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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 .....
• 20th of August - Celebration of Crafts
Much smaller scale festival - that in Budapest - is put on for the public every year on 20th August
in Esztergom. There is an exhibition of Hungarian crafts, and local firework display. This day
is also a national holiday in honour of Saint Stephen (King István I.), founder of the state
of Hungary, as well as the festival of the new bread.
Among the events of the 20th August festival the Celebration of Crafts near the River Danube
stands out particularly. Every year great number of traditional craftsmen and women, including
woodcarvers, bulrush weavers, blacksmiths, potters, musical instrument makers, weavers,
lace makers, basket weavers, and 'mézeskalács' (honey-cake) bakers present themselves to
the public in the most spectacular gathering of Hungarian folk art. The pavilions offer more
than just the finished products for sale; demonstrations are held and visitors are given the
opportunity to try doing some of the crafts.
The Celebration of Crafts has a real market feeling to it; visitors can taste various
traditional foods of Hungary's regions. Folk dance groups and musicians all around
perform their music and dance presentations on the stages.
• 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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