Yesterday was a national holiday throughout Europe (Labor Day) so Lyla and I took advantage of the day off to get out of town. We headed up to Esztergom, a town on the Hungarian-Slovakian border and the seat of the Hungarian Catholic Church. After our rather hot and miserable bus ride, we arrived to the (as always) terrifying bus terminal. Once we wandered into the downtown, however, all was beautiful and well. We got a snack and then wandered across the bridge into Slovakia. I do get such a kick out of walking to another country. Walking across the bridge also offers the best view of the magnificent basilica, which is the third largest in Europe. There was also a chill pigeon on the railing, and I touched his tail feather, thus accomplishing my childhood dream of someday touching a wild bird.
We wandered around the border town a bit. It was sort of strange, as always: a few restaurants, fireworks for sale, casinos and strip clubs. Ah, border towns. Extra funny was seeing all the typical Hungarian street names translated into Slovak. We also stumbled across the Communist cemetery, which rows of Cyrillic gravestones and a huge Soviet-Realist statue.
We headed back into Hungary and had some yummy lunch at a pizzeria. Next, we climbed up the hill and visited the enormous and beautiful basilica, taking in some great views of the Danube from the patio around the church. Then we caught the bus back to Budapest, and I had a little bit of heat stroke and stumbled about for a bit. It was a great day.
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