Things to do in The Danube Bend
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Palapa
The food at this colourful Mexican restaurant with live music makes it the perfect place for a change from Hungarian fare.
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Esztergom Basilica
The Esztergom Basilica, the largest church in Hungary, is on Castle Hill, measuring 117m long and 47m wide. Its 72m-high central dome can be seen for many kilometres around. The building of the present neoclassical church was begun in 1822 on the site of a 12th-century one destroyed by the Turks. József Hild, who designed the cathedral at Eger, was involved in the final stages, and the basilica was consecrated in 1856 with a sung Mass composed by Franz Liszt.
The red-and-white marble Bakócz Chapel on the south side of the basilica is a splendid example of Italian Renaissance stone-carving and sculpture. It was commissioned by Archbishop Tamás Bakócz who, having failed in…
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Christian Museum
Just north of the Italianate Watertown Parish Church (Víziváros plébániatemplom; 1738), which is vaguely reminiscent of the glorious Minorite church in Eger, is the former Bishop's Palace. Today it houses the Christian Museum - the finest collection of medieval religious art in Hungary and one of the best museums in the country.
Established by Archbishop János Simor in 1875, it contains Hungarian Gothic triptychs and altarpieces; later works by German, Dutch and Italian masters; tapestries; and what is arguably the most beautiful object in the nation: the sublime Holy Sepulchre of Garamszentbenedek (1480), a sort of wheeled cart in the shape of a cathedral, with rich…
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St Martin's Basilica
The entrance to St Martin's Basilica, built early in the 12th century, is through the Porta Speciosa. This arched doorway in red limestone was recarved in the mid-19th century by the Stornos, a controversial family of restorers who imposed 19th-century Romantic notions of Romanesque and Gothic architecture on ancient buildings; it is beautiful despite the butchery.
The fresco above the doorway by Ferenc Storno depicts the church's patron, St Martin of Tours, giving half his cloak to a crouching beggar. Look down to the right below the columns and you'll see what is probably the oldest graffiti in Hungary: 'Benedict Padary was here in 1578', in Latin. As you walk along the…
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Széchenyi Memorial Museum
The entrance to the Széchenyi Memorial Museum is in the mansion through the Sala Terrena - it's almost austere compared with the similarly named hall at the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd. There's a taped commentary in several languages (including English) in each room; just press the button.
The rooms on the ground floor of the museum, furnished with period pieces, deal with the history of the Széchenyi family and their political development, from typical baroque aristocrats in the 18th century to key players in the 1848 War of Independence and István's involvement in the ill-fated government of Lajos Batthyány. A sweeping baroque staircase leads to the exhibits on the 1s…
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Domokos Kuny Museum
The remains of the medieval Old Castle - one of four original towers and a palace wing - were rebuilt in neo-Gothic style at the end of the 19th century to mark a visit by Emperor Franz Joseph. Today they house the Domokos Kuny Museum. On the ground floor are archaeological finds from nearby Roman settlements, bits of the 12th-century Benedictine monastery near Oroszlány and contemporary drawings of the castle in its heyday.
The 'Life in the Old Castle' exhibit on the 1st floor is interesting; don't miss the cathedral-like green-tiled Gothic stove that takes pride of place in the Knights' Hall. Material on the 2nd floor examines the work of a dozen 18th-century artisans,…
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Pannonhalma Abbey
Pannonhalma Abbey was thoroughly spruced up for its 1000th birthday in 1996. After buying your ticket at the reception building opposite the car park and watching a 15-minute film about life in the monastic community, follow the overhead walkway to the central courtyard, where the tour begins.
In the centre you'll see a statue of the first abbot, Asztrik, who brought the crown of King Stephen to Hungary from Rome, and a relief of King Stephen himself presenting his son Imre to the tutor Bishop Gellért. To the north are dramatic views of the Kisalföld, while looming behind you are the abbey's modern wings and a neoclassical clock tower built in the early 19th century. Beca…
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Castle Museum
The small Castle Museum at the southern end of Castle Hill is housed in the former Royal Palace, which was built mostly by French architects under Béla III (r 1172-96) during Esztergom's golden age. The palace was the king's residence until the capital was relocated to Buda - at which time the archbishop moved in. Most of the palace was destroyed and covered with earth for defensive purposes under the Turks; excavations only began in the 1930s.
The museum concentrates on archaeological finds from the town and its surrounding area, the majority of which is pottery dating from the 11th century onwards. Other points of interest include some of the basilica's original ornate…
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Abbey Library
The most beautiful part of the abbey is the neoclassical Abbey Library built in 1836 by János Packh, who was involved in designing the Esztergom Basilica. It contains some 300,000 volumes - many of them priceless historical records - making it the largest private library in Hungary. But the rarest and most important document is in the abbey archives. It is the Deed of Foundation of Tihany Abbey and dates from 1055.
It is written in Latin, but also contains about 50 Hungarian place names, making it the earliest surviving example of written Hungarian. The library's interior may look like marble, but it is actually wood made to look like the more expensive stone. An ingenio…
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Bishop's Palace
Maulbertsch frescoes in the upstairs Reception Hall at the Bishop's Palace, built in 1783 and south of the cathedral, miraculously survived the air raids, but are not usually open to the public. You can, however, admire the murals of Roman ruins and gods painted in 1784 by István Dorffmeister in the Sala Terrena on the ground floor.
Other rooms contain photographs of the cathedral before and just after the bombing of WWII and the Diocesan Collection and Treasury (Egyházmegyei Gyüjtemény és Kincstár), including missals and Bibles from the 14th to 18th centuries, Gothic vestments, a beautiful 15th-century monstrance from Kőszeg and even a bejewelled replica of St Stephen's…
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Vas Museum Village
The Vas Museum Village, on the western bank of the fishing lake northwest of the Szombathely city centre, is an open-air museum with some 40 18th- and 19th-century porták (farmhouses) moved from more than two dozen villages in the Őrség region. They're arranged around a semicircular street, as was usual on the western border. The most interesting of these are the Croatian, German and 'fenced' houses.
Nettles from a strange plant called kővirózsa (stone rose) growing on the thatch were used to pierce little girls' ears.
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Szombathely Cathedral
Allied bombing in the final days of WWII did not spare the Zopf-style Szombathely Cathedral built in 1797. Designed by Melchior Hefele for Bishop Szily in 1791, the cathedral was once covered in stucco work and frescoes by Franz Anton Maulbertsch and supported by grand marble columns.
They're now gone, of course, though a couple of Maulbertsch originals and a glorious red-and-white marble pulpit remain, breaking the monotony of this sterile place, and there is a plaster sunburst of angels and putti (winged babies or cherubs) above the main altar.
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Margit Kovács Ceramic Collection
If you descend Görög utca and turn south onto Vastagh György utca, you’ll reach the Margit Kovács Ceramic Collection, Szentendre’s biggest draw. Kovács (1902–77) was a ceramicist who combined Hungarian folk, religious and modern themes to create elongated, Gothiclike figures. Some of her works are overly sentimental, but many are very powerful, especially the later ones in which she became obsessed with mortality.
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Smidt Museum
In a baroque mansion just south of the Bishop's Palace in Szombathely, the Smidt Museum contains the private collection of one Lajos Smidt, a pack-rat hospital superintendent who spent most of his adult life squirreling away antique weapons, furniture, fans, pipes, clocks, Roman coins and so on. None of it looks like it's worth very much, but the volume and zaniness of it all makes the museum worth a visit. (Keep an eye open for Franz Liszt's pocket watch.)
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Víziváros
Below Castle Hill on the banks of the Little Danube is Víziváros, the colourful 'Watertown' district of pastel town houses, churches and museums. The fastest way to get there is to walk down steep Macskaút, which can be accessed from just behind the Esztergom Basilica. An easier route is to cross the Royal Palace's drawbridge, walk down the grassy hill to Batthyány Lajos utca and then turn west onto Pázmány Péter utca.
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Savaria Museum
The Savaria Museum fronting a little park east of Mártírok tere, is worth a short look around. The ground floor is devoted to highly decorative but practical items carved by 19th-century shepherds to while away the hours; the cellar is full of Roman altars, stone torsos and blue-glass vials found at Savaria excavation sites. There's a local history exhibit on the 1st floor and a collection devoted to the Romanesque church at Ják.
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Garden of Ruins
Szombathely has some of the most important Roman ruins in Hungary, and many of them are on display in the so-called Garden of Ruins, containing a wealth of Savaria relics excavated here since 1938. Don't miss the beautiful mosaics of plants and geometrical designs on the floor of what was St Quirinus Basilica in the 4th century. There are also remains of Roman road markers, a customs house, shops and the medieval castle walls.
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Iseum
The Iseum, south of Fő tér, is part of a grand 2nd-century complex of two temples dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis by Roman legionnaires. When the smaller temple was excavated in the 1950s, the city decided to reconstruct it - with cement blocks. The result is grotesque, though it is said to be undergoing a facelift. The frieze on the sacrificial altar depicts Isis riding the dog Sirius.
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synagogue
The lovely twin-towered Moorish building across the street from the Szombathely Gallery is the former synagogue designed in 1881 by the Viennese architect Ludwig Schöne. Today it houses a music school and the attached Béla Bartók Concert Hall. A plaque marks the spot from where '4228 of our Jewish brothers and sisters were deported to Auschwitz on 4 July 1944'.
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Belgrade Cathedral
The red spire of Belgrade Cathedral, seat of the Serbian Orthodox bishop in Hungary and built in 1764, rises from within a walled courtyard to the north of Castle Hill. One of the church outbuildings contains the Serbian Ecclesiastical Art Collection, a treasure-trove of icons, vestments, and church plate in precious metals (open at the same times as the church).
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Csülök Csárda
The 'Pork Knuckle Inn' - guess the speciality here - is a charming eatery that is popular with visitors and locals alike. It serves up good home cooking (try the bean soup), the portions are huge and we remember a delightful winter Sunday in Esztergom long ago that began at the Christian Museum and ended with a Dreher-fuelled porky lunch here. Highly recommended.
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Technology & Science House
The so-called Technology & Science House built in 1888, once served as a synagogue for Esztergom's Jewish community, the oldest in Hungary, and now contains a regional government office. It was designed in Moorish Romantic style by Lipót Baumhorn, the master architect who was also responsible for the synagogues in Szeged, Szolnok and Gyöngyös.
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ArtMill
Housed in a 19th-century industrial complex at the northern end of Bogdányi utca is the ArtMill, Szentendre's bid to recapture its past as a serious centre for artists and the arts. Its extensive exhibition space is used for paintings, sculpture, graphics and applied arts, and its grounds are possibly the quietest spot in the touristy centre.
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Hungarian Open-Air Ethnographical Museum
The Hungarian Open-Air Ethnographical Museum, 3km northwest of the centre of Szentendre and accessible by bus from bay 7 at the main bus station, is Hungary’s most ambitious open-air folk museum, with farmhouses, churches, bell towers, mills and so on set up in five regional units. Craftspeople and artisans do their thing on Sundays and holidays.
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Cifra Mill
Öregvár is surrounded by a moat, and a system of locks and sluices regulates the flow of water into nearby canals; Tata was once known as the 'town of mills'. The 16th-century Cifra Mill, east of the castle, is interesting only for its red marble window frames and five, rapidly deteriorating, water wheels visible from the north side.
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