 

This is not Budapest and very few people speak English. The lady in the cage did not -- but since we had an index card with all of the pertinent information she needed (written in Hungarian no less) it wouldn't be a problem.  She read our card...typed some stuff in a computer...and then she frowned and started asking us questions. We had not planned for this. 

At least a huge crowd of Hungarians didn't immediately start gathering behind us and get really ticked off about the stupid-ass foreigners wasting their time...oh wait, they did.

Panic mode set in and my senses heightened (which just means I started sweating more profusely than normal).  I squinted my eyes so I could listen harder to the (from my perspective) gibberish coming at me from the cage. The issue seemed to have something to do with riding in first (elsö) or second class (masodik). After a few minutes of this, I either nodded at the right time (I was nodding the whole time) or, more likely, she just gave up and gave us our tickets. We figured out later that there is no first class cabin on the way from Gyula to Békescsaba, but there is the rest of the way.  

Partially relieved and with tickets in hand, we headed out to the train platform in Gyula. Gyula has a small train station with only three platforms. The platform numbers are painted on the ground but not really in any useful or intelligible way to us. A lot of high school kids speak some English so we asked a kid next to us and he knew enough to point out where our train would arrive. So, part one of our journey was a success!

As for the rest of the adventure - here's a screen shot of our overall travel schedule from Gyula to Eger (it's actually the return trip but pretty much the same thing).

Gyula to Eger, just over 5 hours

However, each leg of the journey had several stops at which we didn't want to get off. That looked like this...

About an hour from B'scsaba to Szolnok, with 3 stops along the way -- then
Szolnok to Hatvan and Hatvan to Eger, with a bunch of other stops on each of those lines. Sheesh.

This meant we had to negotiate switching trains three times. That meant knowing the station at which we were arriving, how much time we had to get to the next train, and then which platform we needed to find.

This did not leave a lot of time for any funny Platform 9 and 3/4 jokes (and I had planned some good ones!).

We arrived in Békescsaba from Gyula about 20 minutes later, and we had three minutes to find our next train. We got off and looked around but could not find the platform numbers...luckily one of my students was taking the same train back to her home town and told us where to go.

We didn't have the computer schedule, just this printout.  We spent most of the trip studying our extensive notes.

I had to pretend I knew what I was doing

One of several train stops at which we did not need to switch.
The red hat means she knows something about trains...it does not mean mean she knows English

Train station in B'scsaba - can you find platform 6, we couldn't.

After finding the right train in Békescsaba, the rest of the trip went just fine -- first class all the way! (it costs almost 5 extra dollars to upgrade -- second class looks and feels like a crowded bus).

Where are Harry and Hermione?

Outside the cabins

The worst part about train travel for us is that we never know if we we're on the right train for sure until after it starts moving.  With a bus trip, we can find out where the bus is going as we get on and pay. That's not how the trains work. No one would stop us from getting on any train -- they only check tickets after the train gets started.

We were anxiety ridden for the first 15 minutes of each trip because we didn't know if we were on the right train 'til our tickets got checked. Thank goodness we didn't have to find out what happens otherwise. Anyway, it all worked out fine.

Along the way, we saw some "pleasant" scenery.

Ooof. I thought Kansas was bad.  Yikes!

After our last switch...and ticket check...we were on our way to Eger. We knew this because of the maps on the train.

Hatvan to Eger--almost there!

And, we made it! We were so proud of ourselves!! 

Eger train station

A train

Then, we realized we still had to find our hotel.

We had directions to the hotel (it was actually a guesthouse which is kind of like a bed and breakfast) and started walking (did you know google maps has a "walking directions" option, very helpful!).  We still got a little lost -- shocking, I know. 

How did we get lost? Who knows -- all the signs are so helpful!

Streets of Eger

Eventually we made it to the right street. I had booked the room on the internet and when Meliss asked me what the guesthouse looked like I told her it sort of looked like a garage in the picture, so just to look for that. 

Our guesthouse. 

We rang the bell and an old guy answered the door -- he didn't speak English so he called his daughter. He spoke with her for a few minutes while we stood and waited, then we spoke with her for a few minutes while he stood and waited, then they spoke again. When he hung up, he gave us our keys and took us to our room. 

No towels in the bathroom...uh-oh

I've read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and one point that is made perfectly clear is that travelers should always bring their towels.  I guess we just assumed a hotel/guesthouse would have towels. Well, they did. But, we didn't find them until we returned later that evening and pulled back the sheets. They were folded neatly at the foot of the bed, under the blankets (sanitary).

Balcony

Backyard view from the balcony

We decided it was comfortable (it was also fairly cheap..it was like 130 bucks for 2 nights), dropped our stuff and headed out to get our bearings.  We wanted to accomplish three things over the weekend -- see Eger Castle, see the Minaret, and go to the Szépasszonyvölgy (Valley of Beautiful Women -- or the wine cellars). As it was already late on Friday we just walked around and tried to figure out where we were on our map and where the things we wanted to see were in relation to us.

As we walked, we found this cathedral and added it to our list of things to see...

We found the town center soon thereafter which included a walking street with a bunch of bars and restaurants.

We got a text from a few fellow CETPers that were in town for the weekend and so went and grabbed a drink with them and some solid English only conversation!

Afterwards, we kind of bummed around and popped in and out of a few bars and restaurants on the way home...

Wine was for tomorrow

Unicum is another popular drink here -- it's basically Jagermeister (which I don't need to try to know how bad it is).
Ok, I tried it once just to make sure. It is just as bad.

We saw the cathedral on the way home again

From the back

On Saturday, we woke up (at about 10) to some noise in the backyard and went out to investigate. But, it was just old man Tobias cooking up some goulash. 

This was the old guy that gave us our keys

I have a feeling this meal would have been real, REAL, good.

We relaxed on the balcony for awhile -- I tried to convince Meliss that we should just stick
around and try to get some of that goulash but she would have none of it!

We had a pretty full agenda for the day (again, how romantic) so we showered (and got to dry off cause we now had towels), dressed, and headed out for the day.

We decided to hit the castle and minaret during the afternoon and make our way to the wine cellars in the evening. As it turned out, our guesthouse was pretty well equidistant to both (and it was just luck, I had no idea what I was doing booking the room). The town center was about a 15 minute walk in one direction and the cellars were about a 15 minute walk in the other direction. This was nice because during the day it was still shorts and t-shirt weather but the evenings were (for me) shorts and sweatshirt weather (for Meliss, jeans and a sweater, but you know how those natives are...).

On the way to the town center..

This was either a belly dancing class or a strip club. Meliss told me we weren't going to find out.

Felt bad taking this picture, feel bad putting it on here...let's just move on

Loads of pastry shops along the way....

Don't really care about Dr. Orto, but just thought Grandma might like this color for her patio.
The brightness of the green doesn't really come thru -- just trust me, it was hideous

We were surprised this was not a church

A bar we went into the night before, they had a jukebox (first one we have seen in Hungary)
The cathedral is right behind it.

On the way to the town center, we had to pass this cathedral. We broke our one cathedral tour per trip rule for Eger and instead of touring it we just took pics of the outside. We have absolutely no information about this place but since we are planning on going back to Eger at some point I am sure we will find out.

It was pretty big and very symmetrical, which I like

Don't know who these folks are

Or this guy

Or this guy -- but Meliss was scared of the nun walking by...

Everywhere we go there is at least one awesome church to take pictures of...

We continued walking towards the town center and saw a guy begging for change on a park bench. He had one really tiny foot, like a baby's foot. I am not mentioning this to make fun of him, I just don't want to forget how strange that foot was...we threw some change in his hat and basically ran away.

Pictures on our way to the town center...

A cafe with nice landscaping

There are people walking on this street but it is not a walking street as we found out. 

Another neat church we have no info about

Fishing? Picking up? Shopping? Mining for gold? One can never tell...

We finally made it to the town center and started making our way towards the castle. 

Getting closer -- street signs are so much easier to read when they have little pictures on them.
Also helpful -- when the thing you are trying to find is big enough to see in the background

As we got closer to the castle, there were a bunch of tourist shops along the way. We saw a crapload of stuff to buy our nephews but since A) we have no money and B) we have no idea how to go to a post office and get something mailed, we thought we would just take pictures of the stuff we would've bought, wrapped, packaged, and sent. Hey, it's the the thought that counts, right?

Guns, swords, and shields for young Skywalker

Dragons and magical crystal type things for Colten

And all types of sports equipment and apparel for Nic

We also saw this thing which is either racist or scary...or both.

Eventually, we made it to the road that would take us to the castle.

That's a castle wall on the left

But then we got to the top and there was no way to go left to the castle...
I mean the castle was just to the left of that railing!

So, we just walked thru graffiti tunnel

Which was pretty awesome in its own right

Glad it wasn't at night though -- this would be terrifying!

And what did we find on the other side? Um this.
We just laughed at our dumb asses and turned around and walked back through.

That's right, we got lost going to a gigantic castle -- at the top of a big hill -- one that we could almost reach out and touch while walking the wrong way past it. If, while reading the first part of this blog about how hard it was for us to get on and off the right trains at the right times, you thought to yourself, "Oh, c'mon it can't be that hard." Well, hopefully, this puts that issue to rest.

We did the walk of shame back through the graffiti tunnel and stairs...

It's your fault...no, it's your fault!
Happy Anniversary!

We got to the bottom of the hill and went to the castle. That will be the next blog because there are too many pictures and stuff for this one. Instead, we will jump ahead to the minaret which we saw after the castle.

The minaret was constructed in the late 16th century by the Turks when they conquered portions of Hungary for a (relatively) short period of time (about 90 years). It was the northernmost minaret in all of Europe until the modern era. As such, we really wanted to see it.

On the way to the minaret
Again, not a walking street

As we got close, the streets opened into a huge plaza -- this is another famous church I know nothing about.

Wish I could tell you the who, what, when, where, why of this -- but I can't.
So, come visit and we can go back to Eger together!!!

But this is the best statue I have ever seen!

Yeah, we took a bunch of pics of this one.
It commemorates the ousting of the Turks from Hungary

While we were taking pictures of the statue a little kid (like 3 years old) started chasing a pigeon around the square. It was pretty cute and funny. We didn't take any pictures of that -- but you can see these people laughing at him...especially the guy wearing capris.

This isn't even odd for us anymore -- is it for you? 

Statue at the opposite end of the square -- castle in the back

Captain Istvan Dobo -- leader of the castle defense

The minaret is right off the the plaza and it's just a big pointy needle of a building. From the castle, we could see people on the balcony of it that were clinging to the side like they were on the ledge of a skyscraper.

The minaret

Me -- standing beneath the minaret
The "line" to go up the minaret starts to the left

It's easier to explain with the pictures but only five people could go up the minaret at a time, as you could imagine. It took about 15-20 minutes for each group to go up and come down.

We walked up to get in line and there was a group at the top and about twelve people standing next to the gate to get in (look at the picture, you can see them!).

There were also about 5 people sitting on a bench directly in front of the entrance where there was a lady taking money to go up.

Obviously, we thought this was a line.  By my calculations it would be close to 45 minutes for us to get up the minaret. That was no problem -- we had nothing to do.

The group at the top came down and left and the next group went up. No problem. About 5 minutes later some guy walked up to the ticket counter, talked to the lady, and then stood there at the entrance.  I didn't know what this meant but I was starting to get concerned (Melissa was taking a nap on another park bench). Perhaps I should go talk to this lady...oh wait I don't speak Hungarian, so I am just stuck standing here for maybe several hours.

The next group came down and up this new guy went with a few other folks. At this point, I realized I wasn't even in line. I was just standing around watching people that were in line. I woke Melissa up and we left.

We had already been to the castle for a few hours and waiting in line for this didn't seem like as much fun as heading back to the guesthouse and taking a nap -- especially since we were heading to wine country that night.

NEXT - The castle (that we just skipped over) and wine country.

Bonus picture -- part of the square in Eger (that rhymes!)