The rain has stopped but the skies are still grey, and its a cool day on Lake Balaton. Remember, a bad day at the lake is better than a good day at work. Today, we plan to explore the west end of the lake and visit Festetics Palace in Keszthely.
The drive along the north shore passes through at least 5 towns that begin with Balaton. It must be confusing to tourists to know what you're town in. I'm sure many confused tourists say "Im staying in Balaton something...".
Along the way we happened upon a Hungarian airforce base with some vintage Soviet era equipment by the road. The Hind attack helicopter was used in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Mig 21 was the main jet fighter in the 60's.
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| Soviet Hind Attack helicopter |
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| Soviet Mig 21 Fighter |
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| Sovieet T54 tank |
Continuing on to Keszthely we toured Festetics Palace. The Palace was home of the Festetic family who make advances in agriculture in Hungary and set up the first agricultural college. Some of Hungarians varieties of grapes were bred by this family. The family lived in the palace until 1944 when the Soviet occupation outlawed all titles. The palace has been restored to show the 18th century elegance. The grounds feature English Gardens, a Carriage House museum and Palm House. We walked the grounds and toured the castle.
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| Gate into Festetics Castle |
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| History of Gyorgy Festetics |
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| View of the castle from the fountain |
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| Statue of Festetics in front of new wing |
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| Gardens with Carriage House in the background |
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| Cavalry rider from 18th century outside Carriage House |
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| Gazebo in garden |
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| Covered carriage |
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| Open carriage with winged lions |
After the tour, we found a wine tasting room in the cellar of the palace. After tasting some exceptional local wines, we made a purchase of some unique Hungarian wines we cannot get in Canada. Since the weather was cool, we passed on going to the Lake Heviz thermal lake but decided to drive by it.
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| Marilyn in the wine tasting cellar beneath the castle |
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| Well in wine cellar |
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| Marilyn samples the local Hungarian wines |
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| Lake Heviz thermal lake |
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| Entrance to thermal lake pavilion |
On the drive back to Paloznak we stopped to walk out on the pier in Badascony. The lake is a blue green colour due to the dissolved minerals and the volcanic soil.
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| View of Lake Balaton |
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| View of the lake from a pier |
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| View of the hills from the pier |
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| View of volcanic peninsula in Lake Balaton |
Based on the advice of Tamas, we had dinner at the Vigmolnar Csarda (Inn). The Hungarian fare was delicious. Carl had a salad then venison steak with a wine poached pear, Marilyn had rooster soup with dumplings then stewed beef with sour cream and bread dumplings, and I had bean and bacon soup then lamb stew with noodles with sheep cheese. Carl and I enjoyed the local Dreher beer and Marilyn had a local sweet red wine. A fine last meal in Lake Balaton! Marilyn and my bill was less than 10000 Forints ($45 CAD).
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| A toast to the final dinner at Vigmolnar Csarda |
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| Dwight showing his 10000 Forint bill |
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