Hungary's Castles and Lipizzaner Trail
Day 1: Arrive in Budapest and transfer to Hotel Sofitel or arrive from optional pre-tour in either Vienna’s Spanish Riding School or guided tour of Budapest and transfer to hotel.
Day 2: From the Sofitel Hotel in Budapest, you will be driven from the capital of Hungary to the Western part of the country. Your riding guide and the horses welcome you in Vitnyéd. With the morning ride you arrive to the Fertő-Hanság National Park. The trails go through beautiful, flowery meadows bordered by poplar- and willow-groves. You will have a picnic lunch in the area of the National Park. In the afternoon you will ride along rivers, canals and lakes. The area is very rich in game: deer and rabbit can be seen as well as different bird species for example stork, pheasant, heron. The area boasts one of the largest bird reserves of Central Europe. You can observe the native birds as well as the migrating ones, taking a rest here. The end of the trail ride will be at the shore of the Barbacs Lake. You are transported to the Szidónia Castle Hotel. Dinner will be at the nearby lying Muzsaj Water Mill Inn. In the 325 years old watermill you are invited to get to know some areas of mill history and then you will have dinner in its homey tavern.
Day 3: In the morning you have the option to visit the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd. This baroque palace, the largest and most beautiful in the country, is known as the “Hungarian Versailles” because of its splendid Baroque-Rococo French garden. Duke Esterházy (the Magnificent), who built it, showed off his new home to the Viennese aristocracy in 1770. Joseph Haydn, the world-famous composer lived and composed here for over ten years, conducting the orchestra in the stately home.
The Esterházy palace and the Fertő landscape is part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
After the guided tour in the palace you will be driven to the horses. Continue the ride you will pass small lakes, grasslands, fields full of sunflower, wheat and corn. Picnic lunch will be served at a lake. In the afternoon you achieve the Rába River. Riding along the rivers area you arrive to Pokvar Castle in Tét. During the dinner you can enjoy the Hungarian cuisine and hospitality.
Day 4: Leaving the flat areas behind you will ride in the Pannonhalma Hills. The area is covered with fir trees, with broad swatches of vineyards. The Benedictine monks who settled in Pannonhalma have been closely connected to growing grapevines and wine-making. They cultivated the most developed wine-making practices of the age. In the early 1900s the size of the abbey's property nearby Pannonhalma was about 100 hectares; moreover the abbey possessed property also in Somló and at the foothills of Tokaj. Even at that time they sold their bottled red and white wines, which have reached beyond the boundaries of the historical Hungary.
Picnic lunch will be served at a vineyard nearby fir trees. During the afternoon ride the Benedicte Abbey rising from St Martin’s Hill will be seen in the distance. After arriving to the foot of the Abbey you leave the horses behind and can, if you wish, visit the Abbey, which is also UNESCO World Heritage. The first monks arrived in Pannonhalma at the call of Prince Géza in 996, and they consecrated their small church on St. Martin’s Hill in 1001. In the Benedictine library and archive, one of the largest in the world with 360 thousand volumes of rare books, is held the first written text in the Hungarian languages. The crypt of the thirteen-century basilica is over a thousand years old, and its cloisters are the only intact medieval cloisters with stone ribbing in Hungary. The baroque parts of the monastery were built between 1722 and 1768.
After the one-hour guided tour in Pannonhalma you will be driven back to Pokvár Castle, where after dinner you can relax, swim and have a rest.
Day 5: Leaving the Pokvár Castle and the Kisbér Halfbred Cross horses behind you will be driven to the East part of the country through Budapest, the capitol of Hungary. Arriving to the charming baroque town Eger you will have a free afternoon to discover its beauty. Among the many historical sites the castle, the cathedral and the famous Turkish minaret are worth to visit. It was in 1552 that Eger earned its very special place in the annals of Hungary’s history, at a time when István Dobó was the castellan. On 10th September 1552, the Turks lay siege to Eger Castle, 40-50,000 Turkish soldiers surrounding a castle occupied by a garrison of about 2,000 soldiers. Dobó and his troops, however, swore that they would fight to the very end. After a siege lasting 40 days the Turks retreated, having failed in their attempt to take the castle. The castle and the town eventually fell in 1596 by which time the castle was being defended by mercenaries. The medicinal qualities of Eger’s famous thermal springs were already known to the Turks.
Dinner is facultative. Overnight at the Park Hotel Eger lying in the centre of the town.
Day 6: You will be driven to the Lipizzaner farm near Eger. The owner comes from a traditional carriage-driving family and also breeds Lipizzaners. After getting to know the history of these magnificent horses, some of them will be showed for you. Than you will ride one of them. After training 15 minutes in the stable area, you ride along vineyards, through meadows and forests. The area of the Bükk National Park is covered by beech and oak woods. There are at least 22 thousand species of animal living in the Bükk. After having picnic lunch you ride back to the farm.
Leaving the Lipizzaners behind, you will have a dinner in the Valley of the Beautiful Women, where you will find many cellars carved into the local riolite tufa. Eger and its surroundings are very famous for the Eger Bull’s Blood wine. According to the legend the name Bull’s Blood dates back to the Turkish period when, prior to the siege Dobó’s warriors drank Bull’s Blood. Thinking that the red liquid dripping from their enemies’ beards was bull’s blood the Turkish soldiers believed the Hungarian soldiers were endowed with almost superhuman powers. Overnight is at the Hotel Eger Park.
Day 7: After checking out in the morning you will be driven back to Budapest.
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