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 City of kings,
crown of Hungary |
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• Across the mountain
Winding path across the mountain Visegrad, fallowed by roads embosomed by trees, along the bended
river Danube. Beautiful scenery, blue mackerel-sky, small riverside villages, with green hilly
surroundings. The adventure you never wanted to end .....
• Afternoon excitements
After consumed delicious ice cream and cake portions we visited one of our fellow 280ZX owners, who
proudly showed us around in the nearby workshop of his panel beater, who had been working on the
restoration of his beauty since early February. The rotten panels were slowly replaced by new ones
and the under panels and stay rods also recuperated their original roles. All work seemed to process
well but of course before we took our leave, we did not let the master
without our "professional advices" ...
• Destination Esztergom
Beautifully situated in a crook of the Danube facing Slovakia, ESZTERGOM is about 70 km north-west
of Budapest and 25km on from Visegrád. Esztergom (German Gran, Slovak Ostrihom) is a small city
in northern Hungary, and is the seat of the Catholic Church.
It is dominated by its basilica, whose dome is visible for miles around. As a building, it is the
largest church in Hungary. Its inner area is 56,000 m2. It is 118 m long and 49 m wide. It has an
echo of 9 seconds. Its dome, forming a semi-sphere, is situated in the middle, and it has 12 windows.
It is 71.5 m high inside, with a diameter of 33.5 metres, and is 100 m high from outside, counted
from the crypt, thus it is the tallest building of Hungary.
The sight is richly symbolic, since it was here that Prince Géza and his son Vajk (the future
king and saint Stephen) brought Hungary into the fold of Roman Catholic (not Orthodox)
Christendom, in the nation's first cathedral.
Even after the court moved to Buda following the Mongol invasion, Esztergom remained the centre
of Catholicism until the Turkish conquest, when the clergy dispersed to safer towns and it became
an Ottoman stronghold, besieged by Christian armies.
Esztergom combines historic monuments and small-town charm in just the right doses, with a summer
festival as an inducement to linger.
The town's layout is easily grasped and most of the restaurants and pensions are within walking
distance of the centre.
A place one would like to spend lots of time there ..... we will call back next year again!
(S.SZ.)
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