Eger, Hungary
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2006
1
28
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Eger,
Hungary
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
We arrived in Eger, Hungary, late on Wednesday afternoon, after a day of driving through the rain, to find a rain soaked campsite bordering on a small vineyard. Eger is a famous (at least within Hungary) wine growing region, which is precisely why we were there. We settled in early to prepare for a vigorous day's wine tasting ahead.
After enjoying some rare early morning sunshine, we walked to Szesspany Volgny (Valley of the Beautiful Women), as the local wine centre is known. This is a horseshoe-shaped street consisting of nothing but wine cellars
Andrew in Eger
. Most allow free small tastings and all sell very cheap glasses of the local wine (about 50-80c). You can also take your own containers to be filled straight from the vats, or buy small plastic barrels, at around 1.50 to 2.50 euros per litre.We spent the day moving from cellar to cellar, tasting the local produce. The whites were a bit fruity for us, but the reds, especially the cabernets and the Bull's Blood, were eminently drinkable, if not exactly fine wine.
We were lucky enough to be following a group of Hungarian guys who had paid some of the local musicians to follow them around for the day, serenading them (and by proximity us) with Magyar/gypsy music on violins and cellos. After four or five hours of drinking in the intermittent sunshine, we were feeling a bit pissy so we headed home. Andrew, who is a lightweight, was forced to drive the red porcelain bus a few times, so Marnie suggested a walk into Eger town. After staggering in, we lay down in a park, which was not so good for the lightweight, who had to decorate the shrubbery with an attractive pink mix of Bull's Blood and ricotta salad. Luckily we weren't arrested and managed to stumble home.
The following day, we slept late for obvious reason's, then returned to the Valley to stock up on the wines we had liked (Marnie was taking notes and keeping a scoring system, the clever girl)
Gypsy Rock n roll
. We ended up buying 12 litres of wine for about 20 euros, which should keep us stocked for a week or two. After looking around Eger for a while, then doing some shopping at the local fruit and veg market, we jumped in the car and headed for Budapest. We had good directions to a campsite quite close to town, but after seeing a camping sign just as we crossed the Danube, we decided that a bird in the hand was better, so we started following those. Unfortunately, these signs led us about 15km north of the city, through heavy Friday afternoon traffic, so when we got there we decided to go to the site we had originally picked out. So, after driving back across the city, we eventually got there to find campervans lined along the street outside, which is never a good sign. Luckily, the campsite manager offered to move his car out for us, so we managed to squeeze in by the skin of our teeth. We may have an evil Closing Time Fairy working against us, but we do have the Last Campsite Place Genie working in our favour!
