History-maker castles in Hungary

History-maker castles in Hungary

Hungary has a very rich history. Because of the many types of folks in the Carpathian Basin and its surroundings, Hungarians had to build massive castles to protect themselves. Some of these were destroyed in the past centuries, but there are a couple of them still standing. Now all of them are renewed or strengthened and waiting for the tourists and visitors. The castles are true history-makers, you guys might have even heard about them before in school. I’ll show you the most interesting ones in the following lines.

Castle of Szigliget

The town of Szigliget can be found on the northern bank of Lake Balaton, between Badacsony and Keszthely. It can be reached easily by train or by car. The ruins of the castle are standing at the top of Várhegyi-hill, which is 239 meters high. The castle is recently restored, the panorama from the top takes your breath away for sure. It looks out to Lake Balaton toward the Tapolca Basin – here, it is absolutely selfie-time people! Besides that, they organize compatitions: tourists, who want to be involved, have to pay 300 forints (~1euro) to play archery games, or they can just fight against each other by a wood sword. There are so called castle days once a year, where visitors can take a look on how people lived and fought in the Middle Ages.

Castle of Eger

In the town of red wine, Castle of Eger and the surroundings are one of the most beloved destinations by tourists - if you visit this area, you will understand why. Historically, it is known for repelling the Turkish attack in 1552, during the Siege of Eger. Géza Gárdonyi, who was a famous Hungarian writer, pays homage to it in his novel, called Stars of Eger, which has been translated to 21 languages. The church of Eger’s bishopric, founded by King Saint Stephen, was built on the castle hill. It was rebuilt for several times, first in Romanesque, later in Gothic-style. The stone castle was built after the Mongol-Tataric invasion in the 13th century, and it got rebuilt many times until the 18th century, which means that Castle of Eger is one of the oldest castles in Hungary. Now it is the home of István Dobó Castle Museum with several permanent exhibitions.

Buda Castle

Buda Castle was the home of Hungarian kings in Budapest for centuries-long time. It was first completed in 1265, but it was renovated for many times later. The complex in the past functioned either as the Royal Palace or the Royal Castle. Buda Castle sits on the south tip of Castle Hill, situated northwards, and the area so is known as the Castle District. The Buda Castle has a lot of festivals, restaurants, confectioneries, museums, hotels to offer, but magnificent viewpoints to the city as well. It’s a full day program to explore all the good parts of the whole.

Hungary has about one hundred castles and ruins all over the country. I selected my favourite ones, but for example Castle of Sümeg or Castle of Diósgyőr are also worth a visit. As I mentioned before, they are real history-makers, and visiting them has the power to change your perspective of life forever.