Travelling outside Budapest

We have set off on a 2 week tour which includes travelling a little around Hungary.  On the way to Slovenia we passed through the northern shores of Lake Balaton.  As a child, I always went to the southern side with my parents and never been to the northern side.  This time, Andrew and I went firstly to the Tihany peninsula where we had lunch and went on a short walk to see the inner and outer lakes.  Nothing memorable to record so no photos.

Next we went to Badacsony which is very nice.  We went part of the way up to the Kisfaludy lookout which is the highest point in the Badacsony hills.  I went only part of the way and the next morning, early, Andrew went right to the top.

This is Balaton at dawn from the lookout.

We stayed at the guesthouse with the brown roof almost in the centre of the photo.

We did some wine tasting in the spacious garden, courtesy of our host.

Another view of Badacsony from the lookout.

Driving along, we came across a castle at Szigliget which the guidebook had no mention of so we investigated.  It is a well kept secret and deserves mention as it was a very well preserved and well reconstructed castle from the 15th century.

Information was well researched and well displayed in Hungarian, German and English about the history of the castle and the owners throughout the centuries.

The view from the turrets is impressive of the surrounding countryside as well as of the castle itself.  What we noticed around Balaton is that the language spoken was mostly Hungarian with only a smattering of the ever present German heard elsewhere in Europe.  The tourists were by and large from within the country having a grand  time.

We had a two hour stop at Heviz, the spa town of Hungary where everyone comes to take the cure in the thermal hot lake.  The lake is a natural spring with water at a constant temperature of 32 degress, summer and winter.  It was pleasant, but no comparison with Australia's Dalhousie spring with a constant temperature of about 38 degrees.  Mind you, there were no flies at Heviz which at Dalhousie are the bane of one's life.

Heviz is highly commercialised and big business.  There we heard other languages, predominantly Russian.  The Russians apparently love hot thermal springs.  We saw them come in droves to Pammukale in Turkey when we were there, wallowing in the hot lake there too.

A last shot of the swimmers and of the gardens in the background.