Egar, Hungary

The day after we arrived in Budapest, we took a train for 2.5 hours to the little city of Egar. In preparing for our trip, we asked some people we knew who had lived in Hungary, what we needed to see - all answers were the same - you have to see Egar. It was bigger than I had pictured it, but still very quaint. Soon after we arrived in Egar, we found the Mormon missionaries walking down the street. It was really cool to see someone we had an immediate connection with. They took us to the market and pointed out some sites to see. One had been in Hungary for a while and was fluent in Hungarian, the other was brand new and looked quite shell shocked. Apparently it is a very difficult language to learn (I vouch for that - I only BARELY learned "Thank you" toward the end of the trip.

What a beautiful church!

Walking the streets of Egar - wouldn't cobblestones and bricks add a whole new dimension to our streets (I'm guessing that upkeep and plowing would be a beast though)

One of the magnificent churches in Egar.


Ok, this needs a little explanation. In the middle of the old town, there is the "Minuet" dating back to the 1000's and has Turkish influence. It was a lookout for the city. For about $2, you could climb to the top and see the view. The guide book says that it is narrow and not for the claustrophobic and I thought - oh, no problem - I'm not afraid of anything. Well after about 5 steps I couldn't go any further. The "stairs" were more like uneven ladder rungs and it was dark. I had visions of me slipping on my in laws mostly normal staircase and then of me totally falling down the entire spiral of this thing - without even a railing to grasp. I backed out and when the money taker saw the horror on my face, she just reached in her bag and gave my money back to me.

Me - attempting the climb

Brad made the climb - this is looking down - into the abyss.

View from the top - do you see the dot with the pink and light tan in the bottom right of the picture - that would be me!

Views from the top - I'm glad that Brad went up with a camera!

This is the tower from street level.

I just love the narrow streets!

The castle ruins - we didn't do any of the museums - that way we could wander at will at no cost!

View from the castle - in the center of the picture is that tower that Brad climbed.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

This playground was a bit different than the ones we have in the US - the "toys" were big enough for adults - I don't think our 2 year old would have been able to make this work!

Another church - there is just so much to look at - almost too stimulating.

We took this picture for our horse loving daughter, but the history of this town is impressive. There are statues honoring the peasant women who fought off the invaders by standing on the castle walls and throwing pots and pans at them. This town is known for its heroic efforts at resisting invaders. I try to imagine myself throwing my pots and pans at invaders - maybe, in a sense, that is what I do by turning off my television and monitoring all media input in my house - trying to keep "invaders" out of my house!

On our ride back to Budapest, we found a car with "private" compartments. I felt like I was going to Hogwarts!