May 10th. 2012.

We got up at 7:00 a.m. this morning, had breakfast in the hotel and left for the Danube bend at 8:00 a.m.

                      Visegrad Cstle

On the way to the Danube bend we stopped a beautiful little village called Szentendre.

Szentendre, with its colorful houses, narrow alleys, and two- dozen museums, is the most frequently visited tourist center along the Danube. This Mediterranean-like town is the home of Serbs who fled from the Turks and settled here in the 14th-17th centuries. Seven church towers rise high in the sky. Four of them belong to the Orthodox Church. Icons, works of gold and silversmiths and other treasures are found in the Serb Orthodox Church Museum. The 13th-14th century Roman Catholic Parish Church stands on the Castle Hill, a sun-dial on its wall tells the time. For the tourist who is looking for nostalgia, there are: shops, restaurants, trade signs, the ancient buildings of the Main Square, and the house ornaments.

These are our pictures of Szentendre. Everybody were shopping crazy here, but we got to see a real Hungarian dog called PULI.

After Szentendre we drove to the old Castle of the Danube bend near the town of Visegrad.

The Citadel (Fellegvár) and the Lower Castle The Visegrád double castle system is one of the castles built by Béla IV recognizing the consequences of the Mongol invasion. The fortress preserved its significance until the Turkish invasions.
In 1246 Béla IV started the construction of the Citadel .  At that time the plan of the fortress was triangle-shaped, with two towers.

The Old Tower was erected at a location most at risk, and the Gate Tower protected the southern entrance. The significance of the fortress considerably improved during the Anjou era. Once Charles Robert obtained the fortress from Máté Csák, he moved the royal court here in 1323.

The Visegrád Citadel hosted the famous Royal Summit of Kings, and the first Anjou King died in the castle in 1370. The Saint Crown of Hungary was guarded here when Louis the Great became the King of Poland in 1370, the Polish crown was also stored in the castle. The palace wings and a new external wall was built during the Anjou reign. Sigismund of Luxemburg extended the fortification with a third set of walls and carried out several lavish constructions.

Following the Turkish reign, after the liberation of Buda in 1686 the Habsburgs conquered the fortress after a 5-day siege. Due to the dissolution of the border castle system the fortification became unwanted and was left to ruin.
The excavation and reconstruction activities started in 1871 and are still underway today.

The Visegrad castle where the girls played king and queen.

Group picture at the castle

We had lunch on the way down from the castle at a little restaurant.

Waiting for the lunch

We drove to Kecskemet after lunch. We had an exciting afternoon and evening planned. We had the chance to visit a Hungarian family and have dinner with them.

Kecskemét is a small but beautiful town in centralHungary. Long established as center for handicrafts and cattle raising, it has also grown in importance for its viticulture, vegetables, and fruit. It is surrounded by flat sandy farmland, often referred to as “the orchard of Hungary.” The locality provides a substantial portion of the country’s fruit, notably apricots, and produces preserves, syrups, and liqueurs in large quantity, notably Kecskemét apricot brandy (barackpálinka).

The city dates back to the Arpad dynasty (9th–14th century), and by the 14th century it had become one of the privileged half-agrarian “field-towns” (oppida). It survived the Turkish occupation relatively unscathed as a khas, a possession of the sultan under his protection. Kecskemét’s polygonal main square is surrounded by public buildings and by a great Roman Catholic church and a Franciscan monastery. The city’s old Reform church was built between 1680 and 1684 by special permission of Sultan Mehmed IV.  The synagogue (1862) has in its courtyard the remains of an older synagogue (1818), which now houses an exhibition and conference center. There are many other churches, museums, and buildings of architectural and historical significance. The Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly, for whom the internationally renowned Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music is named.

We visited the City Hall, and got to sit in the important people's chairs.

From the journal of Allison Major:

"We went to a Hungarian families house for dinner too! They were some of Dr. Anna’s old friends and they made us fish soup, a kind of mac and cheese and a sort of stew I can’t remember the name of. For desert they made these neat layered cakes that were pretty great. They didn’t speak much English but we still managed to communicate. They also gave us a tour of the town they lie in. They said (after translation of Dr. Anna) that the Worlds Children Program comes to their little town every year. Well, after diner we were going to the spa but they were closing and we decided to go back to the family’s house. We had an amazing time! This is also where I managed to kiss the trippin’ frog. We all listened to music and were fooled by Dr. Anna by drinking nonalcoholic bear, ha! "

Our host David Mago and the group.

Our host Erzsi Mago. On the right Allison is kissing the frog, hoping for some cool things..

The nonalcoholic beer and our hosts dog Luna.