Lake Balaton

Wednesday 8 June

Since our last post:  On Monday, Daniel and Amanda took us into Nyiregyhaza to buy our train tickets for the following day.  There was a lot of pointing and basic Hungarian/English happening but eventually we ended up with tickets to Budapest departing at 9:26 the following morning.  Now that we had our tickets in hand, we could relax.  On the way home, we stopped in Nyirbator at the mineral springs for another swim.  It is very relaxing.  Then we visited a supermarket with Daniel's recipe book before going home where Daniel made a goulash for us. 

We were up bright and early on Tuesday morning in time for Daniel to drive us to Nyiregyhaza to catch our train.  We made it in plenty of time and after a bit of advice, we found our way to platform 8 to catch  the train.  The train was only 15 minutes late in arriving which, although it caused us a few anxious moment, we had been warned could happen.  The train was very comfortable and there were only a few people in our carriage.  As the weather was mostly clear, we enjoyed the scenery through the large windows. 

Stations are often colourful, with flower beds on platforms

Public housing in a larger centre

The journey should have taken 3 hours to get to Budpest however ...... we were about 2 hours into the journey when the train suddenly slowed and came to a complete stop.  We asked the train conductor what the problem was and the best she could convey is that it was a "technical problem".  The technical problem took an hour to fix but eventually we were on our way again. 

At the unplanned stop - were bikes to be the backup solution?

Then we came to an area where there had obviously been very heavy rain so consequently the train slowed down to about 10kph.  So when we eventually arrive at Keleti station in Budpest it was 1:50 which made the journey 4 and a half hours long.

We decided to walk to the hotel rather than take a taxi or go by the metropolitan underground system.  It took us about an hour to walk but as we had left most of our luggage with Amanda and Daniel, it was not an arduous walk.

The hotel was quite close to the basillica and in a pedestrian zone, so it was very quiet.  We were unable to get in to see the basillica on Tuesday as the funeral of a former president of the Hungarian republic was being held there that evening .  Security people and sniffer dogs controlled the doors to the basilica, and rows of chairs were set up in the square in front where crowds could see the  inside on large television screens. 

So we took ourselves off to dinner and then back to the hotel for an early night.

This morning, we managed to get into the basilica for a look around and it was quite magnificent.  As such buildings go in Europe, it is almost new.  It was built over 60 years, and began use in 1905.  The interior stone is wonderful, with the polish still bright on great pillars of red marble.

By the time we came out, it was pouring with rain.  We had planned to go for a walk along the Danube however with no umbrella or coats, we decided to head straight for the car hire place and pick up our car.

We left Budapest at about 11am this morning and drove south for a couple of hours with a quick stop for lunch.  It is now 9:15pm and we are sitting on a porch at the camping ground.  It is quite pretty with hanging baskets of begonias along the edge.  The camping ground is right on the edge of the lake and Iago the dog has already been in for a swim.

Beach is not the right word for the aquatic attraction that is part of Balaton's fame.  The shores are all rocky, and the water is crowded with suspended minerals (that is:  very cloudy).
We have no firm plans for tomorrow as yet, I imagine we will discuss the day's activities over breakfast.