Thursday, July 6, 2000. Departure from Budapest Grand Hotel Hungaria to Eger. Every Hungarian school child knows about Eger . It has been virtually compulsory reading in all schools since it was published. No wonder that Eger Castle is one of the most popular places for Hungarian visitors in the whole country.
All visitors find another attraction here - the wine.
It was settled by the first generation of Magyars to arrive in the Carpathian Basin. Stephen I made it an episcopal see at the beginning of the 11C and the town has been an ecclesiastical centre ever since. The Mongol forces that came from the east burned the town down in 1241 and slaughtered many of the inhabitants. Eger was one of Hungary s main Renaissance centers. The defeat of theTurks in 1552 delayed the spread of the Ottoman Empire, but it could not stop it altogether and 44 years later, in 1596, Sultan Mohammed III was able to capture the castle and the Turks ruled Eger until 1687.