Budapest is an amazing city but a week was a tad long for me and I really wanted to get out of the city and explore the beautiful and peaceful countryside. A day trip to Egar, the wine capital of Hungary, was just what I needed. The train is a cheap and easy method but we opted for an organized tour which luckily ended up with my group of 5 as the only people who signed up, leaving us with essentially our own private tour.
Egar is the perfect blend of the entire Hungarian experience – a mineral bath, ancient castle, beautiful cathedral, delicious wine – all compacted into a pleasant town. We toured the downtown historic centre seeing a gymnasium (post-secondary institution) a lovely pedestrian shopping area and one of Hungary’s most beautiful cathedrals.
Our tour also took in a visit to the ancient hilltop castle, where we were able to sample some sugary treats and shoot a couple of rounds on a cross-bow (gotta love Eastern Europe!!). Our day concluded with a traditional meal and a wine sampling of Egar’s famous Bulls Blood red wine. It was a fantastic day and I highly recommend a day (or longer) to visit this lovely town. What a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the big city.
