I’d never heard of the wonderful town of Eger prior to arriving in Hungary, but thank god I have now, and I've met it in person. It has a population of just under 90,000 and is the seat of a bishop and home to a small teacher-training college. It has had a wild history going back to the early 12th century and in 1552 successfully held off an invasion from the “Turks”. With only 2,000 Egerites they formed a successful line and won the invasion of the 60,000 Turks. Unfortunately 44 years later the Turks invaded again and this time they were successful. Our morning started out with bacon, eggs, and coffee prior to walking the 20 minutes into town. As it was, we arrived just at 11:30 at the door steps of the Cathedral
and found that we were arriving just in time to hear a pipe organ concert in this, the second largest cathedral in Hungary. The concert was really incredible and the interior of the cathedral was stunning.
A very good way to start the day !!! Then across the street to the Lyceum (The Teachers College). There was really only one thing that really caught my interest here and that was the Astronomical Tower and the “Camera Obscura”.
After 9 sets of stairs to get there we were ushered into a small circular room with 2 small windows, a round white table, and 3 long brass bars hanging over the table from the high ceiling. Our guide “flew” us around a sight seeing tour of Eger from this high room in the sky. This “camera” must have seemed like a magic show back in 1776. It’s a bit like a reflection from mirrors that will then project the outside image back to the table top. As our guide would move the brass bars around the image would move showing another location of the village below. You could see the people moving, cars driving by, and the grounds all very clearly. It was just about like watching TV. Then lunch, the “Market Hall”, the Minorite Church, City Bath, Turkish Bath House, Bitskey Aladar Pool (an incredible “Organic Architecture Building built for the Hungary Olympic Swimming Team), Dobo Square, Eger Castle, and I’m sure I’ve missed something but, it was a full day and a very enjoyable one to have as well. Just past 6pm (1800 hrs.) and we have a bottle of white wine waiting in the refrigerator that comes form this area. Tomorrow….”Bull’s Blood” and Sirens’ Valley