A day in Eger

Currently sitting on the train waiting for the 6:50 train to Budapest. We left our apartment early to be sure everything went ok.... Taxi came on time and it was three minutes to the station so we have some free time. Tom is listening to music and I decided to blog because I can't do it on a moving rain.

Last night after a little downtime we ventured into the center of Eger. We arrived at what we photographers call the "golden hour". Its the hour or so before sunset when the lit for photography is beautiful for pictures. We decided to push dinner back a little bit so that we could wander around the main part of town capturing that glorious light.

Dinner was Tom' choice. He found a place in Our friend Rick's book ;)
Meals for me in Hungary have been veggie salads of all descriptions. The Hungarians love all things pickled so I have had Beetroot salad, various cabbage salads, Serbian tomato salad, etc. Tom's dinner choice last night was pork tenderloin wrapped in a potato pancake, smothered in mushroom gravy. He is still raving about it!!! He told me lunch in Szentendre was something he would always member due to the charming setting but dinner last night he will always remember based purely on the food. He thought to ask the waiters how to pronounce the dish in Hungarian so he could tell people about it. The waiter took a full 20 seconds to tell him the entire name. Needless to say Tom is sticking with the English translation.

I encouraged Tom to arrange to have breakfast made for himself by our hostess Marica. For an additional 1500 forint ($7.00) she prepared him a full Hungarian breakfast. Rolls, bread, ham, salami, tomatoes, peppers, cheese and also scrambled eggs with cheese, onions and sausage. Oh, and coffee with hot milk and honey/lemon tea. He ate all of it except the tomatoes and peppers (which he left for the vegetarian) and one sandwich which he made to eat on the rain tonight.

Before breakfast I put a load of wash into Marica's washing machine and hung it to dry before we went out for the day. With the "work" for the day taken care of we were off for town. Transportation for us in Eger (with the exception of the taxi to and from the train) was by foot. It is about a 10 minute walk downhill into town so you know what that means... All uphill on the way home.

We spent the day exploring the shops, Castle, minaret and gelato stands. Today's flavors, in case you were wondering were: raspberry with currants, citron (lemon with zest), and melon. Yum. Tom enjoyed a raspberry icee.

At the castle I had to bust out my german because we wanted specific tickets and the cashier and I were failing to communicate well. I tried to tell her we wanted tickets for everything and I said "alles" which is German for all or everything. She picked up on that one word, asked if I spoke German and when I told her a little, off she went. She was concerned that I didn't understand that the only tour offered was in Hungarian. We took the tour in Hungarian because that was the only way we could see the dungeons and underground passages. It was so cool underground I had to don my jacket.

Tom climbed the 97 stairs to the top of the minaret which was once part of a mosque. It is 130 feet tall and is so narrow that if someone is already inside you have to wait for them to come down because there is not enough room for two people to pass. Apparently the steps were so skinny and winding that Tom had to put each foot sideways to be able to walk. He also had to overcome his fear of falling to ascend to that height.

I was really pleased to find two things that I was looking for in an antique shop. I bought a silverplate spoon and a fork made in the USSR 60 years ago and a couple of interesting Skeleton keys that I collect. I bought the silverware to turn in to jewelry, although I am tempted to keep it to eat with and remember this trip by. I would have purchased extras so I could do both but flatware tends to weigh down a backpack fast.

At the end of the day we returned to our room to pack up the backpacks and call the cab. Two hours on the train back to Budapest and then a 10 1/2 hour overnight to Romania. Dracula, here we come!!