Upon arriving in Visegrad we were ushered into a restaurant by the owner for a "Renaissance Feast". He was dressed in full Renaissance garb and was accompanied by drums being played loudly at the entrance. After being seated, a king and queen were chosen from our group and the king's first task was to choose a jester. We all also had our own costumes consisting of paper crowns and bib napkins.
After the meal we walked up to the Visegrad fortress to see the view and learn a little more about Hungarian history for our guide and program leader, Elizabeth. It was so beautiful and fun to re-enact a few pictures that I took 5 years ago.
I learned that these trees are called aranyeső (gold rain). All of God's creations should have names this magnificent.
Before heading home we stopped to take a ride on the famous Bob's summer-time bobsled. Big shout-out to my dad!
The following day, on our way to see a Hungarian Holocaust camp in Recsk, we had to turn around due to road blockage for a car race. Instead we spent the whole day in Eger; where we saw the famous Eger fortress and The Observatory, ate a delicious lunch and my all time favorite ice cream (lemon flavored) and participated in a wine tasting.
The Observatory was a system consisting of a mirror and concave lens which was used to project a panorama image of the view from the top of the building onto the white table in the room we were standing in. We had to be in a completely dark room for this to work. The long rods hanging down were used to spin the lens-mirror system so that we could see the full panorama view. I now understand why it was important for me to learn about mirrors and lenses in Physics 2 last semester. As much as I hated that class then, I am excited to discover practical applications of it.
This very intense man gave us a description of the clothing worn and weapons used by the men of this fortress during the 15th century. He even fired his gun for us; which was so loud and unexpected that most of our group almost fell backwards off the wall they were sitting on.
This is a war weapon that was used by rolling it down the hill towards the enemy. Not only is it large and heavy, but long spears are protruding from the center piece and each ball hanging from the roller would have been filled with gun powder so when lit they would explode as it traveled down the hill.
We were given a tour of the passageways that run underneath the fortress. If these torches would have gone out we would have been left in complete darkness. You can get an idea of how dark it would have been by looking behind me! I was quite thankful for fire during this time.
My Lunch...catfish cooked in a coconut milk and sage sauce served with rice and carrots. Followed by a dessert of my favorite ice cream in Hungary, lemon.
Later that day we were treated to a wine tasting at the Sike Pince located in Eger's Valley of the Beautiful Women. We tried 4 different wines (Egri Csillag, another white wine, Bika Vér, and a honey flavored Pinot Noir). It was a good experience and helped me learn more about the wine tasting process while experiencing an important aspect of the Hungarian culture.
The three steps to a successful wine tasting: (1) observe the color, thickness, sedimentation; (2) swirl it allowing the wine to air and then smell it by sticking your nose as far as possible into the glass and breathing deeply; (3) sip the wine and then "chew" on it before swallowing. Despite doing all of these steps with each sip, I must say that I still DO NOT like wine.
The CIEE Study Abroad Program has done a fabulous job of introducing our group to various aspects of Hungary and its culture. I am thankful for a program that makes such an effort to plan fun events like this for us.
Until Next Time!
Emike
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