Kovács Nimród Wines

On our 5th day of visiting Hungary, we continued exploring Eger. Our day included a visit to Kovács Nimród Cellar, sightseeing in historic Eger, a visit and wine tasting at St. Andrea winery as well as dinner at Szépasszonyvölgy located in The Valley of the Beautiful Women.

At Kovács Nimród we saw a number of crucifixes and our winery/wine tasting guide noted that people would pray for a good harvest. We walked, tasted wines and walked through the wine cellars while our guide talked about the history of the winery with special emphasis on the owner. 

Eger Castle in Hungary

After our visit to Kovács Nimród, we explored the area of Eger near the castle. An array of small shops are available to enjoy shopping for souvenirs and Hungarian products. Eventually we made our way to Eger Castle, the site of the renowned Siege of Eger in 1552. This was the setting of the legend of the well known Bull’s Blood wine. However while at Eger Castle we saw no mention of the connection of Bull’s Blood wine and the battle. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at the castle outside of a restaurant which claimed to be one of the top two restaurants in Eger. (laborbistro.hu)  I chose a Caesar salad and was surprised at the large size and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh flavors.

St. Andrea Wine Cellar

After lunch we drove to the laidback Valley of Beautiful Women as our guide related one of the legends of the valley.

Our next winery visit was to St. Andrea where we were quickly greeted and followed by a tour of the St. Andrea cellar caves. After the tour we went to an upper level for the wine tasting. We were surprised to learn according to our tour guide (a deacon for the Byzantine Orthodox Catholic church) that there was no St. Andrea. The winery was named for the winemaker’s wife. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of religious paintings and icons in the room. It was explained that the deacon and the winemaker had painted these. Soon we sat down for the wine tasting that was accompanied by a plate of bread, meat and cheese.

In the evening, we returned to The Valley of the Beautiful Women where we stopped at Demeter, a small wine tasting room, set amongst many other wine shops/bars. These wine tasting rooms are set into a cliff/wall of carved out caves. After tasting two wines at Demeter we wandered for a time through the park and past numerous brightly lit wine shops.

Eventually we made our way to the Ködmön Csárda Restaurant. This restaurant, also in The Valley of Beautiful Women, is large and divided into several parts. The staff is friendly and very polite. One waiter in particular was happy to regale us with two variations of the legend behind the name of the valley.

Thus concluded our 5th successful day in Hungary in the Eger region.

Cheers!
Kathy and Terry