Eger is a small town (and yes, I mean small : 57 000 inhabitants in 2011) in Northern Hungary, very well known for two things:

• it was the last castle to fall to the Turks and home to the northernmost Turkish minaret
• it is the main wine region in Hungary (the red wine is particularly popular)

As I arrived there, I also found out that the thermal baths attract quite a lot of tourists. And speaking of them, most people come here on a day trip from Slovakia or Budapest. We, however, decided to spend two days here, including our wedding anniversary. What didn’t take into account when planning the trip was …that it would fall on a Catholic Holiday and , thus, a long weekend for the locals and other Catholics. As a result, the stores were mostly closed on Monday and even our favorite place in Budapest was locked down on Sunday. Sigh. Next time I hope to remember to research these holidays as well.

How to get to Eger

If you own a car or plan to rent one, traveling by car from Budapest is your best bet. Mind the highway fees, though. If you don’t own a car and , like us, refuse to rent one when you travel, you have two choices:

• take a train from Budapest Keleti pu : there are gyors (let’s say express but not very speedy) trains every two hours and they are direct and take 1h 50 min
• and there are also buses from Budapest (and other Hungarian cities)

Where to sleep

The city is dotted with guesthouses. However, only two of them can be found on hostelbookers.com (I chose La Casa Guesthouse and liked it). There are also hotels (a lot of them) and I even saw a hostel. You’d want to stay closer to the center (Dobo square and the Castle) but that means you are further away from the train station (say 40 min walk).

Booking.com

What to do in Eger

Start with Eger Castle (Eger Var).

It took us about 4 hours to see it and visit every single exhibition. The “complex” adult ticket is 2200 ft (about 8 USD) and you get to see…well, everything . It has a guided tour included – we missed it because the 3D movie was showing at the same time. Do note that the guided tours are exclusively in Hungarian. Within the castle you can find souvenir shops , a coffee shop / restaurant and toilets. Yes, all of them are important though I’d say the toilets are the most important. Next up is Dobo Square (Dobo Ter)

Without a doubt, this is the heart of the city (and the center). A church, plenty of restaurants, cafes and other places to eat dot it. The souvenir shops are also interesting (we found one which sold handmade ferries and dragons figurines so now we have two new additions to our collection). The square also provides access to the Basilica (with its “Town under the Town” tour) and the Castle.

“Town under the Town” is a walking tour of the old church wine cellars. It’s exclusively in Hungarian but I got a booklet in English so I could keep up (my Hungarian is pretty limited but even so I have understood quite a bit from the guy’s stories). It takes 45 min and it was def our highlight of the trip. No, there isn’t any wine tasting there because the cellars are no longer suited to keep wine (they are lined with concrete to stop them from crumbling). The ticket was 1000 ft (USD 3.50) for an adult. A review will follow. We also visited the Hammam – a tiny free to visit site close to the entrance to the Castle – and the Firefighting Museum (800 ft / abt USD 3 for an adult).

Other things to do

Or in other words, what we didn’t do. I decided not to climb the Minaret. Thought about it but gave up eventually. Really didn’t feel like it and it is lower than the Castle anyway. Didn’t do any wine tasting. There’s the Valley of the Beautiful Women accessible by shuttle from Dobo Sq and there are places in the square to taste wine but since I don’t drink , Alex decided to try some wine with dinner. Didn’t do any horseback riding. I am not a major fan of using animals for my own fun. Sorry. Skipped the thermal baths. While I liked the baths in Oroshaza in 2013, that’s not something I’d do on my wedding anniversary trip. Though we were so tired at one point that we might have enjoyed doing nothing.

Should I come here if I don’t speak Hungarian ?

Yes. While English is not widely spoken, you can find workers in the tourist industry who can help (at the restaurant, hotel, etc). Plus, one of the 3D movies is subtitled in English and the wine cellar tour has the booklet. And the shop keepers will do their best to assist.

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