The Gyor Book Festival is this weekend, so language barrier or not, of course I wanted to check it out. It is at the National Theatre, so I had the chance to see part of that building although the main stage area and audience seating was closed.

It was interesting to walk around and see all the vendors and there were speakers in some of the rooms – all parts I couldn’t enjoy. But a good inhalation of book puts me in a great mood regardless.

I left and went across the street to the Square Donut shop. I was disappointed that the squares were all pretty heavily iced and embellished. I would have gotten a plain one if there was such a thing. “Plain? I do not know this – plain,” said the young woman behind the counter.

We visited Bishop’s Castle later in the morning. There are a few hundred winding steps to get to the top, the castle’s lookout. It was worth the trip – the four-sided view of the city was gorgeous.

The cellar of Bishop’s Castle is where Bishop Vilmos Apor and others hid for protection from the Soviets during WWII. The bishop got shot protecting those people in the catacombs and he died a martyr. It is unsettling to be down there, with bullet holes still in the ceiling and some of the rooms just as it was.

We had lunch in a pub and walked around for a few hours, and planned the next few days when we will be in the ancient southern Hungarian city of Pecs.

photos: a view from the top of the castle; square donuts – not all that enticing; the start of the book festival