Eger

One of the country's most attractive Baroque cities, a 1000-year-old Episcopal seat - today an archiepiscopal centre - with a glorious historical past and great historical monuments. István Dobó, castellan, gave the town the title 'patriotic town' for his month-long resistance in 1552 against Turkish forces which had a superiority of 20-times Dobó's small army. The medieval Eger Castle comprises ruins of the 13th century cathedral, the 15th century Gothic Episcopal Palace, and the István Dobó Castle Museum. The Minaret is Europe's most northerly structure dating from the Turkish period. The Basilica, Hungary's second largest church, was built in neo-classical style and it has the largest organ in the country. Eger is a town of medicinal baths and students, and of fine wines. The excellent reds and whites of this famous historical wine region are served in wine cellars that have seen the passage of several hundred years. Eger is also the homeland of full-bodied red wines: the famous Eger Bull's Blood can be tasted in the century-old cellars cut into the tufa in Szépasszony Völgy.