We Drink Bull's Blood in Eger

We were sad to leave Budapest behind, a city we had really enjoyed, but excited to see what was in store for us in Eger, a winemaking town about two hours by train from the city.  We had originally planned on going to Tokay, another winemaking town in northern Hungary, but decided on Eger instead because of its reputation for having a bit more to do.  We picked out a small bed and breakfast to stay at called Europa Panzio, a sweet little place perfectly situated a short walk from both the train station and the town center.  Though the women there did not really speak much English (and were surprised, as others in the town also were, to see Americans), it ended up being a very nice place to stay for a couple nights.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the two main attractions in Eger are – you guessed it – a castle on a hill and a church.  To be fair, it also has a minaret (minus the mosque, as the mosque was torn down at some point) which is supposed to be the northernmost evidence of Turkish invasion.   Its 97 steps were super steep - each one about a foot higher than the last - but we climbed anyway.

It was quite steep.

 The below panorama that we got from the top of the minaret shows the Eger castle, and I feel like it makes Eger look a whole lot bigger than it really was.  The town was walkable on foot, filled with quaint cobblestone streets that were sometimes eerily empty.

Just outside town is the so-called “Valley of Beautiful Women”, where wineries abound.  Upon arriving, we ate dinner at the restaurant Szantofer (good, not great) and headed for the famed Valley.

Eger wineries produce several different wines, including both whites and reds, but they are most famous for their dry red wine called Egri Bikaver, or Eger Bull’s Blood.

The name, according to Wikipedia, comes from the following legend:

To motivate and support the small group of soldiers during the Siege of Eger castle they were served delicious food and a lot of red wine. Among the Turkish soldiers it was rumored that bull's blood was mixed into the red wine, as otherwise the strength and firm resistance of the town and castle of Eger could not be explained. Finally the enemy gave up. 

 - Wikipedia page on the subject...

The Valley of Beautiful Women struck us as a grown-up’s pub crawl.  We went right after dinner, and even so it was clear that we were some of the later visitors, and some of the younger visitors as well.  We did get to visit several wineries (called a Borhaz, or wine house), but more were closed the later it got.  Still, we tried 6 different wines and took some tasting notes - stay tuned for notes on these and other drinks we've tried to come soon.

The following day, we went to rent bikes, but before we could, we ended up having a pretty interesting conversation with the guy working at the bike rental station.  He asked us if we had enjoyed our time in Hungary, and we of course told him that we had really enjoyed our time there.  His response was a bit odd for us as he began talking about how it’s great that tourists like it, but how people here are so shackled with debt as to practically be slaves to their debt.  It was a bit uncomfortable, and we tried to a certain extent to tell him how things seemed to actually work quite well in Hungary especially in contrast with some of the other formerly Communist countries we had seen on our trip, but I think it would’ve been pretty impossible to convince him to see things differently.  Also, I don’t really remember how this transition happened, but he also said at one point that he has heard that America has a bad educational system.   I’ve mostly heard how famously good America’s educational institutions are, so this was a bit of a surprise, but I guess there’s room in this world for all sorts of opinions.

But I digress.  We rented bikes and rode out into the vineyards to a small lake, where we had a nice picnic.  The ride there was mostly uphill, which was a bit tough, but made the ride back a breeze.  Plus, there were beautiful views to be had.

We had a lovely picnic here and enjoyed the lake.

A prominent feature of our ride - and indeed our entire time in Eger - was snails.  In town, I had noticed a sculpture of snails and thought it was a bit odd but brushed it off.  As we biked out of town, I began to see why they sculpted snails - snails were everywhere!  The poor little snails that had ventured onto the bike path were generally not in great shape, but we did meet this little friend who posed for some pictures with us.

After we got back from our bike ride, we had some cake and coffee at Dobos Cukraszda (delicious!) and explored town for awhile until dinner.  The streets in Eger are lined by small shops selling wine, knickknacks and handicrafts, and we hoped to find some nice embroidered textiles, a style famous in small-town Hungary.  Unforunately we didn’t end up finding anything that really matched what we were looking for, but it was fun to look around.

We ate dinner at Senator Haz restaurant, which was excellent.  We certainly would have gone back, given the opportunity – for what was perhaps the fanciest place we’ve eaten so far, it was quite affordable.  Unfortunately, we knew it was our last night in Eger.  Before heading back to our hotel, we went to a borhaz in town and finished our Eger stay off with the wine from where we had planned to go – a dessert wine from Tokay.

Overall, we liked the complex sweetness of the Tokay wines more than the Eger Bull’s Blood or the other Eger varieties.  Still, Eger was a relaxing foray into small-town and rural Hungary, a wonderful respite between bustling European capitals.