Egri Vár (Castle)

There's a map of sights inside the castle [6]: in Hungarian and German right near the entrance; the map in English is available inside, near the Minting Museum.

The entry ticket (which seems to be free in the off season - true in early March 2008) will grant you entrance to the main exhibits.

• The Gothic Palace houses an excellent exhibit on the history of the castle, the Turkish siege, and aftermath.

• The Art Gallery contains artwork from different Hungarian artists, most notably Munkacsy.

• Finally there is a tour of the Underground Passageways. The tour will take you first to the Heroes' Hall, with a replica of the tomb of István Dobó. The passages themselves contain several different examples of archaeological finds, as well as reenactments of events from the Turkish siege (a cannon being fired, an underground explosion, and a makeshift motion detector that uses peas). The passages can only be visited by tour, which are available in English at an extra cost.

The castle has several other attractions which are not included on the main ticket. Specifically, you will have to pay extra for:

• Panopticum exhibits of a dozen wax figures based on characters from the book "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon" by Géza Gardonyi. Winter time: open 9am-3pm. Entrance 350ft adult; 250ft children/students/retired.

• Weapon exhibition on Dobó bastion contains weapons from all around the world.

• Minting museum displays coins of ancient origin.

Beyond historic sights there are excellent views of the entire city as well as several hobbyhorses inside the yard that even adult tourists enjoy playing with/on.

Other Attractions

• Minaret the northernmost minaret in Europe and the tallest in Hungary (the other two are in Pécs and Érd) the minaret is a 42 meter high symbol of the Turkish occupation. It is 97 steps to the top, but be warned, the climb up is in an incredibly enclosed space on uneven and slippery steps and there is little room to move around up top so those who are afraid of heights or tight places should just enjoy it from the outside. Open for visitors from April to November.
• Ráctemplom (Serbian church) on Vitkovics Mihály u. 30. features baroque and rococo architecture and the iconostasis painted by Miklós Jankovich.
• The wine museum, not very big but pleasant
• Basilica on Pyrker tér 1. is the third largest in Hungary (the other two are in Esztergom and Budapest).
• Lyceum is the baroque building opposite the Basilica and currently functions as a college. The Archbishop's Library inside is home to various frescoes, including one of the Council of Trent, as well as the only handwritten letter by Mozart in Hungary. The Observatory in the tower features a mirror telescope, a cannon sun dial which announces midday with a small explosion, and a camera obscura which projects an image of the city skyline on the wall.
• Széchenyi Street is the main pedestrian shopping street which features a variety of shops and restaurants.

By train

Trains leave the Budapest Keleti station twice each hour. Some are direct but most require you to change trains in Füzesabony. Most of these trains are gyors (fast) trains and will take about two hours and 20 minutes to arrive. Several of these trains are IC and will take you directly to Füzesabony, cutting the total travel time to just under two hours, but a reservation is required.

If you come from Miskolc your options are similar, except there is no direct service and you will have to change trains in Füzesabony. IC trains take just under an hour to arrive.

By bus

Buses leave Budapest's Stadionok station for Eger roughly once or twice an hour and the trip takes roughly two hours. Most major cities in Hungary also have direct bus connections to Eger.

By car

The easiest way to arrive is to take the M3 as far as Füzesabony, then continue north on route 25. For a more scenic route from Miskolc you can drive through the windy roads of the Bükk mountains.

The train station is located about a ten minute walk from the downtown area and most attractions. Walk over to Deák Ferenc út and walk north until you reach the Basilica. You can also take buses #10, 11, or 12. If you arrived by bus, the town bus station is located downtown directly behind the basilica.

Once downtown, the city is small and best walked on foot. You won't need alpine boots, but high-heeled shoes are still not good as there is much cobblestone pavement downtown.

However, the town has a taxi service which is especially useful if you arrive by train or if your hotel is outside of the town center. (phones: 555-555; 333-333).

Also, if you go for some outdoor activities near the town there are some buses connecting the town with the suburbs. Check at the main bus station for schedules.

Definitely a good place for wine shopping. You can buy directly from the makers.

Other places for shopping:

• Agria Park[7] is a modern shopping mall which opened in March 2008.

Plenty of restaurants all over the town.

Visit some csárdas in Valley of Beautiful Women (Szépasszony-völgy). Some of them are constantly overcrowded as tourists are brought there by buses of partner agencies.

One of the specialties are pancake balls.

Cafes and Confectioneries

• Dobos Cukraszda, Szechenyi utca 6, ☎ +36(36)413-335 (fax: +36(36)420-310), [8]. 9:30am-8pm. Very good choice of artistic (and custom-made?) cakes and marcipans of every size. In non-summer time, don't take seriously plastic seats you see right after entrance--there is a large hall with old-school furniture behind the counter (as shown on panorama on the web site). Serves only Lipton tea, but Segafredo coffee. For the New Year season, a Christmas tree is decorated with real sweets and marshmallows. It has been in operation since 1966 and the interior seems to have remained the same since then.  edit

• Marján Cukraszda, Kossuth u. 28 (on your way down from the Castle; just next door with Dorner restaurant), ☎ +36(36)312-784. May-Sep: 9am-10pm; Oct-Apr: 9am-7pm. Much more modern compared to Dobos, still quite luxurious interior with striped chairs and marble tables. Be careful with the cacao--really large cups.  edit

Restaurants

• Palacsintavar, Dobó u. 9, ☎ +36(36)413-980, [9]. 12-23. All main dishes are served in pancakes, are mostly around 2000 Ft, and are very large. Good selection of wines. Regulars seem to come here for desserts--and look really enthusiastic about them. Artistic interior feels like inspired by Andy Warhol. Located a bit off the beaten path.  edit

Onion soup is disappointedly non-traditional, but still good. Conqueror's soup is served in bread, and definitely worth tasting. Be careful with Sombrero--extremely hot, which is not indicated in menu.

• Senator Ház, Dobó tér 11, [10]. winter: till 10pm. Decent place to eat if you stay near Dobó tér. Owned and managed by the same people as Senator Ház hotel. Before 11am, part of the restaurant is used for breakfast for guests staying at Senator Ház hotel. During the daytime, it attracts many non-residents even in winter time.  edit

• White Deer Hunters Inn (Fehér Szarvas Vadásztanya), Klapka út 8. (downstairs next to Hotel Park), ☎ +36(36)411-129 (szarvas@feherszarvasetterem.hu, fax: +36(36)516-129), [11]. 12pm-12am. Offers excellent game dishes. Not the cheapest in town, but the meals are excellent and the atmosphere is unique--although locals are rare here, compared to tourists. Interior is full of mounted animals--which not everyone may like. Menu in English, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish, Russian (translations may vary in minor aspects). Saddle of venison (3.150ft, cooked with truffles) is very tender, absolutely recommended. The hunter's favourite (2.680ft) is amazing in matching four sauces to four kinds of meat. Goose Ragout Soup (680ft) is quite interesting, and served in a bread. Mains 1500-3500ft.  edit

• Imola Udvarház Dózsa György tér 4. [12] Near the castle gate. In 2009 it was selected as one of the top 12 restaurants in Hungary. A good selection of wines from Eger and Tokaj wine regions. Mains 1600-3000 HUF

Wine

Eger is the centre of one of the top wine regions in Europe.

Wines

Egri Bikavér is most famous cuvee here, but there are several others definitely worth a sip.

Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood) is a strong red Hungarian wine which supposedly saved a clever Hungarian girl from her fate with a Turkish sultan. During the time of the Turkish occupation, it is said a young girl was summoned to become a member of the local sultan's harem. Not wanting this fate for his daughter, her father gave her a bottle of Egri Bikavér to take to the sultan. He told her to tell the ruler it was bull's blood, and would make him invincible. The sultan, being Muslim, was unaccustomed to alcohol, and proceeded to pass out, leaving the daughter unharmed. That's a legend -- but in real life, also be careful with Egri Bikavér. It's excellent, but strong stuff!

The real story is an important piece of Hungarian history: the "bull's blood" made there - is a cuvee (two type red wine mixed) - this name was given by the Turkish horde trying to conquer Eger - and than proceed towards Austria...etc But failed!...there were approx. 2000 Hungarians inside Eger, and 200,000 Turks outside. They had always seen the Hungarians drinking red wine, but they did not know what it was, and they assumed this must be bull's blood which makes these warriors so strong and fearless.

Wine shops

• Wine shop, (at Dr. Hibay Károly u., just across Senator Ház). Nice place to taste and try wines. Walls and windows are all packed with wine bottles, there are even some mounted in the floor. Offers selection of wine-tasting menu, with full range of cheese and snacks.  edit

Valley of Beautiful Women (Szépasszony-völgy)

Valley of Beautiful Women (Szépasszony-völgy) is the main place to go for winetasting in the town. Many small wine cellars that sell local wines with very good prices. Within about 15-20 minutes walk from centre of town, and easy to get to. Just follow the street signs with the English text "Beautiful Woman Valley". Vendors will fill whatever container you have with you, so bring along some extra pop bottles.

• Biro Borozo. Elderly women are great hosts, outgoing but not annoying, with good English and a sense of humor. Some wine is poured from a barrel through a decanter--it's a nice show, ask for a demonstration. Some is provided from bottles.  edit

• Helyben Fogyasztas. Some hosts speak English well, others not so well. Most wines are poured from barrels, not from bottles.  edit