Esztergom

Esztergom was the first capital of Hungary and remains the seat of its Catholic church, dominated by a basilica whose dome stands a hundred metres above the Danube and is the largest building in the country. Saint Stephen was crowned here in the year 1000. The Bakócz chapel inside is a piece of Italian Renaissance marble that survived the Ottoman destruction of everything around it. The Maria Valeria bridge crosses to Slovakia from the foot of the hill, and the Danube Bend turns south a few kilometres upstream at Visegrád. The dome can be climbed for a view over three countries.