Royal Palace in Visegrád

When we are touring the Danube Bend I usually try to include the visit of the Castle complex including the Upper Castle and the Royal Palace, too.

The miracle that we are able to see how royals lived in the 15th century is due to a passionate Hungarian archeologist who had discovered the ruins of the palace in an orchid, we are tremendously grateful to the archeologists who recreated the lavish interiors of the Gothic-Renaissance palace.

The barely 5.000 sq feet stone house built in the 1300’s was rebuilt and extended several times and transformed to a fabulous royal residence with 350 rooms by King Matthias. Legend is that marble fountains were filled with red wine in the 15th century. The Gothic cloisters, Renaissance loggia, living quarters of our kings and queens, amazing fountains and gardens are to be seen in the Palace as well as items and relics from the Middle Ages.

 

Pécs tour with a lot of sunshine, history and diverse architecture

Yes, Pécs is one of my favorite destinations so I’d like to encourage you to book a tour at your earliest convenience. Once you have a look at the pictures below I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the city, too.

Pécs is very unique because the entire Hungarian history is on display in the city’s architecture, spirit and charm. You can learn so much while just walking around the cobblestoned streets.

We start the tour discovering the 1700-year-old Early Christian Necropolis, the well preserved burial chambers of the Romans fron the 4th century. We continue in the 11th century Basilica on Dóm square, an important symbol of the continuous fight of the Hungarians for Christianity. We tour the ruins of the Turkish baths, the only Turkish age mosque in Hungary that has remained intact together with its minaret and the 13th century Catholic church converted into a mosque in the 1540’s and reconverted into a Catholic church in the 1680’s. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to notice the special combination of the Muslim crescent moon and the Christian cross topping the church, reminding us of the peaceful coexistence of different religions. We admire the harmonious Baroque architecture and also have a look at the Vasarely museum.

After the city tour I take you to the Zsolnay quarter, the completely renovated and restored Zsolnay factory buildings where the most beautiful Hungarian porcelain and ceramic products have been manufactured since 1853.

 

Szentkút – the Holy Fountain

We visited this cute little village last week as it was part of a family research I was working on for my guests arriving from Australia. I’ve never been to Szentkút before but I’m very much impressed by this enormous pilgrimage site, it’s just too bad it was deserted this part of the year. I understand it’s much more crowded in August when open air masses are held for hundreds of thousands of people.

The fountains have been famous for their healing power for some 700 years now and is declared a National Shrine since 2006.

 

 

Sopron, the “most loyal” Hungarian town

I guided several tours in the Northern part of Hungary this summer and Sopron has become my guest’s most popular destination, honestly, I can understand why. That’s the reason why this visit is part of my new tour to Győr and Sopron. The little town is situated near the border to Austria, a beautiful Baroque town rich in medieval architecture.

We refer to Sopron as to the most loyal Hungarian town because its citizens rejected the offer of Austrian citizenship in a referendum after WW1 when two thirds of the Hungarian territories got detached from our country. The anniversary of the referendum is celebrated every year.

During the tour we visit 13th century churches with Romanesque and Gothic structure, the Fire Tower, which is the town’s symbol since its construction in the 1600’s and apartment buildings from the 18th century. You’ll see where our great king Matthias was accomodated when he was besieging Vienna in 1482 and where Franz Liszt gave concerts in the 1800’s. I’ll also show you the ruins of the ancient Roman settlement, you can see the ruins of the town hall and the market from the Roman era.

 

 

Hungarian Wines – the Villány Wine Region

Probably the most beautiful wine country in Hungary, Villány offers great quality red and rosé wines and exceptionnal wineries with an amazing view over the surrounding hills. The number one domestic stronghold of wine tourism is the Villányi Borút -Villány Wine Trail- which was the very first Wine Trail brought to life in Hungary. Book the “Pécs and Villány Tour by Car” if you want to see and to learn more!

The area altogether is about 1800 hectares, the climate is of sub-mediterranean character with a hot summer, mild winter and a lot of sunshine. The southernmost mountain of Hungary protects the grapes from cool north winds.

Excavations prove that the Romans cultivated grapes in the area some 2000 years ago. As far as we know our ancestors started winemaking as early as in the 1060’s. Villany wine region had its first golden age during the early 1800′ after the arrival of German settlers. They introduced advanced agricultural know-how, technics and a new grape, known today as Kekoporto, which became number one in the region’s wine making.

During the second half of the 20th century the Villány vineyards were nationalized, the legacy of the quantity production will probably continue to be felt for decades in plantations with low densities and widely paced rows, originally designed to accommodate oversize tractors. It’s easy to see the differences between a collectively cultivated tract and a privately owned plot even today.

The Villány vine varieties and wines are Kékoportó, Kékfrankos and Cabernet Sauvignon, Hárslevelű. Italian Riesling and Leányka.

Villány winemakers are among the most successful participants in Hungarian and international wine contests and exhibitions. Wine producers and cellars of Villány have been awarded the titles “Wine Producer of the Year” and “Wine Cellar of the Year” several times.

 

A beautiful day touring Eger and the Eger wine country

We’re just back from another great countryside tour. We visited Eger, a small town today with exciting history. The Eger Castle witnessed the extreme courage and patriotism of its defenders who withstood the Ottomans’ 5-week-long siege in 1542.

We started by discovering Eger’s Basilica and the University, which is home to the Camera Obscura, Eger’s Eye, probably the most interesting thing in town. There are only 3 camera obscuras around the world, it’s so much fun to spy on what’s going on around the city.

We took a pleasant walk in the old town and tasted some Lángos, which was delicious. We visited the castle, the scene of the fight in 1552, I was telling stories from ‘The eclipse of the crescent moon’, a Hungarian novel about the great victory of the Hungarian defenders of the Eger Castle.

After visiting the local wine museum in the afternoon we drove to the Valley of the Beautiful Women and tasted the best red and white wines of the Eger wine country.

Day trip to Bratislava

We just spent a beautiful day in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It’s only a 2-hour drive from Budapest, and is the only capital in Europe bordering two countries; Hungary and Austria.

We started the tour at Slavin, at the memorial dedicated to the liberation of Slovakia in April 1945. We took a pleasant walk around the Bratislava Hrad, the castle which looks like an upside down table, the towers of the castle are so similar to table legs. Unfortunately the castle was almost entirely destroyed in a fire 200 years ago, still, the view from the top of the hill over Bratislava is really pretty.

We toured the quaint little old town, visited St. Martin’s Cathedral and the gorgeous Cardinal Palace topped with a giant  cardinal’s hat. We discovered the town’s unique statues, the Man at Work, the Paparazzo and of course Napoleon’s soldier, too. We also enjoyed a traditional local lunch on the main square before returning to Budapest.