Journal of a Sabbatical

August 5, 1999

the siege of Eger

Bird Sightings
Parad
2 white storks (Ciconia ciconia)
Eger
100 house martins (Delichon urbica)
2 turtledoves (Streptopelia turtus)
infinite house sparrows (hey, they belong here - not like the pestiferous ones at home)

The houses and churches in Hollokö are pretty much as they were in the middle ages except for the touristy souvenir shops inside. The road is paved with large uneven stones and has a high crown with ruts on the sides. The whole village is designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. It really does give a glimpse back to a much earlier time.

We drove through the Matra hills to get here. The hills are still heavily forested, alternating with vast fields of sunflowers. The sunflowers seem to come in three sizes: Van Gogh, normal, and small. My guess is that sunflowers are the major crop around here. It was a gorgeous drive the whole way.

I walked to a bend in the road with a good view of the castle looming over the village. It was something like a 3 Km walk up to the castle and besides its being way too hot to walk that far without shade, we didn't really have time. Castles are much more impressive from afar anyway.

We stopped for lunch in Parád. I ordered macok, a traditional Paloc style potato pancake, and noodles with ground walnuts and powdered sugar. Both were delicious. The potato pancake was nothing like a traditional latke. It had a little garlic in it and was quite flavorful.

The local mineral water, Parádi, comes in dark green bottles with a colorful label. Lots of towns around here seem to have their own brand of mineral water. I think this is supposed to have curative properties, but what it cures besides thirst is unclear.

Down the street from the restaurant in Parád, near where we parked the cars, some storks had nested on an electric pole. These were my first storks! A life bird right here on a main street. It is considered good luck to have a stork nest on your house. Don't know whether it's lucky for power lines.

After lunch we stopped at the coach museum - a small museum full of, you guessed it, coaches. The coaches had belonged to various people. The one belonging to Prince Eszterhazy was incredibly ornate with thick leather cushions and silk brocade curtains. They were all quite elegant. Travel for rich folks in those days must have been very luxurious. There were a couple of sleighs and a child's wagon as well. And, of course, a barn full of gorgeous horses. One mare was still nursing a foal.

Then on to the graphics lab - really the home of Zoltán and Marilee in Eger, a wonderful old wreck of a house full of art and antiques and animals. The huge mastiff has two adorable puppies. If I didn't know how big they'd get, I'd almost be inclined to take them home. Also a gray cat. István described the house as "very organic". It's alive, changing, growing all the time. I don't know how they fit all that stuff in there. The walls are covered with art and even some interesting cracks in the wall have frames around them. I started out jealous of Zoltán's Mac G3 and got even more jealous of the massive antique desks. I want his office.

What was that I said about castles being more impressive from afar? The view from Eger castle is stunning. You get a birds eye view of Dobo Square and the whole historic central district full of churches, etc. I used almost a whole roll of film just on the view.

The siege of Eger is celebrated in Hungarian history. The Hungarians held off the Turks for a month until they finally retreated and didn't come back to conquer Hungary for several years. One of the clever things the Hungarians did was to install "Turk detectors" in the catacombs - drums with beans on top of them so they'd make noise when the Turks rode over the tunnels and thus they'd know which direction they were coming from. There was something about the women pouring boiling pitch on the Turks who were trying to climb the castle walls too.

Half the team had stayed back at Zoltán & Marilee's while the rest of us went to see the castle. I figured I could see whiz-bang stuff in Photoshop any time but Eger Castle is once in a lifetime. This is only my second castle after all - and my first was only this morning. I haven't hit that "seen one castle, seen 'em all" point yet. I never did the grand tour of Europe after high school (too busy working to earn money for college) or after college (too busy working ...) so I'm not jaded on old buildings yet.

Back at the hunting lodge - home of the wild boars - we shared a cantelope that István had picked up at one of the zillion roadside fruit stands on the way back.