14 July ’04, Wednesday. Are we there yet ???? After today’s travel I was just about ready to pull over in the first farm we came across to see if we could “Free Camp” the night with them…. Starting from this morning we're hoping it might get better… After breakfast and looking at the map we decided to head off to Skanzen, Hungary. This little village is just 3km outside of Szentendre were we have been camping for the last 2 nights. It is well known for the Hungarian buildings that are on display there. They have been recovered from different areas of the country, dismantled, and re-constructed in Skanzen. They have a representation of several buildings from each region and furnished with the period they represent. Walking the grounds of this huge exhibit to see it all was worth every step. From there we drove the “Back Roads” to Visegrad and then on to Esztergom. In Visegrad, we visited the famous “High Castle”.
This hill top fortress was very impressive. It should be as this was the reason it was built….to impress the enemy into thinking it couldn’t be taken. The fortress was built in the 13th Century and did it’s job well. After our visit to the fortress we wondered down the winding and twisting hill to a great overlook and decided to enjoy a roadside picnic. Following lunch we drove on to Esztergom to see the enormous Esztergom Basilica.
This is the country’s largest and most important Church. No matter how you arrive in Esztergom you can’t miss this church. The dome rises 330 feet and the rest of the structure is nothing more than “immense” . I guess the question in my mind is, “why” so big ???.
Yes, it was beautiful, but so have a number of other “Dom’s” been as and more beautiful. This basilica does have the remains of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszentyu and also the largest painting ever done on a single canvas. After our visit here we back-tracked a little to get a bridge over the Danube so that we could continue our journey East. Well, finding that bridge was more of a challenge than we expected. The location that the bridge was to have been was now just a dead-end road with a slight turn to the left and a small ferry dock in it’s place. $10 just for the van??? Well, we had to get to the other side….
Then on to Edger through some of the most primitive roads to date. We could have stuck to the “Toll Roads” but, we are on a “Journey”… It was about 45 minutes out of Edger and I asked Louise, “Are We There Yet ???…. I was a happy camper when we arrived in Edger and our new “Pitch”. Tomorrow….Edger ps: our first bonus was the dinner house “Bacchus Panzio”