Our summer vacation plan was to visit the three towns of Danube.
They are the three cities on the right side of the Danube river: Esztergom, Visegrád, and Szentendre.
Because the Danube river makes a gorgeous bend in the northern part of Hungary, and the three towns of the Danube connects the most beautiful part of the Danube in Hungary, these three towns are also called the three towns of the Danube Bend, and this part of the river Danube is called the Danube Knee.
As a family who has lived in Hungary for four years, we are not unfamiliar with the three towns of the Danube river. My family had been to two of them before, but when my family went to Szentendre (Which Chinese people in Hungary call “Shandandan”), I had a competition in Romania, so I couldn’t join my family. And when we went to Visegrád, we couldn’t see the complete Danube Bend, and we didn’t buy any souvenirs, we didn’t really consider it as a perfect trip. So in this summer vacation, we decided to go to the three towns of Danube.
Our first stop was Szentendre, which really sounds like “Shandandan” in Chinese. So as I mentioned before, Chinese people in Hungary prefer to call it Shandandan. Though it was named after one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. As one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, Szentendre mainly preached at Asia Minor along the Black Sea. So in the late 17th century, tons of Serbians and Greeks who were running from the Turkish warfare came and were attracted by this familiar name, so they settled down. Therefore, the town has left many beautiful Orthodox churches. In fact, Chinese people at my dad’s age are all familiar with this town. Because the music video for Jolin Tsai's "A Wonder in Madrid" was shot here. Those of us who hadn't been abroad that year weren’t able to distinguish Madrid from "Shandandan". After watching the MV, the only thing we could say was: "Europe is so beautiful". However, I didn’t know Joslin Tsai, and neither did I know this song. So my dad showed me the MV before going to Szentendre to get familiar with the MV and the town. Though the town looks way better by now, it still has the 18th century Baroque style.
Strolling along the stone road with rich history, you can taste the retro European buildings on both sides, exuding a strong coffee aroma with history. Even in a small dessert shop, or a shop selling delicious ice cream, you can feel the effect of time on the taste. With the traces of time, the food has become more fine and perfect. The shops here are very friendly. Visitors can take pictures in any beautifully decorated shop without any consumption. My mom liked the flowers in front of a restaurant, so we sat down at the dining table to take pictures. The enthusiastic waiter was just about to hand over the menu, and when she learned that we just wanted to take pictures, she helped us to remove the tables and chairs that affected the picture. Businesses with years of accumulation have the same motto, “making money is not our purpose, the point is to make you happy.”
The town is only 20-30 kilometers away from the center of Budapest, so a large number of painters, artists, and craftsmen came here at the end of the 19th century, making the town extremely colorful. Umbrellas and lanterns of various colors, even the pots, bowls, and spoons, are painted by artists and hung in the air, making people enter the palette of painters. Which makes the town retro and exciting. In addition to tourist souvenirs from Yiwu, the shops sell more of the ingredients, porcelain, and wood made by local craftsmen. The owner of a small shop is often a craftsman himself. When I bought a wooden magic box, the owner took out the carving knife and engraved my name on the wooden box. As an international tourist destination, the owners here are often multilingual. The owner told us that if we wanted to engrave the Chinese name, he could also have done it. In fact, they can do more than just copying words in Chinese, but when we walked through the restaurant at noon, facing the Chinese tourists, the waiters could even speak European Chinese like "niu rou tang, yu tang, tu dou" to get the customer’s attention.
It only took 2-3 hours to go through Szentendre. The pandemic still had a huge impact on the town. Closed shops that were waiting to be transferred could be seen everywhere. I truly hope that the newly settled businesses will continue the glory of these buildings in the future.
It only took over 40 minutes to reach Esztergom by car from Szentendre. During the 40-minute drive, about 30 minutes of it was traveling in the mountains. The mountains in Hungary are mostly dominated by hills. So Esztergom’s most representative landmark: the Esztergom Basilica was also built on the top of a hill. You can see the temple right after entering the city. Even if you don’t look at the navigation, you can still easily go straight to the hill where the Basilica is located with the main road. There is a large parking lot at the bottom of the hill. There are only 30 or 40 steps to the square in front of the temple from the stone steps on the side of the parking lot. Maybe it’s because the steps are too steep, it was quite tiring going up the steps. However, the design of the place is very user-friendly, and there are also elevators to choose from if you don’t want to take the steps so that even if you are in a wheelchair, you can still enjoy the view.
There are many statues around and in the center of Temple Square. I was explaining the meanings of the objects they are holding to my dad. The statues have different shapes, but the things they hold are nothing more than force and power, it feels like they are all about the first king of the Kingdom of Hungary: St. Stephen. Stephen, whose real name was Vojk, was born in Esztergom. Before the Magyars, as nomads, had always lived in tribes, and they settled in fertile lands. Until they came to this Pannonian Plain in northwestern Hungary, the people who had been wandering for a long time still wanted peace in their hearts. The ten tribes who wanted to settle here had their own totems and leaders before. After Vojk became the leader, he naturally wanted to unify everyone's totems, and the highest totem was God. Vojk took the lead in introducing Catholicism and spreading it throughout the country. Vojk himself also began to use the Christian name, Stephen. Everyone had a common belief, and the original totems of their tribes naturally faded quietly. It was replaced by King Stephen, who spread the idea of the "divine right of kings". It’s said that the name of the country of Hungary comes from the "Ten Arrows Alliance'' in the Slavic language family (each arrow represents a tribe, seven Mazar tribes, and three Khazarian tribes). The process of “divine right of kings” wasn't naturally too easy. In 1000 AD, Saint Stephen I came to the throne, Pope Sylvester II crowned him personally, and Hungary was elevated to a kingdom. During the reign of Saint Stephen, he actively spread the process of feudalization, when people no longer used the previous tribes as the gathering unit, but replaced the administrative divisions of the King Province. Under his leadership, the Magyars completed the transition from a nomadic tribe to a feudal country. It can be imagined, that the crowning ceremony more than 1,000 years ago must be huge, and the people who participated were surely willing to surrender to the bishop and the king who granted the monarchy. Though this building with a height of 100 meters on the outside and 71.5 meters on the inside is not the church where the crowning ceremony was located, it was surely greater than this.
This is the tallest building in Hungary, the largest church in Hungary, and the 18th largest church in the world. The eight 22-meter-high stone pillars facing us really make people feel the insignificance of man's own strength in front of God. The main entrance of the church has a tall door that is not usually open. This gate should be used for bishops and other important persons to enter and exit during the grand ceremony. As a tourist, you can enter from the side entrance. Because of the high terrain here, the top of the church can overlook the entire town. An additional ticket is required to reach the top of the church, while you can visit the church for free. In fact, the original name of this church was: Saint Adalbert church, decorated with The Assumption of the Virgin (13.5 × 6.6 meters) which is the largest single oil painting in the world. But compared with the magnificent view outside the church, the interior decoration of the church is a little too simple. In fact, compared with the many churches we visited in the Czech Republic before, this place is much simpler. Therefore, we did not stay in the church too much and left the rest of our time to the castle museum next to the church. The castle museum is the former palace. When we came to the entrance, we were told that the museum would be closed within an hour. The staff patiently confirmed the visiting time with us, ensured that we had enough time to visit, and informed us that some places with special icons cannot be photographed. In fact, the museum is not that big, which made me think that the life of the king at that time was actually very simple. The palace also had an observation deck. Where you can get an aerial view of the entire Esztergom. The Danube River flows constantly under the castle hill, crossing the Mária Valéria Bridge, and on the other side of the bridge is Slovakia. Here, the Danube has also become a national boundary. In fact, when in the time of Greater Hungary, Slovakia across the river was also in its territory. Many Catholic countries in Europe used the unified creed of "divine right of kings" back then. Perhaps God didn’t tell them so clearly when he authorized them so that when the monarchs expanded their influence, they didn’t understand that what they were doing wasn't good. In fact, even some popes participated in the authorization process. Actually, God never wants someone to represent, but people always want God to be with them.
The castle museum mainly displays the main objects of the palace in various periods. Unlike museums in China, the museums here are mostly physical objects, and there aren’t many textual materials from those years. I don't know if it is because the papermaking technology arrived too late in Europe. Or is it as a nation on horseback, Hungarians don’t have the habit of recording history. However, when the reconstruction of the Esztergom Temple was completed in 1856, the pianist Liszt performed and directed the Mass for the first time, recording history in the form of music.
If the name of the three towns of Danube is because of the Danube Knee, then the luckiest town would have to be Visegrád. When we were at the other two towns, we only saw the Danube river floating beside us, telling us the sedimentary history of both sides of the river in the waves. But at the top of Visegrad, it will be obvious that the Danube has formed several huge S-shaped bends here. It may also be because the mountains here are higher and they don’t want to turn anymore, so the river has to turn. The turning Danube river brings more fertile land and lush forests to the town. No wonder that in the 13th century, Bella IV moved his capital here, and in the 15th century, Matthias I built his summer residence here. From what’s left from the Summer Palace, it is not difficult for us to feel Hungary's strong national power in the 15th century. The white palace walls are majestic and towering, and the inner courtyard of the palace is where fountains and gardens are placed. Compared with the Stephen Palace at the time when the kingdom was found, power had grown after several kings. The monarchs began to know how to enjoy their power and enjoy life.
There is a renaissance themed restaurant at the bottom of Visegrad Mountain. The restaurant still retains medieval decorations. Tableware and meals still have the spirit of knighthood. As a family of three, we ordered a classic knight set meal and we couldn’t even finish it. The restaurant also provides knight costumes and props. Whenever you wish, you can also have a showdown to digest your food. After the meal, climbing mountains definitely helps with digesting it. However, the mountain in Visegrad is very wild. We followed the signs to the mountain from the restaurant, after passing the mountain gate, there is no more concrete road after a very close distance, and the stone steps are not easy to find. If it wasn’t because of a few arrow-shaped signs on the tree, I would have thought it was the wrong path. Along the soil slope, the feeling of using hands and feet to climb is also very good. After climbing the mountain, we already forgot the meal we had. It seems that the meal we had definitely wasn’t enough for a real knight.
Following the sign on the tree, about thirty or forty minutes later, we finally came to the top of the mountain. There was a huge parking lot on the top. The traffic of traveling vehicles has increased. While the power of the Visegrád Group is increasing in European politics in recent years, the 14th century gave birth to the embryonic form of the alliance, which naturally attracted tourists from all over the world. Passing through the parking lot, the Silvanus Hotel on the top of the hill is the most important thing of our visit to Visegrad. The hotel’s outdoor swimming pool faces the Danube Bend, and the beauty of the Danube is unobstructed.
While soaking in the pool, the sun shines on our bodies, just to neutralize the chill of the pool water. Looking at the green mountains, a wide silver belt flows through. The river is the same as it was more than a thousand years ago, but the people who admire the beauty are no longer the same, just like the power in the castle.