Eger

The city of Eger has been around for centuries. It is most famous for its vineries. One its wines is world famous. The Egri Bull's Blood wine can be found many stores, here in the U.S.. It is a rich dark red wine. The story behind the name is that the Ottoman Turks, who ruled the area for some 150 years could not drink wine because of their religious beliefs, but they got around this by saying that the wine was actually bull's blood.

Eger is also historically famous, as it was in the Eger Castle that an overwhelming Turkish army was repelled by a much smaller and inexperienced group of Hungarian villagers. The story is, some 40,000 Turkish troops laid seige to the small castle, which was being defended by just 2,500 men and women. Some were soldiers, but most were the local town folk. Many heroic stories came out of this battle, most true. But this battle was significant, because it marked the beginning of the end of the Ottoman rule in Hungary. A book entitled, THE STARS OF EGER, chronicled the battle.


An Old Street Scene. The city of Eger, still retains a lot of its history and heritage with streets like this.	Istvan Dobo Statue. The leader of the Hungarians defending against the Turkish seige. Behind him is the Hungarian flag, waving from the castle.	The Battle of Eger. A relief of the famous battle. If you look carefully enough, you will see women fighting along with the men. The heroics of the Eger women helped win this important battle.

Once Proud Castle. Remanance of the castle walls. Eger had seen many battles in its time, as it was on the border of Hungary fo a long time.	A Temple. The remains of a large temple on the grounds of the castle. It is said that the castle walls were rebuilt using the stones from the temple.	The City of Eger. A view of the city, from the walls of the castle. Dobo Square with the statue of Istvan Dobo can be seen.