Sopron

Our hotel was right beside an exhibit of the Picnic of 1989, which was a peaceful demonstration on the Austrian-Hungarian border near Sopron which opened the border between Austria and Hungry, ultimately setting into motion the fall of the Iron Curtain.  

On our walk north through the town to get to the Church of St. Michael we saw many really pretty buildings. This includes the House of the Two Moors, which has two Moors holding up the decorations atop the arched doorway into the house.

The Church of St. Michael is the big church north of the downtown area, and it is very pretty. There was service going on at this time, so we stood in the back for several songs as we marveled at the church. We walked through the graveyard, which had reliefs of the crucifixion placed strategically throughout.

We walked back toward the center of the town past the Mária-oszlop statue and down a winding street with colorful buildings to the Main Square.

The Fire Tower is the iconic landmark of the city and dates back to the 13th century. It was originally a watchtower and the northern entrance to the town. You can go underneath through the original city gates.

Inside the tower is a small archaeological site showing the different historical layers in the building of the tower. There are also floating boards that show pieces of decorative stones, which was a different display than I have seen before. The top of the tower provided a nice view of the main square and the town beyond.

Once back in the square we took a look at the other buildings including the City Hall and the Goat Church, which has a goat above the front entrance. It was pretty dark inside the church, but we were the only ones in there.

We wanted to go inside the Storno House and the Pharmacy Museum, but both were closed. We ended up going into the Central Mining Museum, which was small but entertaining. There was a large display of rocks and semi-precious minerals, which the kids really loved. Then after several displays about the history of mining in Hungary (or the historical area of Hungary, which is 3 times the size of current Hungary) there was a room with some models of old mining equipment. For each you pushed a button and saw the machinery work using water energy, gears, and levers. We all liked investigating how each machine was working. At the bottom level, we took a slide down to some ‘tunnels’ made out of big cloth sheets and the kids got to wear headlamps, which they thought was cool. They also practiced what they had learned before with gears by turning a spool that then lifted up a gate. It was a pretty fun museum, and we were the only ones there.

We continued our walk through the Old Town of Sopron, and I took lots of pictures of the quaint cobblestone streets. We passed several other notable sights, including the Bezeredj Palace, the Lutheran Church, the Petofi Theatre, the Old Casino, the Cezar Pince house, and the Eggenberg house. We walked to the Bruchner wine bar, which was quite a walk away, but it didn’t open for several hours. When we went to Cezar Pince, we found the same issue. Oh well, that sometimes happens when we make last minute plans. It was pretty cold (especially since we were still just in jackets and hadn’t pulled out our coats yet), and the kids were troopers walking all around the town.

We were trying to find a place for some cake, and walked by the Liszt Ferenc Kulturális Központ Sopron, or the cultural center. As we walked by, we saw quite a few people going in, many with children. So we went in too and got in line for tickets, even though we had no idea what the tickets were for. It ended up there was a transportation expo mostly with model trains. Since Ronin loves putting together dioramas and scenes with his army men and toys, he loved this exhibit. It was a surprising fun little activity for the afternoon.

We crossed Széchenyi tér (yes, there is one in just about every town in Hungary) to get cake at the Dömötöri Patisserie and Café. It wasn’t bad, but the best part was the beautiful café.

Overall, it was a nice day in Sopron. We have realized that Sundays are not really a good time to visit small towns, as many activities and shops are closed. However, I am glad we got to visit this town in the northwest corner of Hungary.