Szentendre and Esztergom

We went up along the Danube today to visit Szentendre and Esztergom. Szentendre is only about a half hour away from Budapest, right along the river. There was a big Serbian population, and at one time there were 8 Serbian Orthodox churches and only 1 Roman Catholic church. It's very picturesque, with a beautiful town center. In the summer it's mobbed, but it was lovely today in the early spring.

We made sure that Mimi and Poppop tried all the local Hungarian food- gulyás or goulash as we call it.

Esztergom is further up the river, right where the Danube takes a big turn. It forms the border between  Slovakia and Hungary, and we had to cross the river to get to Slovakia, just to say we did it.   We were reading in the guide book that the bridge there had been blown up by the Germans on Christmas 1944 and that it took until 2001 to rebuild it.  No explanation was given, but there is a plaque on the bridge. Esztergom has the largest cathedral in Hungary and is the seat of the Primate of the Catholic Church of Hungary. 

Under the basilica  grounds is a private restaurant and wine cellar called Prímás Pince Restaurant. It looks like it was part of the church originally, but now highlights wines from different regions in Hungary. It's a cool setup- it looks like you get a card, and then can taste any number of the wines.  They're in cooled cases, kind of like fancy vending machines  

The town of Esztergom is right on the border of Slovakia and Hungary. We drove across the river (just to say we went to Slovakia) and to take come pictures from there. The bridge over the Danube was blown up by the Germans in 1944 at Christmas, and wasn't rebuilt until 2001.