From one lake to the next

After a fun night out, listening to a three-man-somedaywewillbeametalbandwehope-band for a couple of hours, my human went out to explore the area by bike.

From Gyula she made her way to Bekescsaba, a small town some 20 km down the road and from there to Szabadkigyos (I dare you to say it!), where you can visit the Wenckheim Castle.

Carmelo has new idols

Built in the late 19th Century, this castle has as many windows as there are days, as many rooms as there are weeks and as many entrances as there are seasons in one year.

By late afternoon, we arrived in Algyö and parked up next to the river and a small beach. After the bike ride in 30+ degrees, this was a very welcome cool down for my human. 

We spent a quiet night here and made our way into nearby Szeged the next morning. 

With 160.000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in the country.

And a very charming one. 

The river Tisza runs right through it, there are lots of green spaces and a nice pedestrianized area in the center.

The fourth largest synagoge in the world

Palais Reök; built by a water engineer and is meant to invoke wave movements 

The Heroes´ gate, commemorates the soldiers who died in the 1st WW 

The Votive Church

Still in use, this water tower from 1904 holds 1004,8 cubic meters of water

For lunch, my human tried a Hungarian specialty, a berry soup. She would have liked it better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as a desert, but it is actually an entrèe. Tasty, nevertheless.

Gyümölcsleves, berry soup

The next day we chewed some road and drove over 200 km, very unusual for us. Our target was Villany in Baranya County. This is another wine region, but unlike Tokaj, here itˋs all about the red.

After having been very close to the Rumanian border in Szeged, now we were only a stone´s throw away from Croatia.

A lot of so-called Germans of Hungary used to live in this area. They were settled here by Maria Theresa in the 14th Century after the Ottoman wars but were cast out again after WWII. Today they account for a fifth of the population.

Thatˋs why there is still some German writing on random buildings, or German street signs on houses, like this one:

The ecumenical Chapel of Reconciliation in Beremend was built in the 90s and paid for by displaced Germans as a sign of peace between religions, ethnicities and peoples. 

What you see in the background is actually Croatia

This is a good area to ride a bike, itˋs all pretty flat and there is little traffic. So my human went on a little 50km round to explore the surrounding villages, including Siklos. 

Here one can see a 13th Century castle, one of the best preserved historical buildings in the country.

The Castle of Siklos

On we went to Pecs, the fifth largest city in Hungary which somehow manages to have a bit of a Mediteranean flair to it.

It was the European Capital of Culture in 2010.

Ludwig the Great opened the first university in Hungary here in 1367.

Also made by Szolany

Seat of the city council

Mosque Gazi Kassim, 16th Century

The first "Lock Wall" of Hungary

Cathedral of St. Peter & Paul

What Meissen is for Germany, Szolany is for Hungary. Miklos Szolany became a ceramics manufacturer in 1853 and the company became known for introducing the eosin glazing technique as well as pyrogranit ceramics.

If youˋve been to Budapest, you will have seen Szolany tiles on many of the most notable buildings in the city, like the Museum of Applied art, the Mathias Church and the Parliament building. 

About a week from now, we will go and check all these out and show you some photos.

The city lies at the foot of the Mecsek mountains, or what Hungary thinks are mountains. Some peaks reach 600 meters, we were told! Blown away!

Good enough for some hiking, says my human.

So the next day she took the bus to Cserkut and went up Mt. Jakob from there.

On top of the hill, letˋs be real, you can find remants of a 12th Century village and church, which was dedicated to St. Jacob. Hence the name of the hill.

When she got back we made our way to Obanya, a small village sitting next to large areas of splendidly green woods. 

In the old days they produced a lot of glass here and so you can follow the glass blowerˋs trail, passing through some tiny villages and a lot of empty (of humans) wood.

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe. Itˋs 235 km of shoreline are packed with hotels, holiday homes, enormous campgrounds, aqua parks, eateries, wine bars - anything you might, or might not, need for your holidays.

Maximum depth is only 12 meters

Besides just wanting to have a look at this huge body of water, the drawcard for my human was the cycle path that leads around the whole lake. Four to five days is the recommendation for the 210 km tour, but I guess thatˋs if you have children with you.

Two days would be enough in her case.

And so I was deposited on a campground the next morning, nice and safe, as she took of on her trusted, squeaky bike.

She clocked 110 km on the first day. Having started in Balatonszemes, she passed through plenty of smaller towns as well as some bigger ones, like Siofok and Balatonfüred. 

There are ever 60 ports around the lake

Revfülöp was her destination, here she had booked a bed in a hostel for the night. 

Just as she arrived, a couple of guys sharing her dorm got in as well and having established an immediate raport, they went to the lake together for a swim and later headed out for dinner and some drinks.

Hekk is the fish of choice around the lake and having been repeatedly made aware of the fact by her parents, thatˋs what was on the table for dinner.

Letˋs just say that itˋs biggest advantage is the absence of annoying tiny fish bones. And letˋs just leave it at that.

The cold and soggy chips didnˋt really help

After a nice evening out, she got up early the next morning just to be greeted by pretty heavy rain that lasted for almost an hour. It had rained a bit the day before as well, but not like this.

It was still drizzling when she set off and herself and the bike got pretty dirty, due to the lack of protection plates. 

The North shore is dominated by a few vulcanoes, wheras the South side is flatter, which also meant a few more inclinations to climb.

The castle of Sziglige

In the charming town of Keszthely she took a bit of a break to have a look at 18th Century Festetics Castle with itˋs huge garden.

The undisputed king of the castle

After that, the otherwise perfectly marked trail got a bit confusing, which ended up adding almost 10 km to the total distance. 

Overall, the cycle route is pretty decent. A lot of the time itˋs away from the road, nicely paved and straight forward.