271. The Danube Bend

Where: Hungary
When: July 5, 2017
With: Dave, Pam, Aunt Lee, Uncle Joe, Mary Kate

The Danube River is Europe's most famous river. It is the second longest river on the continent, it runs through 10 countries and it crosses through four European capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Belgrade, and of course, Budapest. Let's just say, it's kind of a big deal for eastern Europe. 

Now Hungary is a relatively flat country, but it does have some hills in the north. And where these hills meet up with the Danube, the river was forced to carve through them, creating some sharp bends and beautiful landscape to go with it. This region of Hungary is called the Danube Bend. 

To explore the Danube Bend, we hired a tour guide to take us on a trip from Budapest. His name was Attila and we immediately appreciated that his quirky sense of humor would entertain us throughout the day. The three towns that Attila would be taking us to were Szentendre, Esztergom, and Visegrád, all sitting on the banks of the Danube. 

The first town we went to was Szentendre. This town is known as an artist's colony that's recently become a popular day trip from Budapest as it's easy to get to by train. As soon as we parked, it was pretty clear art was prevalent as the banks of the river had random stones painted in a variety of colors. 

The flatter part of the Danube banks. 

The town had loads of colorful little buildings housing art boutiques and shops. It was fun ducking in and out of these little places.

There was also a ton of art in the street along the way which was fun to see.

The lampshades were definitely my favorite, especially the shadows they cast onto the cobblestoned streets below them.

The town was originally settled by Serbs escaping the invasion of the Ottoman Turks. While the Serbs are now gone, they have left their mark on the architecture. 

In the middle of the town is an Orthodox church that is still operational for the few people practicing in this area today. It was incredibly ornate. 

We lit some candles while passing through. 

As this is an artist's colony, it's not surprising that there are some museums here. However, the museums we visited were not the typical art museums. The first we went to was called the Micro Wonder Museum. We were confused upon entering because we couldn't tell where the art was. All we saw were these white pillars lining the walls with tiny microscopes on top of them.

However, upon looking through those microscopes, we were amazed at what we saw. The artist, Mykola Syadristy, is from the Ukraine and began using tiny everyday objects to make even tinier works of art: a landscape on top of a poppyseed, a chessboard on the head of a pin, a bedbug with a crown on his head. When we would look through the magnifying glass, the scene would appear massive. It was only when we took a step back to see how tiny his medium was that we truly appreciated the talent it would take to create these scenes. It was amazing. 

Sensing an interest in weird museums, our guide next took us to the Szamos Marzipan Exhibition and Workship. Yes, a marzipan museum. It was just cases and cases of marzipan artwork, depicting everything from celebrities to buildings to cartoons to fairy tales. It was so weird!

Very excited about Disney and the Muppets.

Just a life-sized marzipan Michael Jackson.

Some Hungarian history: many of the kings of Hungary and the Parliament building. 

We may as well be in Oz. This was so trippy. 

After Szentendre, our next stop was to get out onto the Danube for which this region was named. Our guide couldn't fit on the boat, so we were left in the hands of our boat driver, László, who only knew the words "stop" and "go" in English to whiz us up and down the river. This was a great time for Uncle Joe to practice using his Hungarian.

When we approached the river banks, there was a bit of shock and horror that this might be the boat we were taking. Then a bit more shock and horror at that steep incline behind it that everyone would have to climb down to get on board. However, we all made it down and onto the actual boat which was luckily in much better shape.

Everyone is on and settled in. 

And we're off!

The views from the river were beautiful. And this is where the hills really started to show themselves. 

From down here, we got a view up to Visegrád. Visegrád literally translates to "high castle", and there couldn't be a more appropriate name for the town on top of this vista. 

Sitting at the very top of the hill is a castle that used to be the capital of Hungary back in the 1300s. Its biggest claim to fame in today's culture is that it is where Vlad the Impaler, the historical figure that Count Dracula was based on, was kept as a prisoner and may have died. However, historical records as to how long and where he was exactly vary. Was it the castle? The tower? The palace? Not conclusive either way. 

Obligatory shots with Visegrád behind us. 

After the historical detour, it was just cruising along the Danube for a 90-minute ride. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and the water was so smooth. 

Really moving. 

Some natural caves up in the hilltops.

It was also cool to see the locals using the sandy shores as their private beach. 

László then took us into this small cove that was basically a graveyard for old ships. There was everything from ice breakers to freighters back here. 

There was even one ship with a tree growing out the top. 

As we came to the end of our ride, we took in one last view of the countryside around us before László did some donuts in the water, thoroughly soaking the back row of the boat. 

After this, it was time for lunch in the town of Esztergom. The restaurant was, of course, super authentic, its name translating to the Pork Knuckle Inn. 

Our meal consisted of, shockingly, pork knuckle and it was amazing. That, coupled with some beer and a few Rubik's games that Attila brought along and it couldn't have been a more Hungarian meal. 

The biggest site in Esztergom is the Catholic church, the largest in Hungary. However, to get the best vantage point of the church, we had to do something a little unexpected: cross the Danube into Slovakia. Didn't expect to add a new country to my list on this trip, but was happy for it!

The views were indeed stunning. 

And a slight taste of Slovakian culture?

And here we are. In Slovakia.

Now on to the church. 

Esztergom was the capital of Hungary from the 10th to the mid-13th century before being moved to Buda. However, it still has this basilica, the largest in Hungary, that was built in the 1800s.

It was hard to capture the full scale of the inside of this church. The pictures just don't do justice to how massive it was. When we asked Attila how high the dome was, he googled and discovered that it was "18 giraffes high". So take that measurement as you wish.

A small chapel sits off to the side of the basilica, and believe it or not, it was the original church. It sat 20 meters away from this site, so when the basilica was built, this was disassembled into 1,600 pieces and reassembled here. 

The painting behind the altarpiece is the largest painting on a single piece of canvas in the world.  

And the organ in the back is the largest in Hungary as well. A lot of records being broken here. 

Off the main dome was a memorial to the martyrs of the Catholic religion in this area, including some of their skulls and bones. Creepy. 

I love the tiling on the floors.

And I loved this frieze. It looks like Jesus is giving the Obama wave to his disciples. 

As a final stop on our tour of the Danube Bend, we drove up to Visegrád to get some views down on the river. This included a closer look at the castle. 

This is the iconic Danube Bend photo. 

After that, it was time to head back along the Danube to Budapest. This little corner of Hungary was absolutely beautiful and jam packed with history. And all because of this little river running through it.