Eger

When in Eger the first destination should be the main square of the town, Dobó square! Arriving at the square you can see that the square is full of life, milling crowds: it is a popular social place of youngsters, it is where little children can run about, cyclers and rollerskaters can pass the time with their acrobatic shows and also a popular meeting point of lovers. Dobó square is really vivid in summer, at this time you can sense a kind of Mediterranean atmosphere.

The most exciting attraction, Camera obscura can be foung on the top of the tower. You are prectically in the middle of a giant camera where the living picture of the town is projected on a table with a system of lenses and mirrors. This "Dark room" in Eger is unique universally, since it is the oldest working equipment of this kind on the continent! Visit it in sunny weather if you can, since the quality of the picture is the best at that time, in cloudy weather the quality is a bit worse and in rainy weather there is no picture, as the camera cannot work. The room was created even originally to make fun; an old legend in Eger says that jealous men in the past could control their wives walking in the town. So it was not worth braking faith any time and anywhere, especially in Eger...

It is the minaret having survived in the best condition in the country. The tower is 40 meters high and the balcony circling the terrace in on 26 meters high. Up there your breath will be taken by the view, however, it is also due - besides the fantastic panorama - to having overcome 97 high steps of the spiral staircase to get up. Those having movement disability or height fobia perhaps the minaret will give nice memories admiring it rather from outside but those who like challenges it is really worth climbing up the balcony as well!

An outstanding example of how colourful Eger is the latest favourite exhibition of the town: Egri Road Beatles Museum. This is the only one Beatles collection in Middle – Eastern Europe, but such a collection is rare in other parts of the world as well, so much that there are only five of them all over the world! The one in Eger is one of them.

The Turkish Bath in Eger is a little time travel to the past: the oldest pool of the bath, the Turkish pool was built in 1610! The most special pool of the building is the Big Mirror Pool the magic of which is given by the ornamented golden dome arching above it. Once it is enough of admiring it, look down, because the real surprise is there! The pool is fed by its own spring, the medicinal water of radon content is bubbling up from between the stone tiles making the bath really special.

Archbishop's Garden is the biggest park of Eger, called as "the lungs of the town" by locals. On its place there used to be a natural forest fenced off and used for hunting by the bishops. The gates were opened for the public in 1919 - two of them, real wrought iron masterpieces of Henrik Fazola, are still standing on the northern and western sides of the park. The garden is bordered by Eger stream on the east and if you are lucky you can see wild duck families swimming in it.

Nowadays can only be seen the ruins of Valide Sultana hamam, but a contemporary Turkish travelogue says it used to be a really impressive building with a red dome, pleasant water. The meaning of the name is: the Sultan's mother. Baths had great importance in the Ottoman culture, they were considered to be a kind of community spaces where people could meet and talk. And, anyway, they could thoroughly scrutinise each other. Since baths were not mixed at that time, men had to miss the sight of ladies, or, they got indirect information. But how? A good mother does everything for her son... Yes, at that time it was a custom that at first boys' mothers scrutinised the young, naked girls, just for the sake of their son. You can unleash your imagination, however, the real function was not that personal. In reality mothers just wanted to be sure of the health of the girls, whether their body was suitable for giving birth.

Following the Turkish occupation bishop György Fenessy having returned to Eger did not want to live in the castle any more, but rather bought two building sites in the civic town and the tuff stones necessary for the construction of the palace were extracted from the hill behind. It proved to be a great idea: on the one hand the palace of the bishop was built, on the other hand a huge cellar system was created under the town having excellent micro-climate to store wine, so the wine received as tithe was started to be stored here. The bishop's cellar system used to strech 3 km long under the town from Hatvani-gate to Rác-gate.