Outward journey - part 2

After we took the ferry near Vác and this way crossed the Danube for the first time (Budapest not counted), we got to the eastern part of the country. We knew from a tourist-guide there was a nice palace in Gödöllö, so that was where we got to next. It was a long trip southward, so we were happy to see it was indeed a nice palace. But we weren't that lucky it was closing-day.

The Grassalkovich Palace was build in the 18th century in Hungarian-baroque style. From 1867 on, the Austrian Emperor Franz Jozeph I and his wife, Queen (Empress) Elisabeth (Sissy), liked to stay here.

After the second world war the palace got a completely different destination. It was used by the Russian troops as barracks. This didn't change until the communism was overthrown. The left part of the picture below is how it looked like then. The middle part was restored and can be visited. With the money they get from that, more parts can be restored in the future.

The same day we also got to Hollókö, far more to the north. It's a very old town that is on the Unesco list of world heritage. It consists of 65 houses and a white church. The streets have a medieval structure and didn't change since the beginning of the previous century. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that good, so we didn't get nice pictures.

We continued to a camping in the Mátra-mountains. At night there was a very bad thunder-storm. Our tent was nearly drowned and the thunder and Terry kept us awake all night long. We didn't want that to happen again.

The next morning we were happy to be alive. We didn't want to stay there another moment. We continued trough the Mátra-mountain and in Parád Ann visited a horse museum. Dogs were not welcome so Toby and Terry waited outside with Stefan.

Our destination was Eger that day. We found a camping right outside the city. In the mean time the weather got very sunny.

On the after István Dobó called square we visited the Church of the Minorites. This is one of the nicest baroque churches of the continent. The interior on it's own is a monument.

In Eger there's also a minaret. This belonged to a Turkish Moskee at the beginning of the 17th century. The Moskee itself was broken down in 1841. The tower can be climbed, but that is not suited to people who are affraid of heights or suffer from claustrophobia. From the moment you enter the tower, until the moment you are on top of it, you're between the central pillar and a wall. That's about 60cm wide. Right above your head are the stones of the stairs above you. There only light is from few lamps and there are no windows.

The next day we continued to Tokaj. We did this with a lot of roundabouts. First we went to Szilvásvárad, where we took a look at the famous veil waterfall. This is high on a mountain, but there was a little train to bring us there. The veil waterfall was very nice as was the way down, which we walked. We walked through a nice forest with little lakes and waterfalls.

Through the Bükk-mountains we went to Aggtelek, close to the northern border of Hungary. One can visit there the very famous Baradla caves, which are the largest of Europe. The Hungarian part is 17 km long, with underground brooklets, rock-faces and astonishing, huge sinters. In 1979 the caves were declared bioreservation. Again, dogs were not allowed, so Ann visited the caves while Toby and Terry, together with Stefan went strolling on a tourist market.

Below is a typical view on a village in the northern part of Hungary.

The same evening we reached Tokaj. We found a camping right besides the Tisza, the second largest river in Hungary, after the Danube. Our tent couldn't be closer to the river. We wanted to visit Tokaj the next day, but a lot of rain changed our plans. Besides that there was some kind of holiday, so everything was closed in the town.

So we went to Debrecen immediately. That was our final destination... More about this on this page.

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