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Published: October 23rd 2009
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(Excerpt from my book: OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, AMAZON.COM)
After a day-and-a-half to travel few hundered miles, we finally left Maribor and Slovenia about noon, our destination for the night, Lake Balaton in Hungary. I know, were still not in Budapest, but hang in there, we'll get there. To get to Lake Balaton from Maribor, one drives for about a half-hour through Croatia, so I expect Elysee and I can claim having also visited that recently ill-fated country.
Lake Balaton is, outside of Scandinavia, the largest freshwater lake in Europe. A long finger-like lake of a little more than 50 miles, but a narrow 10 miles at its widest, it is also shallow, averaging a mere nine feet in depth. Nevertheless, it has long been Hungary’s summer vacation destination and has that mixture of tackiness and refinement often associated with lake and beachside resorts. In Balaton’s case, it takes some searching to find the latter. Because we were starting from the end of the lake furthest from Budapest, one decision we had to make was which shore to drive on, north or south. The south has the advantage of better roads, an autoroute, but that also brings more summer
LAKE BLATON CRUISE BOAT
WE PASSED ON THE CRUISE. BEEN UP AND DOWN A FEW LAKES. BORING! vacationers and the inevitable carnival resort atmosphere. From our reading, it appeared that the north shore was nicer and less hectic, and this proved to be the case.
Another feature of the Balaton locale is its reputation as a major Hungarian wine- producing region, and the north side is sprinkled with hillside vineyards that add a pleasant view all along the lakeside drive. As the day was getting on and the weather rainy off and on, we stopped for the night at Hotel Volan in Badacsony; really more a restored upscale villa than a hotel. Once more the value was astonishing. For about $58 we received a very nice room overlooking the lake, with breakfast. That evening, after a stroll along the lakefront, looking at the ferries going from one side of the lake to the other as well as the local marina with many sailboats, we hade a fine dinner at an outdoor restaurant with a very tasty bottle of Hungarian wine. It was a 1999 Szeremley from the Tihany region further along the lake’s north shore and cost an amazing $7. The next day we found a wine store and managed to purchase three bottles, about all we could carry to Budapest considering the other baggage space needed. Hungary is a country of very good and inexpensive wine.
A word about the Hungarian (magyarorszag) language: I usually, even if in a country for a small time, try to learn a few courteous phrases to get me through the day. Especially how to order a beer, find the men’s room and find a place for the night, all the while returning greetings and thanks in the local language. I gave up on Hungarian right away. I simply concluded that having arrived at the age of 70 years I was entitled to pass on without ever attempting to speak Hungarian. It is correctly said that Hungarian ranks up there with Japanese and Arabic as the most difficult language to learn. Personally, I would add Irish to that, a language that has been described as a cross between Norwegian and Hebrew. Hungarian is right up there. The language has no widespread European antecedents such as Latin or Slav, and evolved from an obscure Finish tribal tongue so long ago that the Hungarians and the Finns cannot understand each other. Many words have the same sound but different meanings and consonants are strung together sometimes five in a row without a vowel and, all sorts of accenting symbols that make reading road signs while traveling at normal speed very difficult. For example, Elysee was navigating and kept me bearing towards the town of Nagykanizsa a city on our route and on all the road signs, when she finally said “ just keep on the road to Nagasaki.” The name for a police station is, Rendorkapitanysag. In an emergency, by the time you get that word out you will no longer need help. My real favorite though is Sajtburger, which is pronounced shiteburger. It means cheese.
In my opinion, if you happen to be in Hungary for only for a long weekend or perhaps even a few days more, there are more interesting places to see and things to do, than going to Lake Balaton.
BUT BUY THE WINE.
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