The town of Viszegrad, while adorable, was virtually deserted. There were no toruists to be seen! We dropped our stuff off at a hotel where a very nice receptionist promised to keep an eye on them (and they were still there when we got back!) And then took one look around the town and decided to hike to the top of the mountain to get it over with. And it was quite a hike!
The Castle was a medieval fort, a citadel built in 1249, and the views were spectacular. We ate a nutricious lunch of Nutella and white bread (and water), and then hiked back down again after learning some stuff.
We weren't castle-ed out yet, so we cruised om over to the Royal Palace, built in 1323, but redone in the 15th century. Turns out what happened in this castle was was the foundation for Renaissance villas and Italian and French culinary delights as we know them! Amd of course, like everything else in Hungary, had been destroyed by the Turks and is now rebuilt. No wonder nobody here wants us to go to Turkey!
We picked up our stuff, ate a liter of ice cream, and got directions (and were entertained by) a nice little old Hungarian lady. We've been receiving a lot of unsollicited help from the elderly Hungarian population...they seem to sense that we"re in trouble and do their darndest to try to help us out. This particular old woman did an intricate dance for us - which we still don't understand - to try to tell us something about how to get to Esztergom. Despite the fact that we don't understand them half the time, they're wonderfully hospitable.
Once in Eszertergom, we found a hostel, and decided to go to Slovokia. Who knew it was right across the Danube from Esztergom? We had a charming view of the basilica from the shores of Slovakia, then re-crossed the river, checking Slovakia off our list.
Shockingly, although it is only earlt September, we noticed a significant lack of tourists in Esztergom as well. Which prompted us to ask the question: where is everybody? To which the answer is...we have no idea. I guess we'll see if they're in Turkey on Friday.
We had dinner (VEGETABLES!) right under the basilica, and are now lounging in our quaint guesthouse (again with a private bathrrom!!!) We apologise to our fans for the lack of post yesterday, as there were technical difficulties. We will do our best to remedy the situation in a timely manner.
Very truly yours,
Us
1 comment:
Sounds like you two are having a grand old time. I'm excited to hear all about Turkey soon-- have smooth travels there.
Here is my one word of Turkish, in case it comes in handy. Tesekurederim (spelling is obviously totally wrong) means thank you.
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