Sopron and Rust: Hungry for history

It seemed a shame to leave Austria having only seen one city, so we stopped off at another town not far away, called Rust. A cute sleepy town with pastel painted houses, the main attraction to this town is the wine (which was unfortunately too expensive to sample) and the storks, which were happily free. 

Although this may sound odd, this town is a popular nesting place for the leggy birds, even encouraged by the town occupants by building special platforms on their roofs. Definitely not a sight I've ever seen before! 

Having been told that accomodation was much cheaper just over the border in Hungary, we decided to do just that and spontaneously popped over the border. A little town called Sopron had caught our eye, as it had a rather interesting sounding museum. My first view wandering into the town itself was very attractive, and overall I thought it a very pretty town well worth visiting.

By the time we arrived it was late in the day, so we made our way to the museum immediately as we knew it was due to close rather soon (we seem it make a habit of going to museums just before closing time!) the upper floors showed a large amount of local history over time, from bronze objects to pottery, to the stratigraphic layers of an old Roman road which was of course my favourite. (pictured below). 

The real highlight for me however, was down a trapdoor in the floor, opening out into large and beautiful cave-like cellars, full of statues of Roman deities and gravestones.  

We left the museum as they closed, walking out alongside the friendly owner. He told us we simply had to come back in the morning for a great feast of food and wine (he was especially keen on getting the point across about how much great drinking there would be) in the town square as it was a national holiday. Unfortunately time did not allow us to return, but as our museum friend had pointed us in the direction of a wonderful wine bar that he told us we should most definitely try, we went there instead. Down in a cellar like area with giant wine barrels to sit around and arches of stone, it was one of the coolest bars I've ever been in. 

We soon discovered our Hungarian was atrocious as we struggled to communicate anything at all. However with much hand waving, we were able to purchase three glasses of the red wine the town was known for. And for a ridiculously cheap price too! The lady at the bar simply ladled it from a great vat into glasses for us, and I can say I was rather glad we had opted for the smaller glasses as that stuff was potent!! 

After our little tipple, we elected to wander the town some more. With the bombing of Sopron, many houses were damaged and destroyed, however it was due to this that parts of the old town wall were uncovered, including parts of the Roman wall dating from the 4th century! For once World War II had left something positive in its wake.

I usually become overwhelmed wandering towns, irritated at the throngs of tourists and the size of such places. However Sopron I rather enjoyed; it was extremely quiet, and the streets were small and quaint. Best of all, I'm not sure I saw I single tourist in the town! Excellent.