On Saturday I took a (long) day trip to a couple towns on Lake Balaton— central Europe’s largest lake! My lovely coworker Krista offered to take me along, as she and her husband were already going with their American high school exchange student. Unfortunately for central Europe, a Michigan native is probably the worst person to attempt to impress with a big lake. However, it was still incredibly beautiful. The mountains (Hungarians like to call them “hills” but they sure look like mountains to me) that border the lake were breathtaking, especially from our view in Tihany.
We started off by visiting Festetics Palace in Keszthely. The palace was first built in 1745 but construction continued for nearly a century afterwards as various members of the family spearheaded add-ons and renovation projects. Over the years the family sponsored public works projects such as hospitals, schools, and Europe’s first agricultural college. The palace also boasts Hungary’s largest surviving aristocratic library, built by György Festetics in 1799. I totally did not buy a camera pass but I snapped these pictures anyway when the guards weren’t looking.
After reminding myself that even rich people in the 18th century lived better than me, we headed to a beach on Lake Balaton. Although it was less of a typical, sand beach and more of a pavement, pavement, pavement, suddenly lake! kind of beach. The water was freezing, so I didn’t wade in further than my waist. Afterwards, I tried a Hungarian speciality: lángos, a fried flat bread smothered in sour cream and cheese. Good thing Hungary has socialized health care! It was delicious and kind of reminded me of a savory version of an elephant ear.
Lastly, we visited Tihany, a little village with a lot of history on the top of the Tihany Peninsula. I say “the top” because to get there we had to walk up a grueling hill. I kept seeing some very brave bikers zooming past us on the way down and I asked Krista, “Do people actually bike up this too?” and she laughed at me. Bravo, you crazy Hungarians, but I’ll stick to walking.
At the top of the hill is a very old Benedictine Abbey, founded in 1055 AD by Andrew I. The Abbey is also famous for its founding charter, which is the first written record of the Hungarian language. In addition to this wonderful history lesson, the village also provided some amazing views overlooking the lake. The town had a lot of little shops and apparently produces a lot of lavender in the fields behind the “inner lake” during the summer. I tried a lavender-flavored lollipop but it just tasted like someone had sprayed a lot of perfume into my mouth. I ended up throwing it out.
Anyway, it’s probably pretty rare I’ll ever post twice in three days again. I also haven’t been posting all of my pictures here because there’s sometimes a lot, but they will be on my flickr which you can find a link to on my sidebar (look how tech-savvy I am to have figured that out!)
carlyn on a plane 