Situated on the Danube's abrupt loop, Visegrad (from the Slavic words for 'high castle') is the most beautiful section and the very symbol of the Bend.  As you approach Visegrad from Zsentendre, 23km to the south, keep your eyes open for the citadel high up on Castle Hill.  With the palace its base, the hill was once the royal center of Hungary.  The Romans built a border fortress on Sibrik Hill just north of the present castle in the fourth century, and it was still being used by Slovak settlers 600 years later.  After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Bela IV began work on a lower castle by the river and then on the hilltop citadel.  Less than a century later, King Charles Robert of Anjou, whose claim to the local throne was being fiercely contested in Buda, moved the royal household to Visegrad and had the lower castle converted into a palace.
  For almost 200 years, Visegrad was Hungary's 'other' (often summer) capital and an important diplomatic centre.  But Visegrad's real golden age came during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus (r. 1458-90) and Queen Beatrice, who had Italian Renaissance craftsmen rebuild the Gothic palace.  The sheer size of the residence, its stonework, fountains and hanging gardens were the talk of the fifteenth century throughout Europe.  The destruction of Visegrad came with the Turks and later in 1702 when the Habsburgs blew up the citadel to prevent Hungarian independence fighters from using it as a base.  All trace of the palace was lost until the 1930s when archaeologists, following descriptions in literary sources, uncovered the ruins.  (Steve Fallon & Neal Bedford, Hungary, 153.)

IMAGE	IMAGE NO.	DATA
The Danube		The Danube (In German: Donau from earlier Danuvius, Celtic "danu," meaning "to flow, run," Slovak and Polish Dunaj, Hungarian Duna, Romanian Dunarea, Old Norse Duna, Turkish Tuna, ancient Greek Istros, Croatian Dunav) is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.  It originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance of some 2,850 km (1771 miles), passing through several Central and Eastern European capitals, before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.   Known to history as one of the long-standing frontiers of the Roman Empire, the river flows through -- or forms a part of the borders of -- ten countries: Germany (7.5%), Austria (10.3%), Slovakia (5.8%), Hungary (11.7%), Croatia (4.5%), Serbia (10.3%), Romania (28.9%), Bulgaria (5.2%), Moldova (1.7%), and Ukraine (3.8%)   In addition, the drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Italy (0.15%), Poland (0.09%), Switzerland (0.32%), Czech Republic (2.6%), Slovenia (2.2%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.8%), Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and Albania (0.03%).  (Referred to the site of Wikipedia.)
	vsg2003-002	(Sunday 13 July) The Danube's abrupt loop, viewed from Hotel Silvanus, Visegrad, Pf.24
	vsg2003-005	(14 Monday July) The Danube, viewed from Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-006	(14 Monday July) The Danube, viewed from Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-007	(14 Monday July) The Danube, viewed from Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-014	(14 Monday July) The Danube, viewed from Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-017	(14 Monday July) The Danube, viewed from the ferry
	vsg2003-021	(14 Monday July) The Danube
	vsg2003-018	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel and The Danube, viewed from the ferry
	vsg2003-019	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel and The Danube, viewed from the ferry
Visegrad Citadel		Visegrad Citadel.  Sitting atop a 350m hill and surrounded by moats hewn from solid rock.
	vsg2003-020	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel and The Danube, viewed from the ferry
	vsg2003-009	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-016	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-004	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-013	(14 Monday July) A torture room of the wax museum of Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-010	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel... I became a victim of the torture as well as a good attraction for other tourists: so many tourists took a picture of me!
	vsg2003-011	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel... I became a victim of the torture as well as a good attraction for other tourists: so many tourists took a picture of me!
	vsg2003-003	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel.  Sitting atop a 350m hill and surrounded by moats hewn from solid rock.
	vsg2003-008	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Citadel.  Completed in 1259, the citadel was the repository for the Hungarian crown jewels until 1440, when Elizabeth of Luxenbourg, the daughter of King Sigismund, stole them with the help of her lady-in-waiting and hurried off to Szekesfehervar to have her infant son Laszlo crowned king.  (The crown was returned to the citadel in 1464 and held here - under a stronger lock, no doubt - until ht Turkish invasion.)
	vsg2003-012	(14 Monday July) A feast scene of the wax museum of Visegrad Citadel
	vsg2003-015	(14 Monday July) A falconer and his falcon, Visegrad Citadel
Visegrad Ferry Pier		Visegrad Ferry Pier
	vsg2003-023	(14 Monday July) Visegrad Ferry Pier
	vsg2003-022	(14 Monday July) The ferry at Visegrad Ferry Pier
	vsg2003-024	(14 Monday July) The Danube bend, viewed from the pier
Renaissance Restaurant ("Reneszansz")		Wine reception of Renaissance Restaurant ("Reneszansz"), Visegrad Fo u. 11
	vsg2003-025	(14 Monday July) Wine reception of Renaissance Restaurant ("Reneszansz"), Visegrad Fo u. 11
	vsg2003-026	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-027	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-028	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-029	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-030	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-031	(14 Monday July) Attraction of Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-036	(14 Monday July) King Donald & Queen Csilla, Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-032	(14 Monday July) Prof. Youngmin Kim (Dongguk University Seoul, Korea) and his wife Prof. Myung-Hye Huh (Korea University, Korea), Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-033	(14 Monday July) Poet/Prof. Se-Soon Lee and his daughter at Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-034	(14 Monday July) Me at Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-035	(14 Monday July) The lutenist at Renaissance Restaurant
	vsg2003-037	(14 Monday July) Junko Toraiwa singing some Japanese songs, Renaissance Restaurant
Visegrad Royal Palace		Visegrad Royal Palace ("Visegradi Kiralyi Palota"); King Mathias Museum, Fo utca 29.  The 15th-century seat of King Mathias, once had 350 rooms and was said to be unrivalled in Europe.  Now almost everything is reconstruction or replica.
	vsg2003-039	(15 Tuesday July) Visegrad Royal Palace ("Visegradi Kiralyi Palota"); King Mathias Museum, Fo utca 29.  The 15th-century seat of King Mathias, once had 350 rooms and was said to be unrivalled in Europe.  Now almost everything is reconstruction or replica.
	vsg2003-040	(15 Tuesday July) Visegrad Royal Palace
	vsg2003-043	(15 Tuesday July) Visegrad Royal Palace
	vsg2003-041	(15 Tuesday July) Renaissance Hercules Fountain (see the Hungarian 1000-forint bill), Visegrad Royal Palace
	vsg2003-042	(15 Tuesday July) Renaissance Hercules Fountain (see the Hungarian 1000-forint bill), Visegrad Royal Palace
Hotel Silvanus		Hotel Silvanus, Visegrad, Pf. 24
	vsg2003-038	(15 Tuesday July) Hotel Silvanus, Visegrad, Pf. 24