Attractions and Places To See in Great Plain and North - Top 20

Extensive archaeological work since 2000 has confirmed that people lived in the Szalajka Valley as early as 40,000 years ago. The cave dwellers lived in the Istállós cave and even had contact with other tribes from the valley, some of which lived 500 kilometers away. People also lived in the idyllic valley during the Bronze Age, as evidenced by Celtic relics and an early earthwork. Nevertheless, there were no major settlements within the valley until the Middle Ages, as trade routes were difficult to establish in the heavily forested area. Continuous settlement in the Szalajka Valley began in the 14th century, when people settled in the village of Wárad, now known as Szilvásvárad. The high-quality timber served as a source of urban income even in the Middle Ages, leading to increasing numbers of settlements. Source: https://www.urlaub-ungarn.at/sightseeing/natuerliche-gehenswuerdigkeiten-ungarn/szalajka-tal.html

Extensive archaeological work since 2000 has confirmed that people lived in the Szalajka Valley as early as 40,000 years ago. The cave dwellers lived in the Istállós cave and even had contact with other tribes from the valley, some of which lived 500 kilometers away. People also lived in the idyllic valley during the Bronze Age, as evidenced by Celtic relics and an early earthwork. Nevertheless, there were no major settlements within the valley until the Middle Ages, as trade routes were difficult to establish in the heavily forested area. Permanent settlement in the Szalajka Valley began in the 14th century, when people settled in the village of Wárad, now known as Szilvásvárad. The high-quality timber served as a source of urban income even in the Middle Ages, attracting increasing numbers of people to settle there. Later, potash was also extracted from the valley, which ultimately gave the area its current name. Potash means "sal alcali" in Latin, and these words have been incorporated into the Hungarian language. Until the 20th century, the valley was only known regionally. With the construction of the Szilvásvárad narrow-gauge railway, the first tourists arrived to travel to the valley by train. Since the 21st century, however, the Szalajka Valley has become a purely tourist destination, with forestry operations remaining minimal. Source: https://www.urlaub-ungarn.at/sightseeing/natuerliche-sehenswuerdigkeiten-ungarn/szalajka-tal.html

I have shared several pictures, although some of them were only taken in or from the castle. The road and places leading there also belong to the castle, so I have uploaded some of them. The castle can be reached from Dobó Square, across the bridge, going straight up the street lined with shops, wine bars and restaurants. The rest speaks for itself.

This church is located in Eger on Dobó Square. It is the most famous place in Eger. It is actually the center of the city. The center of life in Eger. We can easily get here by typing it into the GPS. This is just a terminal station in the urban montage of Eger where you can take good photos and eat well, but in reality it is the real experience that cycling in Eger means and provides. I am thinking of urban MTB in these lines. It is amazing how suitable the city is for this kind of sport. This is the best way to get to know the city's every nook and cranny. All this while keeping the essence of history alive.

Many places and monuments that you come across along the way are a testimony to the horror of war and tyranny that is still significant and relevant today. They all have two essential functions, and this is the case for every generation: -1- To commemorate and remember the victims -2- To remind us of the need to keep the peace

“Looking back at the 20th century, we can say: The first half was characterized by the human catastrophes of the two world wars and by the night of fascism, which originated in Germany, swept across almost all of Europe, and found its terrible climax in the Holocaust,” said the long-serving Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927 to 2016) in a speech in Zurich on September 20, 2006. Each of the extremely numerous war memorials / fallen soldiers' memorials has – in addition to the task of commemorating the victims of war and tyranny – the important function of a constant reminder to preserve peace.

The Jewish communities, whose synagogues were largely destroyed during the Nazi regime and which were often wiped out by the Shoah (Holocaust), were honored in May 2024 - especially in these difficult times for them with a rapidly growing, openly expressed anti-Semitism - by awarding the "International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen" to Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and the Jewish communities in Europe. "With this award, the Charlemagne Prize Board wants to send a signal that Jewish life is a natural part of Europe and that there must be no place for anti-Semitism in Europe. Jewish life is an important part of European history and present - now and in the future. (...) Together with the President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, and the Jewish communities in Europe, the Board of Directors ... in 2024 honors the outstanding representative of European Jewry and Jewish life in Europe, which has enriched our continent for centuries and will and must always have its place here."

Even before his election as the head of the Catholic Church, the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires had met several times with Rabbi Abraham Skorka for a joint book project. On the subject of the Holocaust, Jorge Bergoglio (later Pope Francis) said: "The Shoah is a genocide like the others of the 20th century, but with one particularity. I don't want to say that it is the most important and the others are secondary, but there is one particularity, an idolatrous construction against the Jewish people. The pure race, the superman, these are idols on the basis of which National Socialism developed (...) And every Jew killed was a slap in the face for the living God in the name of the idols." (Source: "About Heaven and Earth, Jorge Bergoglio in conversation with Rabbi Abraham Skorka", Goldmann-Verlag, Munich 2014)