The rebuilt Mária Valéria bridge (named for Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria) between Esztergom/Hungary and túrovo/Slovakia over the Danube.
The old bridge was blown up by the retreating Wehrmacht on 26 December 1944. A reconstruction was always seem as a future symbol of friendship, alas, it took until 2001, following a long bilateral dispute (mainly about the bridge's height, in connection with a dam downriver that wasn't built). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Here used to be the Roman border castrum Solva, flanked by a city. Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius have spent longer time here. Around 960, in the process of Europeanisation, the strongest Hungarian tribal chieftain built a castle on the ruins of the Roman castrum. As his son went on to subdue every other tribe and become Hungary's first Christian king, Esztergom became the capital. Later, the royals moved, but the prime archdiocese remained -- well, except for the Ottoman times. The castle saw lots of battles, so no wonder that the Basilica is failréy new: built 1822-69. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.