gyor
I recently visited Gyor, a Hungarian town about an hour and a half from Budapest that, like Sopron, had a Celtic "air." Both cities were originally settled by the Celts, but in Gyor (pronounced 'jyeur'), there is also a more "modern" Celtic connection. A Catholic bishop from Ireland brought a painting of Madonna and Child to Gyor in 1655, and on St. Patrick's Day in 1697, the Madonna apparently cried tears of blood for three hours. Since, thousands of Irish Catholics have made an annual pilgrimage to Gyor on St. Patrick's Day to view the painting in the Gyor Cathedral.
We arrived in Gyor around lunchtime and went to the old town to eat at Varkapu Vendeglo near Becsi kapu ter and the Carmelite church. The restaurant's menu featured a lot of game-based dishes, and the walls were covered with heads of taxidermic animals, or simply just yellowed animal skulls mounted on plaques. I played it safe and ordered goulash soup.
We walked to the cathedral after lunch. It was empty, glorious, dark and cold. I walked up to the Madonna painting, which was above an altar on the left side of the cathedral. The altar was crowded with vases of fresh flowers and a few small Irish flags. I felt close to my Irish heritage as I stood before the painting, knowing that for centuries so many Irish eyes had gazed at it.
I sat in a pew for a moment and stared at the elaborate frescoes on the high, baroque ceilings. I also went into the Hedervary Chapel on the right side of the cathedral, which had impressive panels of stained glass and a gold bust of King Laszlo.
When we left the cathedral a large flock of birds swooped over the rooftops above us. I snapped a picture and was again reminded of Sopron, where I also took a picture of a flock of birds flying past the Dominican church and cloister.
We walked around the old town, passing the 1731 Ark of the Convenant statue, and stared into the windows of closed shops. There weren't many people around, and it was cold, so we decided to return to Budapest.
